Oregon State, Washington State release statement following agreement on new College Football Playoff revenue distribution split
The College Football Playoff leaders have agreed to a new playoff format and revenue distribution split, and the remaining two Pac-12 members have issued a statement following the decision.
The Washington State Office of the President shared a joint statement from Oregon State and Washington State.
“The College Football Playoff’s decision to drastically reduce the Pac-12 Conference’s rightful share of CFP revenues beginning in 2026 means that the future financial gap we are challenged to solve may widen significantly,” the statement read.
“Our commitment to student-athletes, however, remains unquestioned, and the excellence of OSU’s and WSU’s athletics programs cannot be denied. We have proven we are up to these challenges. Negotiations with the CFP continue, and we continue to explore all options on behalf of student-athletes and our universities.”
The agreement between the CFP leaders calls for a 58% share of the revenue from the new College Football Playoff deal to go to the Big Ten and the SEC, 32% to go to the Big 12 and ACC and 10% to go to Notre Dame and the Group of Five conferences.
That leaves the two former Pac-12 schools with the smallest piece of the pie going forward.
With the landscape of college athletics rapidly changing, including the College Football Playoff, that could easily pose significant problems down the road. Among the concerns is that college athletics may soon go to a revenue-sharing model.
In addition to new College Football Playoff, stakeholders girding for revenue-sharing model
Every college sports stakeholder is bracing for a new financial world order, where the ability to maximize revenue will be even more critical than it has been in the age of the facilities arms race and escalating coaches’ salaries.
A revenue-sharing model is almost certainly coming to high-level college athletics, whether it is ushered in through court proceedings or voluntary moves by leagues or the NCAA. Athletes for the first time are expected to receive a share of the enormous broadcast rights pies.
College athletics is also girding for potentially unfavorable outcomes – or a settlement – in several antitrust lawsuits. That includes the House case, which could put the NCAA and power leagues on the hook for $4.2 billion in damages if a settlement is not reached before January’s trial.
Asked recently what schools can do to prepare for a potentially large damages bill, Casey Schwab, CEO and founding partner of Altius Sports Partners, told On3: “There are two levers that every AD has to think about: The first one is cutting expenses, the second one is growing revenue. It’s no different than how any banker, any for-profit leader would think. And I’m not here to suggest that college athletics should turn into a strictly for-profit endeavor. But the problem we’re facing is an economics problem. You have to solve an economics problem with economic solutions.”
On3’s Eric Prisbell also contributed to this report.