The Pacific-12 and Mountain West Conferences reportedly failed to agree on a scheduling deal by the Sunday deadline that would have extended the conferences’ collaboration into the 2025 season.
These two conferences are currently involved in an agreement in which every member of the MWC will play either Oregon State or Washington State, the only remaining members of the Pac-12, at least once, per Sports Illustrated.
In return, the PAC-12 is paying the MWC roughly $14 million for the season.
However, it appears this agreement is now unlikely to continue after a source close to the discussions confirmed to ESPN that there is “too big a gap” between what each conference wants.
The source stated that the disagreements in the negotiations were largely due to the Pac-12’s preference to maintain flexibility in the college football landscape, along with some debate about the financial aspects of another deal.
The lack of an agreement between the two conferences will have the largest impact on the remaining schools in the Pac-12, as each is now expected to begin building a fully independent schedule for the 2025 season, per ESPN.
The Pac-12 underwent significant changes during the offseason when 10 of the 12 teams in the conference opted to join other conferences, leaving Oregon State and Washington State as the only teams left.
The discussions between the Pac-12 and MWC followed an offseason that involved significant realignment. Multiple schools across the Lone Star State opted to switch conferences.
Some 15 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams moved into different conferences this summer, and even more schools are expected to announce conference changes sometime before the 2025 football season, per The Athletic.
Southern Methodist University reached an agreement in September to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, marking the first time since 1996 that it has been a member of a power conference, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
This realignment resulted in the university receiving historic support from donors. More than $159 million in donations were sent to the school after it announced that it would be joining a new conference in 2024.
Similarly, the University of Texas at Austin joined the Southeastern Conference this season after being a member of the Big 12 since 1996, as reported by DX.
