Sac State to the Pac-12? After latest expansion, capital-area power brokers make a pitch

With the expansion announcement this week of the Pac-12 Conference — gutted when longstanding members bolted in recent years for richer television deals in other conferences — there is a push in California’s capital to have Sacramento State added to the 108-year-old league.

Sacramento State as of Friday afternoon has not made a formal statement of an athletics-program realignment, but a new executive committee dubbed “SAC 12” issued a statement Friday. Their aim is to the point: to get the Hornets athletic programs into a league that for decades went by “Conference of Champions,” citing media market size and a legacy of athletic success. Such a move would not happen until the fall of 2026.

The committee includes state Sen. Angelique Ashby, Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen and Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra, along with local business owners and alums. Nguyen and Guerra are Sac State grads, the latter a former student body president.

“Sacramento State and every student in their athletics programs deserves to compete in a conference that mirrors their talent, commitment and leadership,” Ashby said in the SAC 12 statement.

“The Hornets are not new to the scene. They’ve already shown their sustained ability to compete at the highest levels across multiple sports. This committee is on a mission to show the whole country what we here in Sacramento already know, that the Sac State Hornets are a force to be reckoned with on every field, court, pitch, track and course in the country. They are absolutely PAC-12 ready!”

Sacramento State fields 21 NCAA Division I sports teams that compete in various conferences. An all-sports move to the Pac-12 would be a move up in division and classification for the Hornets football program, the school’s most visible sports team and winners of three Big Sky Conferences since 2019, often labeled the top FCS-level leagues in the country. Among Sacramento State’s memorable football moments was beating Stanford 30-23 in Palo Alto last fall, the program’s greatest regular-season victory.

“It’s exciting to see key members of the Sacramento community celebrating the success of the Sacramento State Athletics program and sharing their interest in helping shape the vision of the future,” Sacramento State said in a statement. “It makes us proud to be part of such a wonderful, supportive community, and we will continue to support our student-athletes at the highest levels possible.”

Hornets football is ranked 11th this week in the FCS rankings heading into Saturday’s home opener against No. 24 Nicholls of Louisiana. FCS stands for Football Championship Subdivision, which went by Division I-AA from 1978 to 2005. FCS is one level below the FBS, which is what the Pac-12 fields.

FBS stands for Football Bowl Subdivision. FBS programs have more funding and more scholarship football players than FCS programs. FBS programs have richer television contracts, larger stadiums and arenas and, generally speaking, a lot more fans, which adds to the interest and revenue.

Sacramento State’s baseball, softball, gymnastics, volleyball, women’s basketball and track and field teams have fielded championship programs in recent years. Some of those teams have defeated Division I programs, including Stanford, Cal, UCLA, San Jose State and others.

What’s left of the Pac-12 now?

When Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Stanford, Washington, Oregon and Utah left the Pac-12, only Washington State and Oregon State remained.

On Thursday, the conference added four new members, effective in the fall of 2026. They are: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. This strips the Mountain West Conference of some of its most prominent programs.

Oregon State and Washington State are using the NCAA’s two-year grace period to revamp the conference.

The Pac-12 has to add two more schools to reach the NCAA minimum of eight for conference recognition, the loophole the SAC 12 committee is pouncing on.

But a move isn’t as easy as changing logos and schedules. A realignment to the Pac-12 would require athletic facility upgrades and renovations. The Hornets play in what has been deemed the poorest basketball facility in Division I, though there is a push to play the sport in an on-campus venue that feels more like an arena than an outdated old gym.

Spirited Sacramento State president Luke Wood told The Bee last November that new green paint on the tired old walls of “The Nest” was like “putting lipstick on a pig.”

Sac State would have largest media market

The talking points from the SAC 12 committee include Sacramento State being located in a city that has the nation’s 20th largest media market. This would make Sacramento the largest media market in the new-look Pac-12.

The committee also stressed that Sacramento State’s student population of more than 30,000 makes it the fourth-largest university in the California State University system.

Regarding the four additions planned for 2026, Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement Thursday: “For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics. We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”