The deadline of September 1 for the Mountain West, Washington State, and Oregon State to reach an agreement on renewing their football scheduling arrangement has passed without a deal. The conference stated on Monday that it is now preparing to create schedules for the next season without the involvement of the Pac-12 schools.
This announcement does not completely rule out the possibility of the two parties reaching a new agreement as the Mountain West usually does not finalize its conference football schedule until December or January.
The Mountain West conference affirmed in a statement that for the 2025 season, it and its member institutions will proceed with their conference and nonconference schedules.
Following the departure of 10 Pac-12 schools to other power conferences this year, Oregon State and Washington State have been functioning as a two-team league for this season and plan to continue this arrangement into 2025.
To complete their football schedules, Washington State and Oregon State had initially struck a deal with the Mountain West to engage in six games against those schools, which would not count towards the conference standings. For this year, the agreement involved a payment of approximately $14 million to the Mountain West.
Originally, the Mountain West and the Pac-12 schools had expressed interest in potentially extending the agreement for another year by the September 1 deadline, but unfortunately, they were unable to reach an agreement.
Oregon State currently has seven football games scheduled for the next season, including a match against Washington State. Meanwhile, Washington State has six games scheduled, including their conference game against the Beavers, as major college football teams typically have 12-game regular seasons.
Additionally, Mountain West schools have the option to organize games separately with Oregon State and Washington State.
Moreover, Oregon State and Washington State have entered into a separate scheduling agreement with the West Coast Conference for basketball and other Olympic sports. However, this agreement does not include Oregon State’s renowned baseball program, which is currently operating independently this academic year.
Both schools are taking advantage of an NCAA rule that allows them to function as a two-team conference for a period of two years. School leaders have indicated that their primary focus is to strengthen the Pac-12 conference and have amassed significant funds from conference-related activities that they hope will support these efforts.
As part of their agreement with the Mountain West, there are provisions for additional fees amounting to millions of dollars over the next two years if Oregon State and Washington State attempt to include Mountain West schools in the Pac-12.
