San Diego State and the Mountain West Conference face an uncertain future together after SDSU appeared to indicate its intention to leave the league via written notice Friday.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported that SDSU President Adela de la Torre sent a letter to the MWC asking for a one-month extension to the June 30 deadline for a member to formally declare its intention to leave the conference for the 2024-25 athletic season. SDSU would have to pay the MWC about $17 million if it gives notice before that date but double that, $34 million, if it gives notice afterward.

What You Need To Know

  • San Diego State University finds itself in a state of limbo as it attempts to join a Power Five conference like the Pac-12 or Big 12 for the 2024-25 athletic year

  • Per reports, SDSU’s president sent a series of letters to the Mountain West on Friday asking for a one-month extension to possibly notify the MWC of its formal decision to leave to avoid a $17 million difference in exit fees

  • SDSU, with a men's basketball program on the rise and a new 35,000-seat football stadium, has yet to receive a formal invitation to another conference; Hawaii is a football-only member of the MWC

  • UH Athletic Director Craig Angelos forwarded Spectrum News' request for comment to Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, who could not be reached Friday

The Aztecs, one of the MWC’s marquee programs in men’s basketball and football, face a delicate timetable as there is — as of yet — no known offer of membership from a Power Five conference.

There has been widespread speculation that the Pac-12 or Big 12 could extend an invitation to SDSU as a result of UCLA and USC’s slated departure from the Pac-12 for the Big Ten for the 2024-25 athletic year.

SDSU Athletic Director John David Wicker told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday, “We’re doing our due diligence. Obviously there are a lot of discussions about potential opportunities available to us, and June 30 is coming up quickly. We’re just trying to understand what our options are.”

SDSU’s popular men’s basketball program was transformed under coach Steve Fisher in the 2000s and continued on an upward trajectory under his successor, Brian Dutcher. The Aztecs have been regulars on both Oahu and Maui for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic and Maui Jim Maui Invitational early-season tournaments. They attained history by reaching the 2023 NCAA March Madness championship game, losing to UConn.

SDSU’s new 35,000-seat SnapDragon Stadium is one of the gems of the conference. Hawaii state officials have toured it for ideas for what is possible at a future stadium in Halawa.

The University of Hawaii has been a football-only member in the Mountain West Conference since 2012. Over that period, MWC membership has remained steady. However, SDSU and Boise State previously had plans of joining the Big East Conference in 2013, only to see them scuttled just before they left.

Spectrum News reached out to new UH Athletic Director Craig Angelos for reaction on SDSU’s possible impending movement. Angelos replied that the MWC asked member institutions to forward inquiries to MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and declined comment.

A Spectrum News inquiry with the Mountain West did not receive an immediate reply on Friday afternoon.

San Diego State was one of the eight original breakaway teams from the Western Athletic Conference to form the Mountain West in 1999, along with BYU, Colorado State, UNLV, Air Force, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.

BYU left the MWC in 2011 to go independent in football and join the West Coast Conference in its other sports. Utah left for the Pac-12 in 2011 and TCU for the Big 12 in 2012.

Craig Thompson, the original commissioner of the MWC, retired at the end of 2022 and Nevarez has been on the job since Jan. 1.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.