Air Force and UNLV are staying in the Mountain West Conference despite the Pac-12's efforts to land both schools.

The Mountain West announced that all seven remaining schools signed a memorandum to remain in the league:

Brett McMurphy of The Action Network first reported that Air Force and UNLV were expected to announce their intention to remain in the league despite recent conversations with the Pac-12.

In exchange for their loyalty, Air Force and UNLV will reportedly each receive a signing bonus worth between $25 million and $30 million, which will be drawn from the exit fees the Mountain West is expected to receive from Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State after they decided to leave the MWC for the Pac-12.

The Pac-12 essentially collapsed last year, as Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford and California all departed for other conferences.

That left Oregon State and Washington State as the only Pac-12 schools left standing, and they subsequently entered into a working relationship with the Mountain West Conference that would allow both Oregon State and Washington State to play MWC schedules in 2024 without officially joining the conference.

Despite the working relationship, the Pac-12 recently went to work on rebuilding the conference by poaching several Mountain West schools.

Per McMurphy, the Mountain West is expecting to receive $155 million in exit fees and "poaching fees" from the Pac-12 and the former MWC schools that decided to leave, but the Pac-12 has filed a lawsuit on the grounds that it should not have to pay $55 million in poaching fees.

In response, Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez released a statement in which she asserted that the Pac-12 already contractually agreed to the poaching fee stipulation:

"The Pac-12 Conference is challenging a contractual provision that it expressly agreed to and acknowledged was essential to the Mountain West Conference's willingness to enter into a scheduling agreement, all while advised by sophisticated legal counsel. The provision was put in place to protect the Mountain West Conference from this exact scenario.

"The Pac-12 has taken advantage of our willingness to help them and enter into a scheduling agreement with full acknowledgment and legal understanding of their obligations. Now that they have carried out their plan to recruit certain Mountain West schools, they want to walk back what they legally agreed to."

With Air Force and UNLV reportedly reaffirming their commitment to the Mountain West, both the Pac-12 and Mountain West Conferences currently have seven teams in place.

In order for both conferences to be recognized as official conferences by the FBS and to be eligible for the College Football Playoff, they must both get to eight teams by 2026.

Key American Athletic Conference members Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA all committed to the AAC earlier this week amid rumored interest from the Pac-12.

That leaves the Pac-12 and Mountain West with somewhat limited options, although they could attempt to lure teams from Conference USA or the Sun Belt Conference, or perhaps look toward some of the top FCS football programs.