Pac-12 to Move to Conference Only Football Schedule

After the Big 10 announced Thursday that they would be moving to a conference only schedule in an effort to contain the risk of Covid-19, the Pac-12 appears to be following suit. According to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, and corroborated by Bryan Fischer of College Football Talk, the Pac-12 will announce its decision to move to a conference only football schedule in the next few days.

For the Beavers football program, this would mean losing games against Oklahoma State, Colorado State and Portland State. While the conference has likely been considering the move for some time, the decision was probably made easier after losing the marquees Washington vs. Michigan and Oregon vs. Ohio State games set for Week 1 of the season.

While the move could hurt the Beavers’ revenue, it will be a bigger issue for the smaller schools that were set to play against Pac-12 teams this season. The MAC is already reeling from the Big 10’s announcement, as their yearly match ups between the conferences contributed a significant amount to the MAC schools’ athletics budget. The Pac-12’s decision could put Mountain West and Big Sky schools in a similar situation.

In somewhat related news, it was announced that Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott tested positive for COVID-19 this week.