Mountain West, Pac-12 finalize lawsuit settlement
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The dispute between the Mountain West and Pac-12 Conference has officially been resolved.
It looked like the Pac-12 was going to be the biggest casualty of conference realignment after everyone but Oregon State and Washington State left for greener pastures. After the two remaining schools pieced together a schedule and looked for alternatives, they found a solution in a raid of the Mountain West.
Five schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State decided to jump from the Mountain West to the new-look Pac-12 in the hopes of more opportunities and more television money. With the addition of Texas State, the Pac-12 now has eight teams, enough to be considered a full conference. They have also secured their future thanks to media deals with CBS, The CW and USA Sports.
Naturally, that was met with resistance from the Mountain West, which sought to enforce hefty buyouts from the wantaway schools. The Pac-12 sued to stop enforcement of poaching fees, which totaled tens of millions of dollars.
And now this week, the matter has finally been put to bed.
The two conferences announced a settlement with a joint statement via the AP: “With these matters concluded, the conferences and institutions can move forward with certainty and focus on serving their student-athletes, campuses, fans, and communities.”
As for the exact nature of that settlement? The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Mountain West is receiving less than half of its initial demand of $100 million in exit fees and $55 million in poaching fees. The total the conference expects to receive reportedly is around $70 million.
For the Pac-12, it’s a huge step towards securing their future. With the lawsuit behind them and the new media deals, their status as a new top-end mid-major league looks to be safe for the foreseeable future. The Mountain West can now use the payouts to help satisfy their remaining schools and provide a financial buffer to go along with their new rights deals with CBS, Fox, and The CW.
It’s hard to call anything in the cutthroat world of conference realignment a win-win scenario. But with both leagues having new lineups and new TV deals, they both look set to survive. And for anyone not named the Big Ten or SEC, that’s the main goal.
The post Mountain West, Pac-12 finalize lawsuit settlement appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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