Pac-12 files lawsuit against MWC over pricy ‘poaching penalty’

The battle between the Mountain West and the Pac-12 is now moving into the courthouse.

The Pac-12 filed a legal complaint on Tuesday over millions of dollars in penalties that the Mountain West believes it is owed for the acquisition of five MWC schools, describing the penalties as unlawful, unenforceable and a violation of antitrust law.

The league made the filing Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking declaratory relief from a judge.

Mired now in a realignment struggle for members, the Pac-12 and Mountain West, often thought of as sister leagues, are at the center of the latest conference realignment shakeup. In a rebuilding effort, the Pac-12 has already acquired five schools from the Mountain West and has an offer out for at least one more, UNLV, which as of noon ET has not made a decision on its future.

The suit filed Tuesday is related to a “poaching penalty” that was included in a scheduling agreement that the two conferences entered last year. Aware of the Pac-12’s possible plans to rebuild with Mountain West members, the league’s commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, included the penalty in the agreement as a disincentive.

The suit is not related to the Mountain West exit fees of more than $17 million per school.

The poaching penalty is $10 million for each school acquired from the Mountain West. With each new addition, there is an increase in that rate by about $1 million. After the Pac-12’s additions of Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State, the Mountain West demanded that the Pac-12 pay $43 million in “liquidated damages” from the poaching penalty, according to the suit. That figure, with the addition of Utah State this week, is now at more than $50 million.

The complaint details reasons that the penalty is unlawful, including that (1) it restrains trade; (2) its only goal is to distort competition and lock in schools from leaving for a competitor; and (3) its damages are excessive and unreasonable “to the amount the MWC may be harmed from the loss of its member schools.”

“There is no legitimate justification for the ‘poaching penalty,’” the complaint says. “In fact, the MWC already seeks to impose tens of millions of dollars in ‘exit fees’ on MWC schools that depart from the conference. To the extent the MWC would suffer any harm from the departures of its member schools, these exit fees provide more than sufficient compensation to the MWC.”

The five departing schools each owe at least $17 million in exit fees to the Mountain West. According to those familiar with the agreements, the Pac-12 is expected to cover a portion of the exit fees.

At the heart of the complaint is the scheduling agreement that the Pac-12 and its two members, Oregon State and Washington State, signed with the Mountain West to complete their 2024 football schedule. The Pac-12 agreed to pay the Mountain West about $14 million for each school to play six games.

The two leagues were in intense negotiations over the summer to continue the agreement for a second year in 2025 before the talks stalled over price. According to the complaint, the Mountain West demanded more than double ($30 million) for the same amount of games next year.

In its complaint, the Pac-12 asserts that the Mountain West imposed the poaching penalty on a disadvantaged and desperate conference attempting to find competition for hundreds of athletes at Oregon State and Washington State. The two schools acknowledged during negotiations that the penalty was unenforceable and illegal.

“In the wake of this mass exodus from the Pac-12 caused by fierce competition from rival conferences, the Pac-12 had only months to salvage the 2024-2025 season and create opportunities for its one thousand student-athletes to compete with other schools,” the complaint says.