The Pac-12 is moving forward with its long-discussed plan to rebuild the league with players from the Mountain West, sources tell Yahoo Sports.

The two-team conference of Washington State and Oregon State will add Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State to a new-look Pac-12. Those schools have applied for conference membership and have been accepted. They will join the league beginning in the 2026 school year.

The Pac-12 confirmed the additions in a statement Thursday morning.

Commissioner Teresa Gould and Pac-12 officials have spent the past year exploring options for their future after 10 schools left the league for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. They have long believed they can preserve the Pac-12 brand by rebuilding the conference through expansion, using its 108-year-old tradition, history and assets to attract new members.

This is expected to be the first phase in a multi-phase expansion project to reach at least eight schools — the minimum the NCAA requires to qualify as an FBS conference. With the aforementioned four joining, the league needs two more to complete the process. It must reach the minimum by July 2026, the end of the NCAA’s two-year grace period.

The Pac-12 board of directors must approve all membership applications. The deal was finalized Thursday.

The expansion doesn’t come cheap. Each Mountain West school is contractually locked into a $17 million exit fee, and the Pac-12 is responsible for an additional $10-12 million penalty for each school it acquires as part of a scheduling agreement the conference struck with the Mountain West.

After months of exploring future options, league officials decided to reshape the conference with an expansion approach. In negotiations with potential new members, Pac-12 officials and third parties presented a plan that included a new media rights agreement worth more than the MWC’s current or future television package, as well as the sponsorship potential of the Pac-12 brand.

The two schools offer attractive assets that could total millions of dollars as a result of the 10 schools leaving the conference, including money from the Rose Bowl contract, the College Football Playoff, NCAA basketball tournament assets and Pac-12 Enterprises, formerly the Pac-12 Network. The league lost its autonomous/power conference designation, a moniker that gave it greater voting power within the NCAA governing body and more revenue in the CFP distribution model. It is unclear whether the conference could regain such designation.

During Pac-12 Media Days in Las Vegas in July, Gould invited media, executives, coaches and players to a gathering to celebrate the conference, predict a bright future and envision a possible rebuild.

“There’s a lot of interest in a high-level conference that’s rooted on the West Coast,” she told Yahoo Sports at the time. “There’s a lot of interest in our communities and fan bases. A lot of people care deeply about the Pac-12 and the Pac-12 brand. There’s a lot of nostalgia about the possibility of a rebuild.”

The Pac-12’s first phase of expansion takes geographic and cultural significance into account while dealing a blow to rival Mountain West. The MWC, a 12-team soccer league that includes Hawaii, would lose some of its top brands despite a scheduling alliance with the Pac-12 that many feared would end with a reverse merger or merger with OSU and WSU.

Earlier this month, however, negotiations between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West over adding a second year to the football scheduling alliance for 2024 broke down, with insiders saying the fight was largely based on financial differences.

The Pac-12’s move could trigger a new round of realignment, at least for those schools at the Group of Five or even FCS level. To replace departing players, the Mountain West will likely evaluate potential members for promotion to FBS.

The Pac-12’s move could have another ripple effect on a grander stage: the College Football Playoff. Given the Pac-12’s departures, CFP leaders voted last year to alter the expanded 12-team playoff format, removing one automatic qualifying spot and adding an at-large bid for a format with five AQs for the top-ranked conference champions and seven at-large bids.

Over the next two years, the Pac-12 champion will not be eligible for an automatic qualifying spot because it does not meet the CFP minimum conference requirements. However, starting in 2026, the champion of a rebuilt Pac-12 would presumably be eligible for an automatic bid.