It’s been a few months, and we’re still on pause with the Pac12 expansion. To catch you up on what happened back in September, 5 Mountain West teams agreed to leave the conference to join the rebuilding Pac12: Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State, and Boise State. Shortly after, Gonzaga also agreed to join as a full member.
This expansion didn’t come cheap, with the PAC12 paying millions in fees to the Mountain West to acquire these teams. However, these fees didn’t come without some controversy. The Mountain West and PAC12 are engaged in an anti-trust lawsuit regarding a portion of these fees. The “Poaching Fees” portion has been contentious, amounting to $55 Million, which the PAC12 is attempting to retain.
The PAC-12 claims it’s duplicative, having both the poaching fee and an exit fee, stating that it only aims to harm the PAC-12's ability to expand. Mountain West is having none of this, though, claiming the PAC-12 knowingly agreed to the fee when it pursued its members. Now, Mountain West seeks the case dismissed, with a hearing date over the dismissal set for March 2025. Of course, the two parties could reach an agreement before, but that isn’t likely.
If things aren’t already complicated between the two former friends, Utah State and Colorado State are now independently suing the Mountain West over exit feelings. They claim the conference committee changed bylaws without the departing universities at the vote. However, they attest that the departing schools still have voting privileges in the conference.
A bylaw in the Mountain West requires a written letter and a $5000 payment to exit the conference formally. So far, the departing teams have yet to present the conference with an exit letter or payment. This means the departing members should have been involved in any conference voting, as they are still formally members.
Colorado State and Utah State claim there have been secret committee meetings without the departing members' knowledge. If this is true, the committee may be violating their voting rights.
We’ll have to see how far these claims go, but it could give the departing schools a leg up in negotiating the exit fees. Regardless, things feel far from done between these two conferences,
Beyond the lawsuits everywhere, the Mountain West has added two new members, with a third on the horizon. UC Davis has been admitted as a non-football member, while Grand Canyon University has joined as a limited member including men's basketball. The conference is also expected to add Northern Illinois University as a football-only member. This would bring the Mountain West to nine football and ten basketball members, making it a respectable group conference despite losing several key programs.
In terms of PAC-12 news, there hasn’t been much. There have been a few light rumors about the potential media rights deal, but nothing concrete. They are most likely waiting for the lawsuits to resolve before they lock into a number. The main reason these lawsuits have become such a big issue for the PAC is their impact on recruiting new members. The PAC is still short at least one member, and it looks like they’d rather wait to see if they can recover some capital to lure a higher-quality program.
If they can, maybe some universities like Memphis or Tulsa, who shot down the PAC’s last offer, would reconsider. If not, the PAC is still in a rough spot; they’ll need at least one more full member by July of 2026 to maintain their conference status under the NCAA. The longer they wait to move, the higher the cost will likely be to acquire an additional program.
In my opinion, the lawsuits probably won’t go anywhere. I’m not an attorney or anything, but we’ve seen this before. Teams sue after leaving to renegotiate their exit fees and try to save some money. However, the Utah State and Colorado State lawsuits might have some teeth, but we’ll have to see.
The Mountain West seems to be healing well. They’ve added some solid new members and look poised to recover quickly despite losing some of their top programs.
It’s harder to tell how the PAC is doing. If the media deal comes back reasonable, they may have some strong suitors knocking at their door. However, the media rights will likely not be anywhere near what the ACC or BIG12 pull in. Their appeal is limited with so few members, mainly in small media markets. The PAC12 name might hold enough appeal to earn them more than the group conferences, but the road to recovering the conference is far from over.