The Pac-12 Conference filed a lawsuit on Tuesday regarding the millions of dollars in penalties that the Mountain West Conference thinks is owed to them for the Pac-12 acquiring 5 Mountain West schools.
The Pac-12 has described the penalties as “unlawful, unenforceable and a violation of antitrust law.”
Right now, the biggest battle between the 2 conferences isn’t playing out on a football field but rather in a courthouse.
The Pac-12 filed the lawsuit on Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the conference is seeking declaratory relief.
This is related to the “poaching penalty” included in a scheduling deal the leagues entered. Penalty is $10M per school & increasing by ~$1M w/each additional school.
It is not related to the exit fees owed to the MWC – an additional $17M+ per school.https://t.co/WQD42RCoiy
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 24, 2024
All of this is related to the “poaching penalty” that was included in a scheduling deal that both leagues entered. It is not related to the exit fees that are owed to the Mountain West.
Both the Pac-12 and the Mountain West are trying desperately to get to 8 member schools, which is the minimum required to qualify as an FBS conference.
The conferences must reach that minimum by July of 2026, which is the end of the NCAA’s 2-year grace period.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West, which have long been thought of as sister conferences, are both in a realignment struggle for new members in order to get to that minimum for FBS status.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
