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Pac-12, Mountain West ‘too far apart’ as negotiations over 2025 scheduling partnership break down

Fans cheer as Washington State receiver Kyle Williams (2) runs the ball in for a touchdown during the Cougars’ victory over Portland State on Saturday at Gesa Field in Pullman. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Chris Vannini The Athletic

The Pac-12 and Mountain West’s self-imposed deadline for a 2025 football schedule agreement has passed with no extension, leaving the future schedules for Oregon State and Washington State up in the air.

The decision by OSU and WSU to remain a two-member Pac-12 conference after the departure of 10 schools gave them a two-year NCAA grace period to get back to at least eight members or find a new conference. To make up for short-term holes, OSU and WSU last year entered into a one-year football scheduling agreement with the Mountain West for 2024, with most other sports signing a two-year agreement with the West Coast Conference.

In the deal, the Mountain West took away one conference football game from each of its members and replaced it with a game against OSU or WSU. The move made the Pac-2’s schedules whole, in exchange for $14 million.

“The football scheduling arrangement with Oregon State and Washington State was a one-year agreement,” the Mountain West said in a statement Monday. “For the 2025 season, the Mountain West and its member institutions are moving forward with their conference and nonconference schedules. Our focus remains on the current season and our exceptional teams.”

An option to extend the football schedule to 2025 had a deadline of Sept. 1, 2024, but as The Athletic detailed in July, the sides already were growing apart. That deadline has passed without a 2025 agreement, and chances of getting back together appear slim. Why?

One reason is money. Oregon State and Washington State would rather not pay so much for six combined home games. The $14 million this year comes out to $2.3 million per home game, which is above the going rate for a nonconference home game. But it’s $1.16 million for each total game, home or away, if you prefer to count that way, at a time when OSU and WSU need games and there are limited options.

The Mountain West’s perspective is that it can take or leave a deal. Without one, it can go back to eight conference games — something its coaches would prefer because of the unbalanced 4/3 home or away league schedule for 2024. It feels it has the leverage. No deal, however, would take away from the G5-leading “Power 5” matchups talking point in 2025, a case the league has made this season for its strength of schedule.

The Pac-12’s perspective is that it can still find other options to create good home games, more exposure and improve its strength of schedule.

The money difference between the sides was far apart, according to people briefed on the negotiations,

So how can OSU and WSU fill the gaps? OSU has six announced games on the schedule and WSU has five. Throw in a game against each other, and that gets them to seven and six, respectively. They theoretically could play a second game against each other, as schools like Liberty and New Mexico State did recently as independents.

The MW/Pac-2 schedule contract is still intact until Aug. 1, 2025, and many obligations in it survive for two years past the end of the agreement. That includes penalties if OSU or WSU joins a conference that is not the Mountain West or a Power 4 conference.

For now, it appears OSU and WSU will try to cobble together a 2025 schedule based on what’s left on the board and then figure out a long-term future. They have time, but not much time.