Washington State, Oregon State take legal action to decide Pac-12’s fate

Oregon State University (OSU) and Washington State University (WSU) on Friday filed a complaint in a Washington court against the Pac-12 and Commissioner George Kliavkoff, seeking to prevent departing members from getting in the way of their efforts to rebuild the disintegrating conference.

The breach of bylaws complaint was filed in Whitman County in Eastern Washington. Pullman, where WSU is based, is the largest city in Whitman County. The complaint requests a temporary restraining order that would keep departing members of the Pac-12 board of directors from meeting next week and taking any action regarding the status or governance of the conference, according to a news release from Oregon State and Washington State.

“Washington State University and Oregon State University are asserting our rights,” WSU athletic director Pat Chun told The Associated Press (AP) in a phone interview. “Ten schools have made public declarations that they are leaving the conference, and based on the existing bylaws, the board of the Pac-12 going forward is the institutions that remain. In this instance that’s Oregon State University, Washington State University and their presidents.”

The Pac-12 declined a request for comment through spokesman Andrew Walker.

How we got here.

The Pac-12 currently has 12 members, but Southern California, UCLA, Washington (UW) and Oregon are leaving next year for the Big Ten; Stanford and Cal are going to the Atlantic Coast Conference; and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are leaving for the Big 12. Each school has cited the desire for more financial stability in abandoning the “Conference of Champions,” and leaving only Oregon State and Washington State.

Last month, after leaving behind more than a century as a tenant to the premier athletic conference on the West Coast, Washington’s leadership said stability was at the forefront of its decision to join the Big Ten Conference.

“It was about having a future that we could count on and build toward,” Washington President Ana Mari Cauce said at the time.

The remaining Pacific Northwest schools said Kliavkoff has called members of the board, including the departing schools, to meet Wednesday to vote on a “go forward governance approach.” OSU and WSU contend conference bylaws make clear that by announcing intent to leave, the other schools forfeited a right to vote on league matters.

“We owe it to our student-athletes, coaches, and fans to do everything in our power to protect the Pac-12 Conference and explore all future options,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz said. “WSU and OSU are working in lockstep to identify the best path forward. The future of the Pac-12 must be determined by the remaining members, not by those who are leaving.”

OSU President Jayathi Murthy echoed Schulz’s sentiments in a news release.

“As the two remaining member institutions of the Pac-12, we are stepping forward with urgency to safeguard the integrity of the conference and preserve its legacy on behalf of student-athletes, fans and the conference itself,” Murthy said. “We’ve heard the voices of constituents at home and from across the West about how much the Pac-12 and our regional rivalries mean to them. We are linking arms and fighting on their behalf.”

Seattle Sports morning host Brock Huard, a former UW quarterback who now is a color commentator on FOX broadcasts during the college football season, said last month the college towns where WSU and OSU reside are vital to the college football landscape.

“Those folks in Pullman and Corvallis are in markets that the rest of the country scoffs at but those of us who are in broadcasting know how special they are, how important they are how the fabric of the market,” Huard said. “They are like Green Bay and Buffalo are to the NFL. You need them just as much as you need New York and (Los Angeles).”

Officials from both schools have repeatedly said their first choice moving forward would be to preserve the Pac-12 brand and rebuild the conference. The filing said the departing members are incentivized to dissolve the conference, which would allow all the schools to split millions in remaining assets.

The filing refers to an email from earlier this month in which an unidentified representative of a departing school “threatened that the departing members of the conference were poised to take immediate action to seize control of the Pac-12.”

“It seems obvious that any 9 members can declare the fate of the conference at any time,” the representative wrote, according to the filing.

The legal action seeks to protect Oregon State and Washington State from that possibility. A hearing on their request is set for Monday. The two schools are seeking a declarative judgment from the court.

How the Mountain West Conference may factor in

OSU and WSU are likely heading for some type of partnership with schools currently in the Mountain West, but how that will work is a long way from resolved.

“This is a very complex situation as it relates to what our relationship with the Mountain West might look like. And all options are open in terms of what it could look like,” Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes told the AP.

Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez has spoken cautiously in public about the conference’s next moves.

“The Mountain West is open to exploring all options that make us stronger,” she told the AP recently.

Schools in the Mountain West football conference include Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Colorado State and UNLV. Fresno State won the Mountain West conference in 2022 and defeated WSU 29-6 in the LA Bowl on Dec. 17.

This story was originally published on the My Northwest Website.

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