OBJECTION!: THE PAC-12 AND MW’S FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS

Matti Tenney - October 13, 2025 

When the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West last September, it wasn’t just legal paperwork, it was another twist in the never-ending drama of college realignment. At the heart of it all are “poaching fees”. These are the penalties the Mountain West charges when its schools leave for another league. The Pac-12 says those fees are unfair roadblocks that hurt its chances of bouncing back. The Mountain West calls them survival money for the schools that stayed.

The bad blood has been building for months. Mediation between the two conferences started in May, but by July, lawyers were getting ready to line up their arguments. In September, the Mountain West tried to get the whole thing tossed out of court, but Judge Susan van Keulen wasn’t having it. On Wednesday she ruled that the Pac-12’s claims deserve their day in court.

The decision doesn’t mean the Pac-12 has won, it just means the case isn’t going away. Still, it’s a small but important victory for a conference that’s been on the ropes. Judge van Keulen said the Pac-12 had laid out a reasonable argument: that Mountain West penalties could drain the resources it needs to survive and rebuild.

The Mountain West insisted these were standard contractual protections, but the court made clear that doesn’t put them above antitrust law. It is important to note that when scheduling games for the 2024 season, the Pac-12 did agree to paying poaching fees, only avoiding them if they were to add all Mountain West teams in an attempt to encourage a full merger. That didn’t end up happening. Now, the case is headed toward discovery, with the next hearing set for November 18. That’s when we’ll start to see how much digging each side plans to do.

This fight is about money. A lot of it. The poaching fee, once projected at around $43 million, has climbed past $55 million thanks to escalating circumstances and revenue splits. For the Mountain West, that kind of cash isn’t optional, it’s essential.

To protect itself, the conference had already put a grant-of-rights deal in place last fall, promising schools like Air Force and UNLV a slice of the poaching-fee pie. That was meant to discourage future exits, but to the Pac-12, those payouts just look like another way of locking down the market. UNLV is an interesting team to note, as they have been on the Pac-12’s radar since the realignment started. The biggest obstacle there is UNLV and UN Reno insistence on staying together, as they have the same Board of Regents through the Nevada System of Higher Education.

This case isn’t the only one in play. Three Mountain West schools on their way out, Boise State, Colorado State, and Utah State, have filed their own lawsuits. They say the conference withheld money owed to them and rushed Grand Canyon University into membership without proper process. Like the Pac-12, they’re also taking aim at the exit fees. All of this means the courts could be juggling overlapping claims, with one of the lawsuits potentially feeding into the other.

Both leagues have a lot riding on this. The Pac-12 is trying to prove it’s still a viable player with new TV deals from CBS/Paramount+ and The CW. The Mountain West is trying to hang on to its stability after losing schools to its bigger neighbor.

Whatever happens, the outcome could shake trees well beyond these two conferences. A Pac-12 win would weaken the bite of exit penalties across college sports, making it easier for schools to jump ship. A Mountain West win would reinforce those protections, and maybe slow the constant churn of realignment. The case now moves into discovery this fall. With conference futures on the line, you can bet football fans throughout the West will be keeping tabs on this courtroom drama until the season finale.

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