Sources: Oregon State, Washington State working on agreement with WCC for non-football sports
Oregon State and Washington State are working on an affiliate agreement with the West Coast Conference for men’s and women’s basketball as well as other sports, sources tell Yahoo Sports. The working agreement has not been finalized but is expected this week, barring any unforeseen hurdles.
Under the agreement, selected Beavers and Cougars athletic teams, most notably the basketball squads, will compete in the WCC as affiliate members. Their games will count toward the league standings, and they will compete in conference tournaments with the possibility of winning the event and claiming the league’s automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA basketball tournaments, as well as other NCAA championships.
Particulars of the deal are unclear, but there is expected to be a financial incentive package for the WCC, a nine-school conference with members in California, Washington and Oregon. Discussions among OSU, WSU and the WCC were centered on basketball as well as several Olympic sports, but according to the original proposal, baseball was not part of the package.
Oregon State and Washington State, the two leftover members of the collapsed Pac-12, have been in search of a home for their other sports since agreeing to a scheduling partnership with the Mountain West for next season and potentially 2025. Officials from the two schools have been engrossed in dialogue with several leagues, but their discussions with the WCC have reached deep and serious levels over the past several days.
Washington State and Oregon State plan to continue to exist as a two-team conference for the next two years, using an NCAA grace period to potentially rebuild the Pac-12. The NCAA will recognize the two as a conference through the 2025-26 academic year before they must return to eight members, the FBS minimum for conference designation.
However, being recognized as a conference does not grant them the ability to retain the Pac-12’s automatic qualifying spots to NCAA championships. AQs require a sport-specific minimum of six participating members, according to NCAA bylaws. Landing their sports in the WCC — or any other league — paves the way for all athletic teams to still compete for an automatic qualifying spot.
