Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez calls out Pac-12 in statement following lawsuit
Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez released a statement Tuesday night following the Pac-12’s lawsuit. The conference filed suit against the MWC over a “poaching penalty” in the two leagues’ scheduling agreement.
Under the agreement, the Pac-12 agreed to a penalty of $10 million for the first Mountain West school acquired, On3’s Pete Nakos reported. From there, the figure would increase by roughly $1 million per school. With five additions on the way from the MWC, the Pac-12 would owe roughly $50 million.
“It is my responsibility to protect the Conference and always keep its best interests in mind,” the statement read. “The Pac-12 Conference is challenging a contractual provision that it expressly agreed to and acknowledged was essential to the Mountain West Conference’s willingness to enter into a Scheduling Agreement, all while advised by sophisticated legal counsel. The provision was put in place to protect the Mountain West Conference from this exact scenario. It was obvious to us and everyone across the country that the remaining members of the Pac-12 were going to try to rebuild.
“The fees at issue were included to ensure the future viability of the Mountain West and allow our member institutions to continue providing critical resources and opportunities for our student-athletes. At no point in the contracting process did the Pac-12 contend that the agreement that it freely entered into violated any laws. To say that the Mountain West was taking advantage of the Pac-12 could not be farther from the truth.
“The Mountain West Conference wanted to help the Pac-12 schools and student-athletes, but not at the expense of the Mountain West. The Pac-12 has taken advantage of our willingness to help them and enter into a scheduling agreement with full acknowledgment and legal understanding of their obligations. Now that they have carried out their plan to recruit certain Mountain West schools, they want to walk back what they legally agreed to. There has to be a consequence to these types of actions.”
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