DENVER — Colorado State and Utah State have filed a lawsuit saying the Mountain West is partaking in “extraordinary and unauthorized actions” to penalize the 5 colleges leaving the convention for the Pac-12.
Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Utah State introduced in September they deliberate to affix the Pac-12 in 2026. The lawsuit filed Monday in Colorado state courtroom by Colorado State and Utah State says the Mountain West and commissioner Gloria Nevarez have disregarded the league’s bylaws to punish these 5 colleges “in a determined try to forestall additional membership departures.”
The grievance says the Mountain West is threatening to withhold tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} as a result of departing league members, together with refusing to reimburse them for journey and different bills in reference to postseason soccer video games.
“This flouting of the Bylaws and Colorado regulation will not be new,” the grievance says. “It’s a part of the Mountain West’s ongoing efforts to limit its members’ skill to freely discover one of the best choices within the market for his or her student-athletes and penalize sure members for asserting their intent to withdraw from the Convention.”
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The grievance states the Mountain West is searching for to require the departing members to pay exit charges “equal to 3 or six occasions the typical distribution the Mountain West paid to its members within the previous 12 months, which may vary from $19 million to $38 million per resigning member, even though such Exit Penalty bears no relationship to the purported hurt from Plaintiffs’ withdrawal from the Convention.”
O’Melveny, the regulation agency representing the plaintiffs, stated in a launch asserting the lawsuit that Nevarez and the Mountain West even have frozen the 5 departing colleges out of board conferences and have operated in secret to violate their rights as league members.
In keeping with O’Melveny, the Mountain West and Nevarez have made facet agreements that promise the seven remaining convention members hundreds of thousands of {dollars} “earned by and owed to the 5 departing members.” The lawsuit expenses that the Mountain West has refused to show over board minutes and different company data, thus violating Colorado regulation.
The breakup of the Mountain West occurred following the implosion of the Pac-12, with each member college apart from Oregon State and Washington State leaving for the Huge Ten, Huge 12 or Atlantic Coast Convention.
Because the Pac-12 tried to rebuild, it recruited members from the Mountain West.
The seven Mountain West colleges that signed a memorandum of understanding to remain had been Air Drive, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Wyoming and Hawaii.
