Last fall, a few months after USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 behind, the conference office created a “Briefing Book” for the member universities. Marked “highly confidential,” the digital document included a section titled “Introduction to the Pac-12 Board of Directors” that featured the names of the presidents and chancellors, along with a picture of each. There was no mention of the Los Angeles schools.
“The evidence we have uncovered thus far in discovery overwhelmingly shows this is consistent with the position that the conference and the departing members themselves had taken up until just weeks before Oregon State and Washington State were forced to file our litigation.” “– The Board is considering options, but we are contemplating seeking considerable financial damages against our departing members that could result in supplemental distributions to the remaining 9 universities.
“Absent a preliminary injunction, nothing would stop the ten departing schools from seizing control of the Conference and distributing its assets to themselves on their way out the door.”“If any member does deliver a notice of withdrawal prior to August 1, 2024, in violation of this chapter … the member’s representative to the CEO Group shall automatically cease to be a member of the CEO Group and shall cease to have the right to vote on any matter before the CEO Group.
The motion adds that “None of the ten remaining member institutions … ever disputed that USC and UCLA had been rightfully removed from the Board.” — Two sworn statements by Kliavkoff in the wrongful termination lawsuit filed in San Francisco by two former Pac-12 executives. — A letter from Pac-12 legal counsel Scott Petersmeyer to Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano after the Buffaloes announced in late July that they would join the Big 12 next summer.