With the Pac-12 on its last legs, Washington State has been evaluating its options. What does the future hold for Cougars?
As told in a conversation with Enrique Cerna, Washington State has three options when it comes to conference realignment.
Per Brett McMurphy, the Cougars could either rebuild the Pac-12 with the other three schools remaining or move to another conference. The two options that the Cougars have are the AAC and Mountain West.
What conference will Washington State join?
With Oregon St, Washington St, Cal and Stanford being the only schools left in the Conference of Champions, it's gonna be very hard to be able to rebuild the Pac-12 as it once stood.
In all reality, adding schools from the Mountain West will likely put these four schools in lower standing than before. It is unclear if any schools would join the new Pac-12 anyway.
Obviously, the best decision for the sport would be for Washington St to join the mountain west. The Mountain West could use the school to bolster its conference which would help them in their next TV rights negotiations. The conference TV deal expires in the next three years.
The uncertainty of a TV deal makes it a risky decision for the Cougars to join the conference. This makes joining the AAC the best business option when it comes to conference realignment.
Yes, the distance between Washington St and the rest of the AAC schools would be funky but the damage to the Pac-12 has already been done. The Mountain West would make a lot more sense geographically but the AAC TV deal is more lucrative.
The AAC TV deal would allow Washington St to have a steady amount of income and does not have a grant of rights clause in it. Additionally, Washington State would be more likely to move back into a top conference if they are able to be the best football program in the AAC for consecutive years.
