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The Sept. 1 deadline to renew the football scheduling partnership between the Pac-12 and Mountain West passed this weekend without a formal agreement. It “does not appear” that the deal will be renewed at all, even at a later date, one source confirms to Front Office Sports.
The main sticking point was over the fee structure, a Mountain West league source told FOS. The Pac-12 tried to negotiate the terms down in order to secure a renewal, the source said—but Mountain West schools would not accept their offer.
The agreement, inked in December, allowed the two-member Pac-12 to be slotted into Mountain West conference play for the 2024–25 season. It provided an option for the partnership to continue into the 2025–26 season. The deal was seen as mutually beneficial: Oregon State and Washington State got a ready-made slate with local Group of 5 programs, which gave them a solid strength of schedule. In exchange, the Mountain West schools received a scheduling boost of their own, as well as millions of dollars in fees paid by the Pac-12 in order to participate.
In total, the Pac-12 is paying $14 million in three separate types of fees for the one-year partnership, according to a copy of the agreement previously obtained by FOS. Divided up by the six home games where Pac-12 schools are hosting Mountain West schools (and are, therefore, akin to “guarantee” games), the partnership amounts to more than $2 million per game. That’s more than most, if not all, reported guarantee games this season.
Even during conversations with the Mountain West, the Pac-12 has been considering other options, like scheduling as if the two schools were FBS independents, commissioner Teresa Gould told FOS in an interview last week. WSU already has five opponents scheduled for 2025, while OSU has six. OSU and WSU could schedule single games with specific Mountain West schools, for example. Filling the rest of each school’s schedules with one-off matchups would be difficult, but not impossible.
“For the 2025 season, the Mountain West and its member institutions are moving forward with their conference and nonconference schedules,” the conference said in a statement. “Our focus remains on the current season and our exceptional teams.”
The Pac-12 will not, however, have the opportunity to rebuild itself using Mountain West schools unless they want to shell out millions. The scheduling partnership included a stipulation that if a Mountain West school defected to the Pac-12, the Pac-12 would owe a $10 million fee to the Mountain West, with multimillion-dollar escalator fees for each additional school, according to the contract. The Pac-12 would, however, be allowed to create a reverse merger with the entire Mountain West without a penalty.
The currently undefeated Pac-12 has two years to rebuild itself into at least an eight-member conference if it wants to maintain FBS status, according to NCAA rules. This year, the conference is doing its best to stay afloat. But next year, it will likely have to position itself for a longer-term solution.
This story has been updated to reflect new reporting.
