What Pac-12’s lawsuit against Mountain West means for realignment

The Pac-12 Conference was left floundering in 2023 when 10 of its members decided to leave for other Power Five destinations.

The Mountain West Conference extended a helping hand and signed a football-only scheduling agreement that kept remaining Pac-12 schools Oregon State and Washington State competitively relevant.

Now, the Pac-12 is challenging the legality of a so-called “poaching penalty” included in that agreement, which both parties are allowing to expire after this season. ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura first reported the Pac-12’s federal lawsuit on Tuesday.

The suit claims the penalty is “anticompetitive and unlawful,” per ESPN. The penalty states the Pac-12 is liable for $10M (plus a $500K escalator) for every school that may decide to leave the Mountain West for it.

The Pac-12 announced Sept. 12 it was adding four schools from the Mountain West in 2026 — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State — in an attempt to reach the eight-team NCAA minimum.

According to ESPN, Utah State will be joining the four departures and there’s a significant chance UNLV could also depart. That would give the Pac-12 eight members but leave the Mountain West with just six.

So based on the reported language of the penalty clause, the Pac-12 is on the hook for at least $67.5M if it does get all six reported schools.

What does this mean for future conference realignment?

The Pac-12’s lawsuit wouldn’t be entirely exclusive to its dispute with the Mountain West. A favorable ruling that strikes down the penalty clause could make it significantly easier for more conferences to actively coax schools to leave their home organizations for a new opportunity elsewhere.

Other conferences seem to be reading that writing on the wall. The American Athletic Conference already reached out and received recommitments from Memphis, Tulane and South Florida on Monday. All three were previously seen as potential targets by the Pac-12.

The Mountain West’s “poaching penalty” clause appears to be an insurance policy, giving the conference an influx of cash to stay afloat while it pivots to new members.

The Pac-12 is in the middle of a two-year grace period offered by the NCAA so it can find six new members. The Mountain West may be offered the same if it falls below the eight-team threshold by 2026.

Such a significant grab by the Pac-12 will certainly trigger more conference realignment but one conference is bound to lose out in the chain reaction. Eliminating an assurance like the “poaching penalty” would drastically change the landscape even more.

It’s only a matter of time but fans should brace themselves for the continued aftershocks of 2023’s seismic movements.