Candidates to extend PAC -12: Unlv rebels – Sports Illustrated

The restored PAC-12 has eight members enrolled for the 2026-27 athletics season: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Washington State and the State of Utah.

The conference must attract at least another member of football before 2026 to reach the minimum of eight NCAA teams in order to qualify as a FBS conference. Gonzaga does not have a football program.

PAC-12, which poaches five teams from Mountain West and Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference, is expected to add between one and six additional members in the coming weeks and months.

As the conference is redirecting salaries, SI’s Boise State Broncos examines schools related to PAC-12 in various reports.

We have already covered the tigers in Memphis, North Texas medium green, rice owls, state hornets of Sacramento, St. Mary’s gels, South Florida Bulls, Texas Bobkks, Tulan Green Wave and Uconn Huskies. We will now destroy one of the most obvious goals of the PAC-12: Unlv rebels.

Location: Paradise, Nevada

Current Conference: Mountain West Conference

Enrollment: 32,911

Donation: $ 388.4 million

Budget for athletics: 62 644,050 dollars

Football Stadium: Allegiant Stadium (65,000 capacity)

Basketball Arena: Thomas & Mack Center (17 923 Capacity)

We have covered numerous schools that are in two time zones of the PAC-12 imprint. UNLV is surrounded by future members of PAC-12 in California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah.

There are tourist destinations, and then there is Las Vegas. Unlike any other, Las Vegas is often marked by the entertainment capital of the world. It is difficult to imagine a better place to host future PAC-12 events.

UNLV appeared in the Mountain West Championship matches at the back and ended the 2024 season of No. 23 in the top 25 of the AP 25 with a record of 11-3. Chief coach Barry Odom was attached to Purdu, but the rebels leases sprays in former Florida coach Dan Multion, who signed a profitable five -year -old, $ 17.5 million deal.

The rebels have a strong history of men’s basketball, including the 1990 National Championship under the legendary chief coach Jerry Tarkanyan.

On the front of the Unlv facilities will qualify near the top of the new PAC-12. The rebels share Allegiant Stadium with Raiders in Las Vegas in Las Vegas and have the most modern facility in the campus at the Fertitta football complex. Thomas & Mack Center is dated but functional.

UNLV is in deep financial problems. Back in October, Mick Akers of Las Vegas Review-Journal announced that the UnlV athletic department was facing a budget deficit north than $ 20 million.

The need for money rebels probably explains their decision to submit the PAC-12 proposal to join in September, a deal that was later adopted by Utah. In order not to leave UNLV, MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevares promised the rebels a one-time payment of 24.5 percent of the poaching fees owed by the PAC-12, according to numerous reports.

MWC is currently tried by PAC-12 and Boise State, Colorado State and Utah for poaching and exit fees. The lump sum payment of the rebels can be significantly less than the promised amount.

Finance and litigation aside, Unlv is historically weak in football and has not reached the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The rebels have no mass market studies dominated by professional sports.

When looking at the market, location and recent football success, UNLV looks like a perfect adaptation for the new PAC-12.

But the rebels have real financial problems and it seems that they are prioritizing MWC’s previous money-it is assumed that it comes for a longer bet with PAC-12.

Without a recent success in men’s basketball and a historically weak football program, the rebels are not worth breaking the bank. But if the MWC loses in court and the single payment of UNLV turns out to be relative peanuts, the rebels may return to the PAC-12. And if they do, the PAC-12 should be ready to throw.