Speculation about the Pac-12’s future has been rampant since Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Utah, and Washington made formal decisions to depart the conference after this academic year, leaving just four schools remaining.

Those schools — The University of California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State — are tasked with forging new paths, as they now have no full conference schedule in 2024, and bowls with Pac-12 affiliations are exploring other options.

Cal’s regents will meet Tuesday to discuss its future affiliation amid reports that the ACC could look to add both Cal and Stanford. But one other idea also picking up steam is a sort of merger between the Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference.