The Pac-12’s two remaining schools and the 10 departing universities have agreed to mediation in an attempt to settle their dispute over governance of the conference, according to court filings obtained by the Hotline on Monday.
“The talks have been productive,” a source said. “Everybody wants them to succeed. It just has to be on fair terms to everybody.”
“Them,” of course, is Washington State and Oregon State — the schools left behind in the realignment game that decimated the conference in early August. One month later, the Beavers and Cougars took commissioner George Kliavkoff and the 10 outbound schools to court in Whitman County, Washington., to gain clarity on the makeup of the governing board, which controls the conference’s assets.
The mediation began Oct. 2 and is scheduled through October. The mediator is former U.S. District Judge Layn R. Phillips, according to a court declaration by Daniel B. Levin, an attorney for UW.
But that isn’t the only development in the internecine fight for control of the Pac-12.
Washington on Monday filed a motion to intervene, the first step in potentially getting the lawsuit dismissed, and requested an Oct. 25 hearing on the issue.
The Huskies acted alone because they are the only departing school within the state of Washington. The other nine schools filed an Amicus Brief in support of Washington’s motion and claimed the Whitman County court lacked proper jurisdiction.
And all 10 issued the following joint statement:
“As we share another memorable fall season of Pac-12 athletics, we recognize the complex challenges of the current situation. Our court filings show how our schools are in full compliance with the Pac-12 Bylaws, which prohibit a member from leaving the conference before August 2024 but allow schools to announce a withdrawal that will happen after that date. We are looking forward to engaging in further candid and constructive conversations that will allow us to reach a fair resolution and position our communities for future success.”
OSU and WSU released a joint statement of their own:
“The departing schools continue to undermine our efforts to secure the future of the Pac-12 Conference. They are relying on flimsy arguments to try to escape accountability for their actions. It won’t work. Their decisions directly damaged the Pac-12 and are causing real harm to the Conference, OSU, WSU, student-athletes, and the people of Oregon and Washington.
“We did not create or seek these circumstances, but OSU and WSU will continue to take whatever actions are necessary to protect our universities, ensure accountability and transparency, safeguard the Pac-12 Conference, and preserve our options moving forward. The future of the Pac-12 should be decided by the schools who stay, not those who go.”
Washington State and Oregon State believe the departing universities relinquished their board seats when they agreed to join other leagues starting next summer and that, if allowed to remain on the board, the 10 could vote as a bloc in ways that undermine the ability of WSU and OSU to possibly rebuild the conference.
A preliminary injunction hearing to determine the makeup of the board is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Whitman County Superior Court.
The various legal steps prior to that point include an expedited discovery process, which could lead to sensitive information becoming public.
It’s not unusual for mediation to unfold alongside litigation. However, the willingness to engage a mediator hardly guarantees the sides will reach an agreement, especially given the early stage of the legal process.
A trial likely would be months away.
“We’ll see if the two sides can figure out a path and avoid a trial,” the source said.
The conference office declined to comment.
The Cougars and Beavers have several options once the 108-year-old conference fractures next summer:
— They could join the Mountain West in a traditional expansion move.
— They could execute a reverse merger in which the Mountain West schools dissolve their league and compete under the Pac-12 banner.
— They could make use of an obscure NCAA rule and compete as a two-team conference for two years, then either join the Mountain West or execute the reverse merger in the summer of 2026.
(The NCAA requires conferences to have at least eight members but provides a two-year grace period to reach that threshold.)
The 10 outbound schools are concerned about the use of the Pac-12’s financial assets, which include more than $60 million in NCAA Tournament revenue.
If the Beavers and Cougars are deemed the sole members of the governing board, the source said, they could keep the Pac-12 alive for up to 24 months, then pocket the assets, shutter the conference and join the Mountain West.
“That wouldn’t be fair to the other 10,” the source said.
But the Pac-10 and the Pac-2 have very different interpretations of what constitutes fair. Can mediation work? Like everything else about this legal dispute, resolution could be weeks or months away.
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