Texas State has received a formal invitation to join the newly revived Pac-12 Conference in all sports beginning with the 2026-27 athletic year, according to multiple reports.

The school’s board of regents is set to vote on the issue Monday, ESPN is reporting. Texas State would leave the Sun Belt Conference, of which it has been a member since 2013.

According to a report by Brett McMurphy of Action Network, Louisiana Tech would likely be Texas State’s replacement in the Sun Belt. Louisiana-Monroe athletics director John Hartwell told supporters last week “things are heading in that direction.”

“I think it’s an outstanding opportunity, I don’t think it’s a slam dunk yet. Things are headed in that direction,” Hartwell said, via KNOE-TV. “I would say they are the odds-on favorite at this point, if the dominoes fall like they very well could.”

The first domino is Texas State, which would give the Pac-12 eight football-playing members along with holdovers Oregon State and Washington State and Mountain West imports Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State (basketball powerhouse Gonzaga, which does not play football, will also join the conference). The Pac-12 imploded following the 2023 “power” conference realignment, losing 10 of its schools to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC and leaving only Oregon State and Washington State from its previous membership.

Texas State is set to pay the Sun Belt a $5 million exit fee, which would double to $10 million on July 1 according to ESPN. The Bobcats would be the first football-playing school to leave the Sun Belt voluntarily since Western Kentucky departed for Conference USA in 2014 (football-only members Idaho and New Mexico State were essentially booted from the league after the 2017 season, after a four-year agreement was not renewed).

The move to the Sun Belt would be an interesting one for Louisiana Tech, which has long resisted the idea of being in the same conference as Louisiana and nearby ULM. In 2020, then-Bulldogs athletics director Tommy McClelland (who is now at Rice) scoffed at the idea of a potential CUSA-Sun Belt merger, which had been floated by Louisiana AD Bryan Maggard.

“If I were in (Louisiana’s) position, I’d be trying to figure out a way to move up to a level like Conference USA,” McClelland said, via KATC. “Congratulations on that conversation.”

The Sun Belt has since surpassed Conference USA in both national prestige and stability. CUSA in 2023 lost much of its core membership to the American Athletic Conference, which in turn had lost several prominent schools to the Big 12.

Tech’s move to the Sun Belt would drop Conference USA back to 10 members. CUSA is set to add Delaware this season to form an 11-team league along with Jacksonville State, Florida International, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP and Western Kentucky.