Las Vegas • Nine months ago, as the Pac-12 neared collapse with the impending departure of 10 of its schools for other conferences, a union between the conference’s remaining two members and the Mountain West seemed almost inevitable. Oregon State and Washington State needed a home, and the 12-team Mountain West was the only FBS conference remaining that could claim a truly West Coast footprint.
But when the leagues appeared in Sin City separately for their respective media events earlier this month, there remained little to no momentum for a permanent resolution between them. That’s because both sides still want different things.
The Pac-2 held an open-bar cocktail event in a Bellagio conference room, where former Washington State quarterbacks Ryan Leaf and Jack Thompson criticized those who left their alma mater behind and mascot Butch T. Cougar wore a red jacket and let his chest fur breathe. With only a two-year window to operate as a two-team conference per NCAA rules, Oregon State and Washington State are hoping for further realignment chaos, hoping a Power 4 invitation or new possibility emerges.
The Mountain West held its media days within the world’s largest sportsbook at Circa, pushing excitement about a deep league and opportunity in a new 12-team College Football Playoff. The conference wants stability, not chaos, and some league members have wondered privately why they should give another lifeline to the Pac-2 without a long-term agreement, even as everyone stays cordial publicly.
Last December, the parties agreed to a one-year football scheduling agreement, helping the Beavers and Cougars secure six additional Mountain West opponents for their 2024 football schedules in exchange for more than $14 million. The contract spoke of working toward a basketball agreement that never transpired. Oregon State and Washington State’s programs in that sport and most others will operate as affiliate members under a two-year contract with the West Coast Conference instead. (Oregon State baseball opted for independence.) Both sides say an agreement on a 2025 football schedule needs to happen before the 2024 season kicks off. So will it?
“I’m pretty confident,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said. “You never know with how contracting goes. It was built in anticipation as a two-year schedule. Because that’s how you mitigate competitive inequities, and we figure if we’re going to do it, it’s easier to do two. It’s not for any reason except for we had to get through June meetings, then July gets kind of quiet. (Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould) and I have been talking, and it’s just been a phone tag thing.”
That football agreement also laid out in writing a “good faith” effort for the Pac-12 to absorb all Mountain West schools under the Pac-12 banner at no cost, “as promptly as reasonably practicable,” in time for the 2025-26 or 2026-27 seasons. That hasn’t happened.
Oregon State has six games on its 2025 football schedule and Washington State has five, not including a matchup with each other. Mountain West schools could theoretically fill out those schedules individually, or they could hold firm together and secure another conference-wide agreement.
“We’ll have to see if everything falls into place or we explore a different path for that second year,” new Washington State athletic director Anne McCoy said, “or if everything goes forward with the Mountain West.”
Big picture, Oregon State and Washington State want to buy as much time as possible and see what happens elsewhere — perhaps, say, if Florida State and Clemson try to officially leave the ACC, that league might explore getting back to 17 members. Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes told The Athletic earlier this year that joining a Power 4 conference is the top priority, followed by some merger with the Mountain West.
function onSignUp() { const token = grecaptcha.getResponse(); if (!token) { alert("Please verify the reCAPTCHA!"); } else { axios .post( "https://8c0ug47jei.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/dev/newsletter/checkCaptcha", { token, env: "PROD", } ) .then(({ data: { message } }) => { console.log(message); if (message === "Human
