Throughout the 2023 college football season, the future of the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars was a major question mark. There were real concerns as to whether these two schools would find a home during the 2024 athletic season. Now, a vote this morning has finalized a deal for Oregon State and Washington State to have a new athletic conference home.
Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars Athletics Home
According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, The WCC (West Coast Conference) unanimously voted to approve Oregon State and Washington State joining the conference. This will be primarily for basketball and other smaller sports. However, there is a caveat to this.
No Football Allegiance
The deal does not include the football teams. Part of this is because the WCC does not have football teams. For the time being, Oregon State and Washington State do not have a home for their football teams in 2024. Their baseball teams will also not be playing in this conference.
When it comes to football, Oregon State and Washington State have a different deal in place. A few weeks ago, both schools finalized a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference (MWC). That deal includes each school playing six games during the regular season against MWC schools. It benefits Oregon State and Washington State because it covers at least half of their 2024 regular season schedule.
For now, Oregon State and Washington State have taken care of some conference scheduling issues for their athletic programs. However, they face a bigger issue of being left out of the Power-5 conferences. Right now, they are doing what they can with what they have.
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