As the clock ticks down to the seemingly inevitable demise of the Pac-12, Oregon State and Washington State find themselves in a very precarious position with nowhere to go.
Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, the two programs are no longer engaged in talks with the AAC about a potential move.
Oregon State and Washington State are the only schools that will be left in the Pac-12 after the 2023-24 academic year. The ACC announced Friday it is adding Stanford and Cal, as well as SMU, before the start of the 2024-25 academic year.
SMU has been in the AAC since 2013 when the conference reorganized from the old Big East.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco told reporters on Wednesday, amid rumors SMU could leave, that the conference had "contingency plans" in place.
The conference added six full-time members this year, including UAB, UNC-Charlotte, North Texas, Rice and UTSA.
Aresco also said he was "evaluating" Washington State and Oregon State as potential expansion targets and had an invitation to visit both schools, but there needed to be more discussion among current members about expansion.
Ross Dellenger @RossDellengerMike Aresco says the AAC is "evaluating" potential expansion targets in Washington State & Oregon State. "Kicking the tires."<br><br>He has an invite to visit those campuses & will "probably" do it, but he noted that further discussion on expansion among his league members is needed.
With the AAC apparently out of the running for both programs, the Mountain West could be the best option for Washington State and Oregon State to land on their feet.
The Athletic's Chris Vannini reported last week leaders from the Mountain West paid a visit to Washington State's campus to pitch school officials on potentially joining the conference.
Vannini noted Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez and New Mexico president Garnett Stokes were also expected to visit Oregon State at some point.
One potential solution to keep the Pac-12 alive is a "reverse merger" with the Mountain West in which the schools currently in the Mountain West vote to dissolve the conference to move to the Pac-12.
Jon Wilner of the Bay Area News Group noted the reverse merger might be more financially beneficial because the Pac-12 brand has more name recognition nationally than the Mountain West.
Of course, such a move would open up its own financial complications with the Mountain West having television deals with CBS and Fox Sports that run through the 2025-26 season.
The Pac-12's current media rights deals with ESPN and Fox expire at the end of the 2023-24 season. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic previously reported Apple TV offered the conference a five-year deal with an annual base rate of $23 million per school "with incentives based on projected subscribers to a Pac-12 streaming product akin to Apple's MLS League Pass."
That offer came before Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah decided to leave the Pac-12 after the 2023-24 season. Oregon and Washington are moving to the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are heading to the Big 12.
Washington State and Oregon State are two of the oldest members of the Pac-12. Oregon State originally joined in 1915, followed by Washington State two years later when it was known as the Pacific Coast Conference.
