Mountain West and PAC-12, together with the state of Boise, the state of Colorado and the state of Utah, agreed to enter the mediation related to the current demands related to the exit rates of the school and a penalty of poaching that the west mountain included in a programming agreement with the PAC-12, sources told ESPN.
It is a common step that could lead to the agreements before the parties risk in court, however, a source told ESPN that, until Wednesday night, it was an informal agreement. Mountain West started the conversations, said a source.
In September, the PAC-12 filed a lawsuit in a federal court that challenged the legality of a “poaching fine” included in a football programming agreement that signed with the Mountain West in December 2023. As part of the agreement, Montain West included a language that requires the PAC-12 to pay a $ 10 million rate if a school left the west mountain for the PAC-12 500,000 for each additional school.
Five schools, the state of Boise, the state of Colorado, the state of Fresno, the state of Utah and the state of San Diego, announced that they left Mountain West for the PAC-12 in 2026, that the Mountain West believes that it should require a payment of $ 55 million of the PAC-12.
In December, the state of Colorado and the state of Utah filed a separate lawsuit against Mountain West, trying to avoid having to pay output rates that could vary from $ 19 million to $ 38 million, and Boise State then joined the demand. Neither the state of Fresno, nor the state of San Diego have challenged the departure fees of Mountain West in the Court.
