New revelations should help Washington State, Oregon State in Pac-12 litigation
Washington State and Oregon State received what appears to be very good news for the two schools in their legal fight against the Pac-12 Conference.
Without going too deep into the weeds, WSU and OSU — the so-called “Pac-2” — filed a lawsuit against the Pac-12. The purpose of the lawsuit is to gain control of the Pac-12’s assets, given that the other 10 members — by leaving the conference for other conferences — have relinquished the right to sit on the board and thereby have any rights to those assets.
Relinquishing their spots on the board — Washington State and Oregon State have argued — cuts off the 10 departing schools from having any say in conference matters. It prevents them from being able to claim any portion of Pac-12 revenues attached to bowl game and NCAA Tournament distributions, among many other things.
The big news is that Washington State and Oregon State just gained a much stronger legal position due to a sworn statement from Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff, unearthed by Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline.
“Weeks before the Pac-12’s collapse, Kliavkoff issued a sworn statement to San Francisco Superior Court in which he stated that UCLA and USC had, in fact, already relinquished their board positions after announcing they would be joining the Big Ten,” Wilner wrote.
That statement by Kliavkoff was a declaration to the court filed on July 12. The key portion of the statement is as follows:
“The University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Southern California, are no longer among the member institutions represented on the Board of Directors.”
In September of this year (one month ago), Kliavkoff attempted to convene all of the current Pac-12 presidents and chancellors. That’s when Washington State and Oregon State stepped in and filed their lawsuit, claiming that only they had any say in conference business and any control over conference assets. The point WSU and OSU were making: Leaving for another conference created an automatic trigger which removed those schools from the Pac-12 board. Leaving was tantamount to a declaration of departure from the conference.
This sworn statement from Kliavkoff appears to affirm the legal argument Washington State and Oregon State were making all along.
A hearing on this matter is scheduled in Whitman County (Washington) Court for November 14.
If Wazzu and OSU win in court, the schools would presumably gain control of Pac-12 assets and could invite a large number of Mountain West schools into a reconstituted Pac-12 Conference. The key point is that WSU and OSU would be able to retain Pac-12 New Year’s Six bowl and NCAA Tournament distributions, shared with the new members of the Pac-12 Conference. At least, that would be the likely plan for the Cougars and Beavers.
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