As realignment looms, bill seeks to keep Washington, Washington State in same conference

Conference realignment has loomed large over college athletics in recent months. Texas and Oklahoma are waving farewell to the Big 12, bound for the SEC. Over the summer, both USC and UCLA announced plans to exit the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024. Rumors and whispers have swirled, and it was reported that Washington and Oregon had conducted “preliminary discussions” about also leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

A bill proposed in this year’s legislative session seeks to link Washington's two major universities in the same conference and aims to give state lawmakers input on a realignment decision. The measure’s primary sponsor, Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, hopes to see Washington and Washington State remain in the same conference.

MacEwen and Senate colleagues Jeff Holy, R-Spokane, and Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, have sponsored a bill that would require both UW and WSU to compete in the same conference. The boards of regents for both schools could jointly recommend participation in a different athletic conference, but a move would be subject to approval by the Legislature, the bill's text states.

“I think that both of those schools have rich history in this state, and I don’t think that decision should be made without public input via the Legislature,” MacEwen said of his proposal in an interview with the Kitsap Sun. “The intent of that bill is to, one, keep UW and WSU together, so we don’t end up losing one to a different conference and the other one is left in a conference that is dwindling, that being the Pac-12, and then at the same time, having the Legislature have input and oversight and approval of any major conference realignments. Looking at it from the taxpayer's viewpoint, I think we have every right to do that and make sure that we honor our rich tradition in this state of both those schools.”

“At the end of the day, the Legislature has got to approve it,” he added. “The intent of that is that we would keep the two schools together to preserve the traditions that have existed since statehood between the two schools. I look at it from that viewpoint that one can’t leave without the other.”

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MacEwen said constituents brought up the issue to him and noted that while he didn’t attend either school, his wife did go to Washington State. “So that kind of aligns where I’m cheering,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m open to suggestions, if there’s tweaks we need to do to satisfy the respective institutions, but again, at the end of the day, I believe firmly that the public should have a voice in that, and that’s through its elected officials in the Legislature,” he said. “I think there’s a reasonable chance we can get this done, sometimes legislation takes more than one session to do, but we’ll see if we can just get the bill to be heard (in a public hearing) and then we move from there.”

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: College football realignment: Bill seeks to link UW, Wazzu