San Diego has the feel of a sports boomtown right now.

On May 18, the city received a Major League Soccer expansion franchise. In April, San Diego State men’s basketball played in the national championship game. Fernando Tatis Jr. is back with the Padres for the first time since 2021. Manchester United will play Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham FC at Snapdragon Stadium in July, and the stadium will host a Gold Cup semifinal that month as well. Since the Chargers left in 2017, the sports scene has rebounded in a big way.

But the final transformative sports move set to hit the city this year remains without a launch date: San Diego State’s invitation to join a Power 5 conference.

To talk to people around San Diego State, the Mountain West and elsewhere in college sports, an invite is all but inevitable after USC and UCLA signed up for the Big Ten. The Pac-12’s drawn-out media rights negotiations have slowed the process, but whether it’s the Pac-12 or the Big 12, a monumental move is likely on the way.

“One or the other is going to happen,” San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker told The Athletic in April. “We’re excited for the opportunity, and we’ve done a lot of work to prepare for that.”