With SDSU staying in the Mountain West, how do Pac-12's media rights deal and expansion plans take a hit?

The San Diego State University Aztecs are reportedly planning to remain in the Mountain West Conference. This decision could mean that the Pac-12 is going to be staying put and not expanding before Saturday's deadline.

ESPN's Pete Thamel said that there could be some issues with this decision from the Mountain West Conference side of things as they are not in a great spot.

"It's uncertain how the Mountain West will react, as it informed SDSU after the June 13 letter that it had accepted the school's notice of resignation. Included in the process of withdrawing is the removal of SDSU president Adela de la Torre's seat from the league's board of directors and the withholding of payment to put toward the exit fee."

This means that the Pac-12 is going to be without one of its potential additions before solidifying its media rights deal in the coming weeks.

What happens now for the conference?

With SDSU out of the picture, what is next for the Pac-12?

The questions begin to swirl around Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff's decision not to get the San Diego State Aztecs into the conference ahead of their media rights negotiation. With the departure of the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans, San Diego State could have been one of the college football programs to build around.

Now the Pac-12 is in a predicament as it has to find a building block. Staying put and just trying to continue on without another notable program or two like Notre Dame or Boise State does not bode well for the future of the conference. They are getting close to the conclusion of the Pac-12 as a whole with the issues surrounding keeping teams.

Typically an imminent media rights deal would perk programs' ears up as they are preparing to see if it would be worth it to get a piece of the pie. However, that is not the case in this situation as the Pac-12 feels like it will be the lowest of any Power Five conference's rights deals.

With no real star power to promote outside of the upstart Colorado Buffaloes, who are also rumored to be looking elsewhere, what is there for a media company to be excited about and issue a contract worth billions of dollars?

If you had to give a grade for the Pac-12 and commissioner George Kliavkoff today, it would be difficult to give them anything but a failing one for their embarrassing performance of a once-proud conference.