With Washington as the conduit, the 10 outgoing members of the Pac-12 on Thursday filed a motion opposing the push by Washington State and Oregon State to secure a preliminary injunction that would grant the two remaining schools control of the conference.
“If they seize sole control of the Board, they will have control of that revenue earned by all 12 member schools. They have said publicly that they are looking to add schools from conferences that would require the Pac-12 to pay them tens of millions in exit fees. The motion states that the Pac-12 expects “more than $100 million in revenue in each of the two years after the ten schools depart” — meaning the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years.
The motion asks that the preliminary injunction be denied, “or, if it is granted, the order should be stayed to maintain the status quo while UW takes these issues to the Washington Supreme Court. The motion also includes previously unreported details of efforts by OSU and WSU to secure a future in the Power Five:
“Granting OSU and WSU unilateral authority over hundreds of millions of dollars in 2023-2024 revenue needed this year to run our athletics programs would harm our universities, including our ability to provide critical resources and opportunities for our student-athletes.