San Diego State To Remain A Member Of Mountain West, Per Reports
Today’s deadline came and Aztecs elected to stay
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What is next for SDSU?
June 30 was a huge day for San Diego State as it was deadline day — 11 p.m. PT to be precise — for the Aztecs to decide a few things. The Aztecs had a few possibilities on the table.
- Remain in the Mountain West
- Proceed with leaving the Mountain West
- Proceed with leaving the Mountain West and get lawyers involved about the exit fee that will be $34 million if SDSU leaves on July 1 and move to a new league for the 2024-25 season
- Hope the Pac-12 invite was coming on June 30
According to ESPN, the Aztecs chose option one and will remain in the Mountain West.
Source: San Diego State is expected to deliver a notice to the Mountain West today that it will not withdraw from the league, as the school previously stated it intended to do. San Diego State plans to move forward as part of the Mountain West.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 30, 2023
This move is not to surprising as Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellinger reported earlier that the Pac-12 did not have a media rights deal in place. More importantly, the conference was not going to add teams until a media rights deal is put in place.
Pac-12 leadership reiterated that any expansion decisions will be made after a deal has been agreed to.
This puts San Diego State in a bind, as Aztecs must give Mountain West formal notice of withdrawal by today to avoid a doubling of the $17M exit fee for 2024 season.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 30, 2023
That information that the Aztecs received put San Diego State in a spot where they don’t officially have a conference to play in if they leave.
There are two things at play here. First, the Mountain West treated the back-and-forth letters between them and San Diego State as a notice of withdrawal.
The Mountain West could go with that and collect the $17 million and be on their way. For San Diego State, that would be crushing for all of its sports to try to find a conference and schedule for the 2024-25 year.
The only saving grace would be if the Pac-12 were to swoop in down the road after a media rights deal is in place.
Or… the Mountain West could be the bigger person and accept the Aztecs back. That would be the smart move would be to keep San Diego State in place for the conference.
All signs do point to San Diego State leaving at some point. The Mountain West should not give any special treatment or extension to the increased buyout if a Pac-12 invite were to come after July 1.
This time could be used as negotiations on both sides to find a deal that works for both sides. It is pointless to hold San Diego State around for an extra year — not unlike Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC — as that would be awkward.
Money is a real issue for San Diego State. There are a million ways a deal could be done. Spread out the payments over time like the AAC did for Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati.
That deal has those schools pay $18 million over 14 years. Some sort of extended payment option should be on the table or even getting some home games on the Mountain West side to have the Aztecs visit to get a few bucks for those schools.
Expect for the Mountain West to have San Diego State remain in the conference and not just kick them to the curb for the 2024 season.
The wise man of Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune may have said it best when he was on KSL Sports Zone in Salt Lake on June 29.
By saying that over the years, San Diego State has gotten the rug pulled out from under them, and he is not holding his breath. His overall tone of moving to the Pac-12 was not overly optimistic before the deadline.
One thing that hurts San Diego State and the Mountain West in figuring all of this out is that the Pac-12 is dragging its feet and taking its sweet time for a new media rights deal.
This is not over by any stretch and lawyers will get involved, but the smart play for the Mountain West is to not accept that withdrawal letter and have San Diego State remain in the league until it solidifies its future plans.
