When will Texas State officially join Pac-12? Exploring latest conference realignment moves within Sun Belt

The Texas State Bobcats are set to join the Pac-12. The school is leaving the Sun Belt to join the revamped conference.

Texas State had been a member of the Sun Belt since 2013, after the school left the WAC. Now, after over 10 years in the league, the Bobcats are leaving the Sun Belt to join the Pac-12.

When will Texas State officially join Pac-12?

Texas State has informed the Sun Belt that it will be leaving and joining the Pac-12, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel on Thursday.

The school has scheduled a Board of Regents meeting for Monday, June 30, to complete the move to the Pac-12. Once the agreement is official, Texas State will join for the 2026-27 school year.

"The Pac-12 and Texas State are expected to finalize a deal soon, and the regent meeting will formalize Texas State’s acceptance. The move will happen for the 2026-27 school year," Thamel wrote on X.

According to Thamel, it takes 72 hours to call a Board of Regents meeting in the Texas system. So, calling the meeting officially on Friday allows Texas State to have the final meeting on Monday.

Texas State had been heavily linked to the Pac-12 to be the school's eighth football-playing member, while Gonzaga joined as the conference's ninth member. The move also comes at a critical time, as the school's exit fee to join the Pac-12 for 2026 doubles from $5 million to $10 million on July 1.

Texas State will still be part of the Sun Belt for the 2025 college football season.

Pac-12 had to add another football-playing member

The Pac-12 had to get a deal done with Texas State to be a member for the 2026 college football season.

To be an FBS conference, a league needs to have eight football-playing members. By adding Texas State, the Pac-12 will be an FBS conference, and its commissioner, Teresa Gould, said expansion was key.

“I’ve been saying all along that once we get our media rights to completion, or to near-completion — enough where we have a sense of who our patterns are and what the economics look like — we would then pivot back to our membership strategy. And I think we’re at that point,” Gould said to Yogi Roth of the Y-Option Substack.

“Now that we have our anchor partner done and announced, we absolutely are in conversations and will continue conversations with prospective members to take the next step — probably not the final step — around future membership.”

The Pac-12's football members include Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State and Washington State.