Pac-12 ushers in major expansion news

Hayden Victoria

Pac-12 ushers in major expansion news  image

Multiple sources confirmed Wednesday that Dallas Baptist University will become a baseball affiliate of the Pac-12 Conference beginning in the 2027 season.

The move positions DBU, a perennial NCAA Tournament team, in a restructured Pac-12 seeking to strengthen its baseball profile and expand its recruiting footprint into Texas. The transition is scheduled for July 1, 2026, with DBU competing in its first Pac-12 campaign the following spring.

Official statements from the university and conference leadership have not yet been released. According to Baseball America, the addition has been confirmed by sources familiar with the conference’s realignment plans. Still, direct quotes from Dallas Baptist athletic director Connor Smith and Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould are unavailable as of publication.

Dallas Baptist currently competes in Conference USA and will finish out the 2026 baseball season before the switch. The university does not field a football team.

The Pac-12 move follows recent expansion efforts and ongoing conference realignment across collegiate athletics.

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Hayden Victoria

Hayden Victoria is the founding CEO of Texas Sports Network and currently serves as Head of Content at SEC Unfiltered while contributing to USA TODAY’s Longhorns Wire. A proud student at the University of Texas at Austin, he has been credentialed to cover premier events like the Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship, and NFL Combine.