diff --git a/cmd/release-controller/sync_release.go b/cmd/release-controller/sync_release.go
index 3c7bc85bd..6d654603c 100644
--- a/cmd/release-controller/sync_release.go
+++ b/cmd/release-controller/sync_release.go
@@ -375,6 +375,10 @@ func jobIsComplete(job *batchv1.Job) (succeeded bool, complete bool) {
 // Command should be like:
 // $ oc image mirror --keep-manifest-list=true registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release:4.17.0-0.ci-2024-08-30-110931 quay.io/openshift-release-dev/dev-release:4.17.0-0.ci-2024-08-30-110931
 func (c *Controller) ensureReleaseMirrorJob(release *releasecontroller.Release, name string, mirror *imagev1.ImageStream) (*batchv1.Job, error) { //nolint:unused
+	if len(release.Config.AlternateImageRepository) == 0 {
+		klog.Warningf("Unable to create release mirror job for %s: no alternateImageRepository defined", name)
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	return c.ensureJob(releaseMirrorJobName(name), nil, func() (*batchv1.Job, error) {
 		fromImage := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", release.Target.Status.PublicDockerImageRepository, name)
 		toImage := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", release.Config.AlternateImageRepository, name)