Oregon State's scrappy 2025 football schedule costs millions less than the Mountain West agreement

There are new calculations for Oregon State regarding the 2025 football schedule.

To fill out next year's 12-game football schedule, Oregon State has come up with unusual contract agreements with multiple schools. There was a six-game gap when OSU-Washington State and the Mountain West were unable to agree on a 2025 schedule agreement.

In the end, Oregon State will pay about $3 million to add six games to the 2025 schedule. That's a savings of about $4 million over the $7 million the Mountain West paid for a six-game schedule agreement in 2024.

To get there, Oregon State got creative.

For example, OSU will pay Tulsa $500,000 to play an away game against the Golden Hurricanes next season. The Beavers agreed to a home game against Sam Houston State. They'll pay Sam Houston $1.2 million for next year's game in Corvallis and get $200,000 for a 2031 game at SHSU.

Over the past six weeks, Oregon State has completed its 2025 schedule with home games against Sam Houston State, Wake Forest, Lafayette and Washington State, as well as road games at Appalachian State and Tulsa.

The total cost of these games, excluding Washington State, is $2.95 million. The Oregonian/OregonLive received contracts for all games except Washington State, which has not yet been finalized. Beavers athletic director Scott Barnes said Oregon State is covering the majority of Washington State's travel expenses for the Nov. 1 game in Corvallis. Oregon State will compensate Washington State for the 2025 home game as it is an additional game to the original home-and-home agreement for 2024 (at OSU) and 2025 (at WSU).

Earlier this year, it planned to renew a schedule agreement with the Mountain West, but for less than the $7 million each OSU and Washington State spent in 2024. By the end of August, it was clear that OSU and WSU were on a different direction.

“The Mountain West part was untenable,” Barnes said.

Here's what you should know about deals with Tulsa, Sam Houston State, Lafayette and Appalachian State (The Oregonian/OregonLive previously reported on Wake Forest).

Tulsa: The schools agreed to a home contract with the 2025 game on Nov. 15 and a game at Oregon State on Sept. 18, 2032. OSU will pay for both games, $500,000 for the 2025 game and $250,000 in 2032 . Oregon State is paying for the game in 2025 to help Tulsa pay for a previously scheduled game. The visiting team can purchase at least 1,000 tickets and receive an additional 300 free tickets.

Sam Houston State: Another house-and-house deal with a twist. OSU will pay $1.2 million to host Sam Houston State for a game on Nov. 8, 2025. Part of that is helping SHSU buy out a previously scheduled game. The Beavers will receive $200,000 to play at Sam Houston on September 6, 2031. The deal also includes 300 free tickets to the host school for each game.

Appalachian State: A traditional home-and-home contract as each home school pays $250,000 for a game, on October 4, 2025 at Appalachian State and September 25, 2032 at Oregon State. The visiting team will also receive 500 free tickets, and another 1,000 tickets will be sent by post.

Lafayette: A standard one-game contract with an FCS school. Oregon State will pay $500,000 for an Oct. 18, 2025 game against Lafayette. The only ticket requirement is 300 free tickets.

In Wake Forest's case, as previously reported, Oregon State will pay $750,000 to host the Demon Deacons. Most of that goes to Wake Forest to help Mississippi, which had a game against the Demon Deacons in 2025.

Barnes didn't think the $3 million cost for the six additional games was a bargain, but said, “It's more representative of the market than where we were.” That's significant savings. I think we got the quality we needed.”

Home games against California, Fresno State and Houston as well as away games against Oregon, Texas Tech and Washington State are planned for 2025.

Barnes is confident Oregon State's two-year football scheduling odyssey is over. In 2026, the Beavers will begin play in the rebuilt Pac-12. When the Pac-12 lineup is finalized, OSU is expected to have seven or eight conference games and four or five nonconference games.

Currently, Oregon State has non-conference games scheduled against Texas Tech and Houston. Barnes said discussions are underway about adding two or three more games.

“It’s funny how much we took for granted when we had nine conference games. All you had to do was fill the hole with three and you were done,” Barnes said. “The last two years have been stressful. It was really hard. It will be great to have a base for conference play again.”

Ideally, Barnes would like to end up with eight conference games and four non-conference games. In the old Pac-12 format of nine conference games, Barnes' formula for nonconference games was a Power Five, a Group of Five, preferably a higher-tier program, and an FCS opponent.

With four non-conference games, Oregon State's goal is to schedule two Power Four opponents as well as a G5 and an FCS, Barnes said.

– Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, [email protected] or @nickdaschel.

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