After the mass exodus of teams a few years ago, the Pac-12 has slowly been trying to rebuild itself, and finally, after getting a few more teams from the Mountain West to join, the conference is able to return to power status again, well, maybe.
ThePac-12 and Mountain West are now headed to court, as the conferences were unable to reach a settlement in their legal dispute over exit fees and poaching penalties. The Pac-12 is planning to add five schools from the Mountain West to its conference, creating the dispute. The two conferences have made a joint filing as of Tuesday, July 14, to ask for a hearing on September 9.
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State are all planning to leave the Mountain West to join the Pac-12. The Mountain West is seeking $55 million in penalties, saying that the Pac-12 broke the terms of their scheduling agreement they have in order to help Oregon State and Washington State build 12-game football slates after they were the only teams left in the conference.
The Pac-12, Mountain West and the departing MWC schools could not reach a resolution over $150 million+ in exit fees and poaching penalties. They made a joint filing Tuesday with the court and, it appears, the leagues are headed to a trial.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger)July 15, 2025
This means that instead of being able to settle the dispute outside of court, they will take their case to a judge for the potential September 9 hearing. This could result in the Pac-12 being forced to pay the fees, or not own a cent to the Mountain West.
The penalties that the Mountain West is demanding come from a clause in the scheduling agreement, where if the Pac-12 tried to add a school from the Mountain West, the conference would owe $10 million in poaching fees. There is also an escalator in the course that costs $500,000 for each school after the first, hence the total comes out to $55 million.
Will the schools still be able to join the Pac-12?
As of right now, the five schools are stillscheduled to join the Pac-12 in 2026, but they must pay an exit fee first, which is currently starting at $19 million for each school. That is almost as much as schools are getting in revenue-sharing money.
These five schools are not the only ones scheduled to join as Gonzaga, which does not have a football team, andTexas State have also announced their intention to jointhe once Power Conference.
Add us as a preferred source onGoogle