The legal battle for the Pac-12 is finally (almost) over.
Oregon State and Washington State have settled a lawsuit with the 10 schools departing the conference in 2024, ending all litigation. The settlement agreement has not been signed, however, and certain details are still being worked out, the departing schools said in a statement.
The existing universities will forfeit a portion of their distributions of conference revenue for the remainder of the 2023-24 season—which is believed to be more than $400 million in total, according to WSU and OSU It’s unclear how much of that the 10 schools will forgo, but the departing schools said they will maintain the majority of their revenue for this season.
While OSU and WSU will maintain sole control over the conference’s future, the departing schools will have a say in revenue decisions for the rest of this year until they leave, the source said.
“This agreement ensures that the future of the Pac-12 will be decided by the schools that are staying, not those that are leaving,” Oregon State president Jayathi Murthy and Washington State Kirk Schulz said in a joint statement. In a joint message, the departing schools said: “This agreement allows Oregon State and Washington State to maintain control of the hundreds of millions of dollars coming into the conference in future years, as we have always maintained they would while calling for the vast majority of funds earned in 2023-24 to be distributed equally among the 12 members.”
OSU and WSU said in their statement that the departing schools had agreed to help with liabilities that the conference could incur–in other words, they would help pay the millions fees if the Pac-12 lost the various lawsuits its involved in. However, the source told FOS that that statement was a bit premature, and that the details have not been finalized.
The deal ends a court battle that began in September, when Oregon State and Washington State sued the rest of the conference in the wake of all other members announcing intentions to leave in 2024. A months-long battle for financial and operational control of the league ensued. As the legal battle played out, at least $61 million in conference revenue had been held up from standard midseason distribution.
Most recently, Oregon State and Washington State won full control of the Pac-12 thanks to a decision from the Washington state Supreme Court. However, a version of a settlement had been agreed upon earlier in the day before the ruling, the source told FOS.
With the 10 schools leaving the Pac-12 for the ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12, Oregon State and Washington State have slowly devised a temporary plan for their athletic programs. The two schools will play a football schedule against Mountain West Conference teams next season. At the same time, all of the other sports (outside of baseball) will become affiliate members of the West Coast Conference until 2026.
