Here we go, folks!
ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that San Diego State University has written a letter to the Mountain West Conference that it “intends” to exit the league. In case you are wondering, no — the Pac-12 has not yet extended a formal invitation to the Aztecs to join the conference and replace USC as a Southern California-based member of the conference.
However, we can all put two and two together and reasonably conclude that the process of transitioning from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 is underway.
That doesn’t guarantee it will happen, but it certainly increases the odds. San Diego State had to make a movement such as this to initiate the process if that process was going to happen. Now we can even more seriously consider the possibility that the Aztecs will move to the Pac-12.
This is not a done deal. This is not a guarantee. It does, however, represent real movement — and not just a rumor or wild speculation — about the Aztecs and their future, which will affect other aspects of college sports realignment.
Here's our @ESPN story on San Diego State's June 13 letter to the Mountain West that it "intends" to exit. SDSU does not have an invitation to the Pac-12, according a source. "SDSU is exploring all of the options and asking all the questions." https://t.co/nrRYjhhgA6
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 16, 2023
Below are various reports, tweets, and elements of speculation from the past several months surrounding SDSU and the Pac-12. Enjoy reading them, because as you probably know, speculation has been a constant feature of realignment talk. Today, we finally have a story which puts some meat on the bone and isn’t pure 100-percent rumor: