An already busy weekend in Fort Collins got busier Thursday as Colorado State officially announced it will join the Pac-12 in 2026, alongside fellow Mountain West schools Boise State, Fresno State and San Diego State.

With Oregon State and Washington State leading the effort to keep the conference alive, the new-look league still must add two more universities to be considered an FBS program after the two-year grace period expires following the mass exodus of 10 schools out of the Pac-12.

CSU president Amy Parsons and athletic director John Weber discussed the move (and Saturday’s Rocky Mountain Showdown at Canvas Stadium) with The Denver Gazette:

DG: How quickly did this all come together — and what is your excitement level?

Weber: There’s obviously a lot of excitement around this opportunity. When you look at the timing of this, let’s be honest, we’ve been working on this for a decade. We’re actually sitting over in Canvas Stadium right now (and) we built this facility with this sort of opportunity in mind. We’ve continued to invest in our women’s and men’s programs with this in mind. The culmination of this coming to bear is a great day, an historic day for Colorado State and it’s something that we’re all very, very excited about.

DG: John, what does it mean to you to pull this off in your first year as AD?

Weber: President Parsons and I both belong to this university and it’s a special opportunity for us to usher in a new era for Colorado State and to be a part of that… it’s something that — I won’t speak for her, but I’ll speak for myself — something that I’m proud of and I know our entire athletics programming and department is very proud of as well.

Parsons: I’ll just thank John’s energy and enthusiasm and focus to this program since he’s been AD. As he said, we’ve been working toward this day for a very long time and building genuine strength in our academics and our research and our academic programs and our facilities. Also, these things happen fast, right? When they break and the opportunities are there, you have to have the team that really knows how to take advantage of them and move us forward and John and his team have absolutely done that.

DG: There’ve been some people who think this is little more than a lateral move to a conference with a different name. How big is this move for CSU?

Weber: It’s an enormous opportunity for Colorado State, not just athletics, but across campus with everything that Colorado State seems to achieve. We’ve got an opportunity to join a storied conference with a very long history, something that we’re very proud to be able to do. We’re joining with three other institutions from the Mountain West that we are excited to be partners with going forward and the opportunity, alongside Oregon State and Washington State, to really build up the Pac-12 again in a way that can be highly differential is an opportunity that none of us could pass up. It’s a phenomenal opportunity for all of us.

DG: How quickly do you hope things move in terms of more expansion? I know you guys will have a say in that as well.

Weber: We’re all equal partners in the conference, all six of us. We’re going to do the right thing. So, there’s an element of speed but, the bigger element here is making sure that we do the right thing and that’s something that we’re all gonna get to work on here rather shortly.

DG: Wyoming is not part of this move, so how much of a priority is it for you guys to make sure the Border War is an annual non-conference game?

Weber: It’s important to both of our institutions. I did speak with (Wyoming) athletic director Tom Burman briefly (Thursday) morning and we both expressed to each other the desire to make sure that we’re both in a position that we can continue to play that game. It’s important to the Wyoming fan base. It’s important to the Colorado State fan base and I really look forward to being able to figure that out.

DG: The timing for this move couldn’t be much better with the game this weekend (against Colorado). How big is this weekend for CSU?

Weber: We’re excited to have Colorado here. It’s the first time that they’ve been on campus since 1996. We’re gonna have a packed house here in Canvas. It’s gonna be an absolutely great day. It was highly coincidental in terms of timing the way that this came together, but, hey, every now and then a coincidence works out in your favor, right?

Parsons: I wish we could take credit for the timing to be able to announce our move to the Pac-12 right before this game. But it does really give us an opportunity to talk about how important this is for CSU really at a national level.

DG: What goes into this game this weekend as well? 

Weber: A lot of work has gone into it. We’ve collaborated with all the groups all across campus, with city officials, with county officials and our security forces and everything to make sure that we put together a respectful, fun and exciting time on Saturday. It’s been a big focus for us. We’re going to be on the national stage and we’re gonna produce one heck of a fun atmosphere on Saturday. I can’t wait for kickoff.

Parsons: The weather looks like it’s gonna cooperate with us. We’re going to have an amazing game day atmosphere all across campus. So we’re excited to be able to show off what CSU does on game day, how great of a college town Fort Collins is. I think that the kick time of 5:30 (p.m.) is really playing in our favor as well. If you remember last year, the kick was much later. We played until the middle of the night. But this time a 5:30 kick, perfect weather here in September in Fort Collins, I think it’s going to make Colorado look amazing. It’s an advertisement for both of our schools in a very real way, but it gives us a chance to really just show off CSU and Fort Collins.

DG: How important is this move for basketball and the Olympic sports at CSU?

Weber: It’s important for all of our programs, not just football. The opportunity to move our programs into the Pac-12, to level up the competition, it’s something that all of our coaches and all of our student athletes are excited about. One of the first student athletes that I came across this morning, she was upset that she graduates before she has an opportunity to play in the Pac-12. So, it’s something that’s very meaningful to everyone here.