Pac-12 Reportedly Set To Continue As Two-Member Conference With Alliance To Another Conference

There appears to be some clarity on the future of the Pac-12 conference

This whole past year, college football fans have seen programs playing musical chairs with conferences following Texas and Oklahoma announcing they will be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. 

The Pac-12 was the next victim as they saw USC and UCLA head to the Big Ten despite Chip Kelly wishing the conference was able to stick together. The conference then had an entire year to figure out how to plan for the future, needing a new media rights deal and to expand, but as we all know neither of those things happened. Instead, Oregon and Washington followed the two Los Angeles schools to the Big Ten, the four corner schools are off to the Big 12 led by Colorado, and Stanford and Cal will be joining the ACC.

All of these moves not only helped lead to the demise of the Pac-12, but they also left Oregon State and Washington State without a home for the foreseeable future. The two still haven't officially announced their next step as they are in a legal battle with the Pac-12, but unless something drastic changes, they will not be in a Power 4 conference next year. What they will be doing instead, according to Yahoo's Ross Dellenger, is continuing on as a two-member conference. 

They also have had extensive discussions with the Mountain West about a one or two-year scheduling alliance, which Dellenger explained could lead to a long-term partnership or a merger with the league. Something that has always seemed imminent between the two parties, as there were even talks about having the Pac-12 add six Mountain West schools and forming a conference that college sports have never seen with promotion and relegation with the Pac-12 being the upper tier and the Mountain West the lower. Dellenger did explain the current hold-up, which is the legal issues with the Pac-12.

However, a decision from OSU and WSU remains absent as they await the results of their legal fight with the other 10 members of the Pac-12. Ahead of a scheduled court hearing next month, the parties are in mediation in efforts to reach a resolution on control of the Pac-12 and its assets, which includes millions of dollars.

When the dust from that mess settles, the expectation for 2024 is that they operate as a two-member conference whose schedule is mostly comprised of Mountain West foes and their respective in-state rivals Oregon and Washington. Also, whatever happens to them will certainly impact the future of the College Football Playoff, which is scheduled to change its format to 12 teams from four.

While this report provides some clarity until the lawsuit against the Pac-12 is solved this is far from over.