Pac-12 announces conference-only for fall 2020
Late Friday afternoon it was announced the PAC-12 conference would be switching to a conference-only schedule for several of its fall sports members, including football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball, effective immediately.
Utah State football will now have to shift the schedule of its opening month of football, with two of its first three games currently against PAC-12 opponents — Sept. 3 vs Washington State and Sept. 19 at Washington. Neither Utah State volleyball or women’s soccer have released schedules for the 2020 season at this time.
Shortly after the PAC-12 released its statement, the Mountain West responded with a press release of its own from commissioner Craig Thompson. The statement was very brief, but with the caveat that they “will continue to evaluate the appropriate decisions and the proper timing going forward.”
MW Responds to 2020 All Sports Announcement pic.twitter.com/3mMTVCcjjq
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) July 10, 2020
The Sept. 3 opener against the Cougars was the first of a home-and-home series between Utah State and the Washington school, with the Aggies scheduled to travel to Pullman for the 2021 season opener. In addition, the Aggies were reportedly due a $1.5 million check for their trip to Seattle to face Washington this season, matching its payout from last season’s trip to Baton Rouge in which the team faced eventual national champions, LSU.
The Pac-12 became the second power five conference to announce a league-only schedule, following the Big Ten’s announcement earlier in the week. Based on these decisions, and the speculation around California State University system’s decision and how it affects California college athletics, the Mountain West could be one of the next conferences to announce a change to its schedule structure for the 2020 season.
Most likely, the Mountain West will delay any decision on cancellations or postponements until later in July or early August in order to mull over all the possible scenarios to continue with a college football season, given the amount of revenue sports like football and men’s basketball generate for the university and its other sports programs.
@dren_sports
— sports@usustatesman.com