WCC to vote on adding Oregon State, Washington State in most non-football sports: Source

The West Coast Conference has scheduled a meeting of its presidents for Thursday, with a vote likely to add the two schools in most non-football sports for the 2024-25 academic year, a WCC source told The Athletic. A successful vote would make WCC the temporary home for most of Oregon State and Washington State’s sports as the two remaining Pac-12 schools continue to chart their future.

Beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, the two schools would participate in all WCC-sponsored sports except baseball as affiliate members, which can participate in conference tournaments. It is not yet clear what the two baseball teams would do, the WCC source said, though it appears there is still an option for them to join the WCC. The schools may also opt to play as independents; Oregon State, a regular College World Series contender, would likely be able to compile a strong national schedule for the spring 2025 baseball season.

On Dec. 1, the two schools finalized a one-year scheduling agreement with the Mountain West for the 2024 football season, in which Mountain West schools will play seven conference games and one game against either OSU or WSU, which will not count in the Mountain West standings. Each of Oregon State and Washington State will play three Mountain West games at home and three on the road. Games against OSU and WSU will not count toward the conference standings, and neither Pac-12 school can compete in the Mountain West title game. The two schools are paying the conference around $14 million, a league source told The Athletic.

Oregon State and Washington State have spent the last several months figuring out their next move in the wake of the Pac-12’s collapse, with 10 members leaving for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC in 2024. The schools are also in an ongoing legal battle over control of the Pac-12 board and control over the league’s assets, which could total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Last week the Washington Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the University of Washington and the Pac-12, affirming Oregon State and Washington State’s control of the league until a trial or a settlement. The two schools have regained control of the league’s assets and its governance, and they believe there is a path to rebuilding and backfilling the Pac-12 conference down the road. NCAA rules allow for the two schools to operate as a two-member conference for a transitional period of two years before returning to a minimum of eight members. 

(Photo: James Snook / USA Today)