The Pac-12 conference began the process of rebuilding earlier this week, securing membership from four Mountain West programs: Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, and San Diego State.
The UNLV Rebels were not among the four programs accepted into the Pac-12, although the conference will need to get to at least eight programs by July of 2026 in order to compete at the FBS level.
While a lot of attention is on schools in the American conference, like Memphis, Tulane, or Tulsa, UNLV remains a compelling target for the Pac-12 – and it doesn’t hurt the football program is off to a 3-0 start with two wins over Big 12 programs after defeating Kansas on Friday evening.
The Pros
Few media markets are more coveted right now than Las Vegas, which has aggressively rebranded as a sports hub over the past decade or so – adding an NHL team, a WNBA team, and snagging the Raiders from Oakland.
College football and basketball games are frequently played in Las Vegas, including this year’s massive matchup between LSU and USC in Week 1 and multiple conference basketball tournaments, including the Mountain West, WCC, WAC, and the Pac-12.
UNLV gives the Pac-12 a steady footprint in Vegas, and that alone is a huge selling point for the program.
It also doesn’t hurt the team looks good right now under coach Barry Odom, going 9-5 last year and 6-2 in conference play before losing to Kansas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl – a loss they got revenge for on Friday.
Additionally, while the men’s basketball program hasn’t been great the past decade, the Rebels have a rich history of success in that realm – including a national championship back in 1991. Last year’s team went 21-13 overall and 12-6 in a very deep Mountain West conference, so there’s reason to believe they can compete at the Pac-12 level right away.
The Cons
UNLV is 12-5 in the Barry Odom era dating back to the start of the 2023 season, but the football history prior to his arrival is, to put it lightly, not good. The Rebels made just one bowl appearance between 2001 and 2023, a loss to North Texas in the Heart of Dallas bowl in 2013.
From 2014-2022 the Rebels went 29-74 overall and 19-51 in conference play, a stretch that included the final year of Bobby Hauck’s tenure and the entirety of coach Tony Sanchez and Marcus Arroyo’s time in Vegas. Odom has been great, but when (not if) he gets scooped up by another program, who’s to say the program won’t go right back to being a doormat – which is not what the Pac-12 is looking for in the early stages of rebuilding.
Plus, while the allure of Vegas as a market remains, UNLV doesn’t have its own football stadium which likely gives the Pac-12 some pause. The program currently plays at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, but not having a home arena curtails fan interest – especially in an area that is dominated by tourism traffic.
Lastly, it is possible the two Nevada schools, UNLV and Nevada, are expecting to be a package deal which almost certainly isn’t appealing to the Pac-12. Nevada is in a much smaller market and doesn’t have much track record for football, making them a very low priority for the conference at this time.
Verdict
Las Vegas is a huge media draw for a rebuilding conference like the Pac-12, and UNLV’s current hot start to the season and success in men’s basketball make it a bit of a surprise they were not added in the first wave of poaching via the Mountain West.
However, the poor history on the gridiron, lack of a home stadium, and potential tie to Nevada-Reno is plenty reason for the Pac-12 to look at other schools – namely Memphis, Tulane, or Tulsa – before making the Rebels a priority.