CORVALLIS, Oregon — There was a sense of optimism and new beginnings in the air Thursday outside Reser Stadium in Corvallis. Oregon State University (OSU) students and fans received word that four schools would be joining Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12 Conference. Pac-12 officials announced that San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State would be joining the league in the 2026-27 academic year.
“I think it’s exciting; I’ve been a fan of the Pac-12,” said Naveed Tate, an incoming freshman at OSU. Tate is from Long Beach, California, and began watching Oregon State football when they would play the University of Southern California.
“Hearing about the news that it was breaking apart, made me kind of sad because I was like, 'I’m never going to see USC play Oregon State at all.' But now hearing about the news it makes me feel excited again.”
Others, like Susie Iverson, were disappointed when ten teams left the Pac-12 at the end of last season.
“I seriously cried, I thought it was terrible, it was very sad,” she said. Iverson, whose daughter was a member of the OSU Swim Team when it was in the Pac-10, was excited to hear the news of the conference expansion.
“That’s a lot better; that’s a lot happier news,” she added.
Members of the OSU Dance Team were also enthusiastic about other schools joining OSU and WSU in the conference.
“How it’s growing is a really cool thing, especially with how everyone was so sad that it kind of collapsed a little bit. And now it’s cool to see it rebuilding,” explained Annie Perlenfein.
Teammate Abigail Lee added, “I think it’s really cool that we have more football teams joining us. I think the more the merrier, right?"
OSU Athletic Director Scott Barnes told KGW on Thursday afternoon that the Pac-12 isn’t done adding schools: “It’s really about the right members. That could be an additional two or four. So we will go through the process in earnest starting today, and really finetune what that process looks like and start the selection.”