The Mountain West and Pac-12 still aren't backing down from their realignment showdown

New York Times

6 days ago

LAS VEGAS — On the 60th floor of the Circa hotel, in the exclusive Legacy Club, Mountain West coaches, athletic directors and officials conversed like it was any other of the previous media days in the 26-year history of the conference: smiles, hugs, drinks inside a casino that doesn't allow anyone under 21 years old. Even future Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty couldn't get in a year ago.
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This week was not like any other Mountain West media day, however. For five of the league's 12 schools, it was their last. A year from now, they'll be in the Pac-12, as that century-old league hard-launches its new form. The split of the remaining western Football Bowl Subdivision schools outside the Power 4 into two smaller conferences still confounds people across the country, especially as the Pac-12's lofty ambitions haven't played out.
Why didn't they all just merge?
'That was always on the table in the scheduling agreement, a condition to at least have a good-faith negotiation about it,' Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez told The Athletic. 'Which didn't happen.'
Despite the free drinks and friendly conversations, this is not an amicable divorce. In conference realignment, it never is. On Tuesday, the day before the media event began, the Mountain West and Pac-12 announced a failure to reach a resolution after months of mediation regarding $150 million in poaching and exit fees owed to the Mountain West, which the Pac-12 and the departing MWC schools sued over. They'll go back to court in early September.
The Pac-12 owes the Mountain West $55 million in poaching fees stemming from that 2024 scheduling agreement, which was forged when Oregon State and Washington State, abandoned by the rest of the old Pac-12, needed to find football games. The document contended the two leagues would discuss a possible merger. It would cost tens of millions for the two-team Pac-12 to add some Mountain West schools, but it would cost nothing to add all of them. Five jumped last fall: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State, and they owe the Mountain West another $95 million in exit fees.
'It's almost like an arranged marriage for the next year,' San Jose State athletic director Jeff Konya said of the mood.
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Neither side would speak much publicly about the mediation due to the ongoing litigation, but the private sense from both was that they didn't even get close to a number. Both had stood firm in their stance.
The Pac-12 says the poaching penalties were forced upon them at a vulnerable time and are 'unlawful and intended to obstruct our ability to act in the best interests of our student-athletes and member institutions.'
The Mountain West says Oregon State and Washington State knew what they signed for and that the league is 'fully prepared to hold the Pac-12 accountable.'
History says not to predict how college sports lawsuits will end.
The schools sticking in the Mountain West feel good about their future. They're set to add UTEP, the rest of Hawaii's sports, UC Davis' non-football sports and Northern Illinois football next year. They recently announced that non-football school Grand Canyon had joined the Mountain West for this fall, a year earlier than initially planned, which caused a public rebuke last week from Boise State and San Diego State officials. The Mountain West's reply is, essentially, too bad.
'I would point to our bylaws,' Nevarez said. 'When you give your notice (to leave), you give up your board seat and your vote. It's Conference 101.'
A TV deal for 2026 and beyond is also nearing completion. Nevarez wouldn't speak to specifics, but another person briefed on the situation told The Athletic that CBS will continue to be a TV partner in the next deal, countering the perception that the new Pac-12 took CBS from the Mountain West with its own recently announced TV deal.
While the final numbers aren't complete, people briefed on the situation don't believe the Pac-12 will get the $12-15 million per school annually it was hoping for last fall out of its next media rights contract. The new Mountain West will likely make less than the $3.5 million per school it currently earns. TruTV was a Mountain West partner last year but will not be for this upcoming season. Both leagues continue discussions with broadcasters and could each add multiple additional partners, potentially also overlapping and splitting the available money.
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Remaining Mountain West members credit Nevarez's quick work last September to keep the league intact. After four schools announced their Pac-12 move, the Mountain West put together a grant of rights and promised tens of millions from the poaching/exit fees in incentives for UNLV and Air Force, the two most likely schools to get invites elsewhere. The Mountain West held together, then added more schools and reached the NCAA-required eight full-time members before the Pac-12 did. The Mountain West will also move its headquarters from Colorado Springs to Las Vegas next July.
'The whole thing pivoted on the schools coming together to sign that document,' Konya said. 'Without that, it would've been a lot more dubious. But then we pivoted to '26. Credit the presidents, CEOs, athletic directors and Gloria for that plan.'
'Gloria's a pitbull, and I respect that,' said one person from a departing school.
UNLV was the lynchpin. The Rebels weren't in the Pac-12's first wave of targets, but by the time the Pac-12 came back around after it was unable to land schools from the American Athletic Conference, the Rebels had committed to the Mountain West with that much-needed payday, and the Pac-12 later pivoted to Texas State. The exact amount UNLV and Air Force will receive is still to be determined due to the court battle, and while some wonder why UNLV didn't leave, athletic director Erick Harper said the school remains 100 percent behind the decision.
'At the end of the day, you're having a conversation and you feel you can trust that person and what they believe in,' Harper said. 'Then you have some people that are shady. You have your communications, you move forward and go from there. That was a very odd moment in the Mountain West. But we're here, and everybody's excited about the fall.'
Officials from the departing schools didn't shy away from media days. Athletic directors from Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State came to Vegas and remained cordial. Boise State's Jeramiah Dickey complimented MWC leadership and was friendly as always but stuck firm with the reasons for the Broncos leaving. He also pointed to increased ticket sales and the opening of an in-house media studio as proof of the Broncos' move already helping.
'We have to be different. We need to be more innovative,' Dickey said. 'We need to create our own opportunities. It ties into defining our own expectations. When I look at who we (Boise State) are, we wanted to be aligned with like-minded institutions that are willing to invest and put their money where their mouth is and have that bar-raiser mentality.'
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The line about 'investing' irritates the remaining Mountain West schools, who point out that UNLV has reached the past two conference championship games and San Jose State has finished in at least a tie for first in two of the last five years.
The departing schools are frustrated with the Mountain West for multiple reasons. Some of them are suing over the $18 million they each owe in exit fees, a suit that was also hoped to be resolved in that failed mediation. Multiple administrators said the Mountain West is also withholding $1.3 million in student-athlete assistance money from the NCAA, which goes to programs like life skills and mental health initiatives.
'That part is disappointing for us because that's not money that's tied to the conferences,' Fresno State athletic director Garrett Klassy said. 'It's a pass-through from the NCAA. Very unexpected. You go through this process not knowing how things are going to turn out, but you don't think going into these processes that the conference will make decisions that will impact mental health.'
A year ago, both the Pac-12 and Mountain West came to Las Vegas. As the MWC held its usual media days, Oregon State and Washington State officials held a cocktail hour that featured mixed feelings of misery and determination to get back up. It was clear then in conversations with both sides how far apart the 'Pac-2' and MWC were in renewing their scheduling agreement for 2025. Within two months, the poaching began, the latest trickle-down from Texas and Oklahoma's SEC announcement four years ago.
No one is sure how or when the legal fight will end, since the sides have been so far apart in all kinds of negotiations. Perhaps the looming threat of reaching the discovery stage of the legal process will cause someone to blink, administrators and coaches wonder.
The Mountain West itself was formed as a breakaway from the WAC 26 years ago. It's no stranger to change. Nevarez says the league has always found new bellcow programs and will again. The mood from both sides is that everyone is ready to move on to their respective futures, but as other realigned leagues have gone through recently, the Mountain West has one last awkward season ahead.
'They made their decisions for their reasons, we can't control that,' Nevarez said. 'All right, let's see what we can make this into moving forward, and folks have a lot of excitement. Let's go.'