Current:Home > MarketsMountain West Conference survives as 7 remaining schools sign agreement to stay in league -FinanceCore
Mountain West Conference survives as 7 remaining schools sign agreement to stay in league
View
Date:2025-04-17 09:09:34
The two-week turf war between the Pac-12 and Mountain West is over and has ended in … a draw?
Kind of.
After perhaps the most fragile 72-hour period in the 26-year history of the Mountain West Conference, the league announced Thursday that it had received signed memorandums of understanding from its remaining seven schools to keep the league together through the 2031-32 school year.
“The agreements announced today mark a historic moment for the Mountain West and provide much-needed stability and clarity as the world of intercollegiate athletics continues to evolve rapidly,” commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement.
The agreement from those seven schools – Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming – followed an effort by the Pac-12 to poach even more members after five schools joined Washington State and Oregon State in the resurrected league.
Had the Pac-12 convinced UNLV to join, it could have started a domino effect that could have led to the dissolution of the Mountain West.
Instead, Nevarez was able to keep the remaining group together by promising significant cash distributions of the $90 million in exit fees, of which Air Force and UNLV will receive roughly $22 million (24.5%), while others will receive around $14 million except for Hawaii, which is a member only in football and thus gets a $4.5 million payout.
That doesn’t include the $55 million in so-called "poaching fees" that the Mountain West is owed as a result of its previous scheduling agreement with Washington State and Oregon State. The Pac-12 sued the Mountain West this week, claiming that the poaching fees represented a violation of antitrust law.
The split leaves both the Pac-12 and Mountain West needing to add members to reach the minimum of eight to qualify as a Football Bowl Subdivision conference. Among the schools who could be in consideration for both leagues are UTEP, New Mexico State, Texas State and a variety of FCS schools like Sacramento State that are looking to move up a level.
Though it survived, the Mountain West was, of course, badly damaged when Washington State and Oregon State resurrected the Pac-12 and lured Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State, which were historically among the four most successful football programs in the Mountain West.
The new Pac-12’s initial expansion goals also focused on the American Athletic Conference, hoping to lure Memphis, Tulane, South Florida and UTSA. But those schools rejected the offer, citing uncertainty about the Pac-12’s media rights value and exit fees from the AAC that would have exceeded $20 million.
The Pac-12 then went back to the pool of Mountain West schools but only convinced Utah State to jump as Nevarez scrambled to keep the league alive.
veryGood! (36)
Related
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- President Biden condemns killing of 6-year-old Muslim boy as suspect faces federal hate crime investigation
- Polish election marks huge win for Donald Tusk as ruling conservatives lose to centrist coalition
- Defeated New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will remain leader of his Labour Party
- The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
- Schumer, Romney rush into Tel Aviv shelter during Hamas rocket attack
- Antonio Brown arrested in Florida over unpaid child support allegations
- Polish election marks huge win for Donald Tusk as ruling conservatives lose to centrist coalition
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Here are the Top 10 most popular Halloween candies, according to Instacart
Ranking
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh elected to be an International Olympic Committee member
- Bills RB Damien Harris released from hospital after neck injury, per report
- Overwhelmed by the war in Israel? Here's how to protect your mental health.
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Rite Aid files for bankruptcy amid opioid-related lawsuits and falling sales
- UN refugee chief says Rohingya who fled Myanmar must not be forgotten during other world crises
- Federal judge imposes limited gag order on Trump in 2020 election interference case
Recommendation
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
'Take a lesson from the dead': Fatal stabbing of 6-year-old serves warning to divided US
What to know about Elijah McClain’s death and the cases against police and paramedics
How China’s Belt and Road Initiative is changing after a decade of big projects and big debts
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
Putin meets Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán in first meeting with EU leader since invasion of Ukraine
California taxpayers get extended federal, state tax deadlines due to 2023 winter storms
Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Why She and Will Smith Separated & More Bombshells From Her Book Worthy