-
Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your WyoNation.com experience today!
Agreement reached on exit and poaching fees
- Thread starter Vapoke
- Start date
WYOFLETCH
Well-known member
Mountain West, Pac-12 reach settlement in poaching penalties lawsuit
The Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences say they've agreed to a settlement in the ongoing lawsuit over so-called poaching penalties.
news3lv.com
I have no idea why PAC fans are celebrating thisMountain West, Pac-12 reach settlement in poaching penalties lawsuit
The Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences say they've agreed to a settlement in the ongoing lawsuit over so-called poaching penalties.
WYOFLETCH
Well-known member
From the Pac-12 perspective, the celebration is mostly about four things:
- The conference avoided a potentially massive financial hit
- The league preserved stability for its rebuild
- Oregon State and Washington State kept control of Pac-12 assets
- The lawsuit drama is finally ending
I've looked at Wazzu financials in the past. They so far in debt and with the media value going down I have no idea how they survive this without massive cuts
WYOFLETCH
Well-known member
Great Read
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
Pac-12, Mountain West settle lawsuit over exit and poaching fees
The case had become a test of wills and bank accounts.
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
Can't read itGreat Read
Pac-12, Mountain West settle lawsuit over exit and poaching fees
The case had become a test of wills and bank accounts.
WYOFLETCH
Well-known member
San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker has previously said he expected the final exit fee to be roughly $10 million per school among the five that left the Mountain West. In previous lawsuits against other conferences, departing schools have typically paid about 50% of the stated exit fee.
The case had become a test of wills and bank accounts, as SDSU and the other Mountain West defectors sought to reduce exit fees estimated at $20 million each and the two original Pac-12 members sought to reduce $55 million in poaching fees outlined in a 2024 football scheduling agreement between the conferences.
“The MWC imposed this Poaching Penalty,” the legal complaint from September 2024 says, “at a time when the Pac-12 was desperate to schedule football games for its two remaining members and had little leverage to reject this naked restraint on competition. But that does not make the Poaching Penalty any less illegal, and the Pac-12 is asking the Court to declare this provision invalid and unenforceable.”
The Mountain West’s counter: You negotiated it, your attorneys vetted it, you signed it, you owe every penny of it.
Both sides ultimately had motivation to settle after nearly two years of hearings, failed mediation, court rulings on motions and legal sword-rattling.
The thought was that the Pac-12 would try to drag out the case and force concessions from the Mountain West as a July 1 deadline approached to initiate promised “incentive” payments to its remaining members, most notably the elevated amounts pledged UNLV and Air Force.
But then Pac-12 financials were released last week, and there are indications the “war chest” left to Oregon State and Washington State by the departing 10 schools is rapidly depleting — meaning there might not have been enough to pay the full poaching fees if they lost the civil suit.
And in March, van Keulen dismissed one of the Mountain West’s counterclaims against the Pac-12 but ruled two others could proceed to trial, most notably the tortious interference claims. She also allowed the discovery process to include confidential communications between Mountain West presidents (and the proposed settlement came a day before a key discovery hearing).
The Pac-12 is set to officially relaunch for the 2026-27 academic year with eight members for football and nine for basketball since Gonzaga doesn’t play football. That includes holdover members Oregon State and Washington State, plus five from the Mountain West: SDSU, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State. Texas State was added later from the Sun Belt.
The Mountain West countered by adding UTEP in all sports; Grand Canyon in all sports except football, which it doesn’t play; Hawaii in all sports after only playing Mountain West football previously; Northern Illinois and North Dakota State in football only; and UC Davis in everything but football.
To retain the remaining six members, the Mountain West offered a distribution plan for the incoming exit and poaching fees in exchange for signing a grant of rights that binds them to the conference for six years. Payments were due to start no later than July 1.
The question becomes whether the Mountain West, if the settlement is indeed for only a portion of the contested amount, will have enough money to satisfy all of its promises.
In all, according to court documents, the Mountain West outlined how it would distribute $100 million from exit and poaching fees. Getting half of the $155 million it claimed it was owed would leave the conference at least $20 million short.
Of the first $61 million collected, UNLV and Air Force are each set to receive 24.5%, or $14.9 million. Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Wyoming would get $7 million each, and Hawaii would get $3 million.
The next $18 million, the memorandum of understanding says, is “held in reserve and used by the conference to cover the expenses associated with recruiting new member institutions.”
That covers the first $79 million collected. The problem is that the conference is supposed to distribute the next $21 million according to the original percentages and only then pay any legal expenses, which figure to be hefty after 20 months of litigation.
The agreement also stipulates that the Mountain West pledges to maintain annual media rights fee distributions at current levels, or roughly $3.5 million per school per year, even if the conference’s new TV deal is below that.
The next legal issue may be, if the Mountain West can’t meet its obligations to current members, does that invalidate the grant of rights and allow a school like UNLV to jump conferences before 2032?
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
Probably not, but at least Burman will sleep better knowing his own paycheck and bonuses will be paid in full.
WYOFLETCH
Well-known member
Pac-12 Fans Celebrate Settlement as Validation!
By Luke Fletcher, Ft Collins CO For months, the rebuilt Pac-12 has been fighting two battles at once. One was on the field, trying to convince the college sports world that the conference still mat…
theramblinroundup.com
Brew_Poke
Well-known member
It wasn't about survival, as there were many less acrimonious paths to that. It was a out inflicting pain and punishing schools who were business partners. That framing is wild.Pac-12 Fans Celebrate Settlement as Validation!
By Luke Fletcher, Ft Collins CO For months, the rebuilt Pac-12 has been fighting two battles at once. One was on the field, trying to convince the college sports world that the conference still mat…
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
When the pee12 didn’t get the exact ruling they wanted with the discovery issue on the emails containing potentially damaging information to the pee12 innocent victim claims coming into play on 5-19, it probably was a factor in the settlement.
The MWC also had the July 1, 2026 deadline to fulfill the GOR and must have deemed the settlement offer was a maximum revenue.
The pee12 is also rumored to be down to something like $23 million in cash reserves. Is that figure after paying off the poaching settlement or are they already hurting financially? What is the settlement amount the 6 traitors will be paying? If all of the amount is being settled for 55 cents on the dollar that brings around $89.65 million to the MWC.
What would be interesting would be to find out if this settlement was what the MWC was willing to accept last year with the mediation or if the pee12 came out of the more delay and court actions tactics with a much better deal.
It remains to be seen what the settlement actually is.
PorkerPoke
Well-known member
The only thing they can celebrate is that with the settlement agreement they will have less debt to cover than if they would have had to pay full price plus legal fees.
The traitors and OS/WS all spent a lot of money just to establish a “new group” under an old name with the pretense that the new logo they will play under is as close to an automatic entrance ticket to the CFP money can buy. Unfortunately for them the media didn’t see it the same way and didn’t exactly fund them as well as they bragged would occur.
It vindicates the MWC in my opinion.
