Pac-12 fighting ‘poaching penalty’ with lawsuit
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
The Pac-12 filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday challenging the legality of a “poaching penalty” included in a football scheduling agreement it signed with the Mountain West Conference in December.
With Oregon State and Washington State scrambling late last year to fill their 2024 football schedules in the wake of the Pac-12’s collapse, they came to terms with the Mountain West on a one-year agreement that added six MWC opponents to each remaining Pac-12 school’s schedule this season.
As part of the agreement, the Mountain West included language that requires the Pac-12 to pay a fee of $10 million if a school left the MWC for the Pac-12, with escalators of $500,000 for each additional school.
“This action challenges an anticompetitive and unlawful ‘Poaching Penalty’ that the MWC imposed on the Pac-12 to inhibit competition for member schools in collegiate athletics,” the suit says. “The ‘Poaching Penalty’ saddles the Pac-12 with exorbitant and punitive monetary fees for engaging in competition by accepting MWC member schools into the Pac-12.
“The MWC imposed this Poaching Penalty at a time when the Pac-12 was desperate to schedule football games for its two remaining members and had little leverage to reject this naked restraint on competition.”
When Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State announced Sept. 12 they were leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12, there was an expectation the Pac-12 would be required to pay $43 million in fees, as outlined in the scheduling agreement. That number jumped to $55 million on Monday after Utah State also accepted an offer to leave the Mountain West for the Pac-12.
On the same day the announcements were made, Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez sent an email to Scott Petersmeyer, the Pac-12’s chief legal officer, noting the Pac-12’s “obligation” to pay the $43 million within 30 days.
Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould responded to Nevarez’s email Tuesday to inform her of the lawsuit, noting the conference’s stance that the fees are unlawful.
“Fundamentally, these provisions seek to inhibit competition by placing exorbitant and punitive monetary fees on the Pac-12 simply for engaging in competition by accepting MWC member schools into the Pac-12,” Gould’s letter said. “As you know, the MWC imposed these improper penalties over the Pac-12’s objection at a time when the Pac-12 was desperate to schedule football games for its two remaining members and had little leverage to reject this clear restraint on competition.”
The Mountain West was reviewing the lawsuit when contacted Tuesday by ESPN and did not have an immediate comment.
The lawsuit also noted the roughly $18 million in exit fees each of the departing schools will be required to pay the Mountain West.
“To the extent the MWC would suffer any harm from the departures of its member schools, these exit fees provide more than sufficient compensation to the MWC,” the lawsuit says. “There is no reason why the schools’ new conference should be responsible for compensating the MWC further, or why such penalties should apply to only one competitor conference: the Pac-12.”
Negotiations between the Pac-12 and Mountain West this summer to extend the scheduling agreement for the 2025 season ended with a significant gap between what the Mountain West wanted and what the Pac-12 was willing to pay.
“The conferences’ negotiations broke down after the MWC demanded $30 million from the Pac-12 for the 2025- 2026 season, more than double the already exorbitant price the MWC charged the Pac-12 for games during the 2024-2025 season,” the lawsuit said. “After the parties were unable to reach agreement in the face of the MWC’s financial demands, the MWC Commissioner broke off further discussions, stating, ‘I think we have to move on.'”
With both conferences at seven schools — starting with the 2026 season — more movement is inevitable, as the NCAA requires a conference to have eight football-playing schools. UNLV is on the proverbial clock having reaffirmed its commitment to the Mountain West on Monday, only to back away from that commitment upon learning Utah State was leaving for the Pac-12.
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo Friday to league athletic directors and head football coaches outlining punishment if players continue to fake injuries in games.
“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs,” Sankey wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.
He ended the memo by writing: “Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.”
Increasingly over the past few years, coaches have repeatedly accused opposing teams and coaches of faking injuries to disrupt the rhythm and flow of offenses, especially those that are up-tempo and rarely huddle. Broadcasters have pointed out several obvious cases this season when players flopped to the ground near the sideline claiming to be injured just as the opposing offense was about to snap the ball.
Each play where a fake injury might have occurred must be submitted to the SEC for review. Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of football officiating, will determine what constitutes a fake injury. According to Sankey’s memo, those guidelines will range from Shaw determining that a feigned injury has occurred, that it is more likely than not that a feigned injury has occurred, that a player attempted to feign an injury or any other general statement from Shaw establishing the probability of a feigned injury.
Sankey wrote that creating injury timeouts, on offense or defense, is “not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of football.”
Punishments laid out in Sankey’s memo include the following: for the first offense, a head coach receives a public reprimand and a $50,000 fine; for the second offense, another reprimand and a $100,000 fine; for a third offense, another reprimand and the coach will be suspended for his program’s next game.
Any staff member found to be involved in signaling or directing a player to feign an injury will face the same measures, including financial penalties and a suspension. A player cited for feigning an injury also may be subject to a public reprimand.
Sankey told reporters a few weeks ago at the Oklahoma-Texas game that he was concerned about the growing accusations of faking injuries.
“If somebody’s injured, we need to take that seriously,” Sankey said. “But creating the questions — and I mean this all across the country — needs to stop.”
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
All-American Michigan cornerback Will Johnson is out against No. 1 Oregon on Saturday, sources confirmed to ESPN, leaving the Wolverines without their top defensive player.
Johnson left the Illinois game on Oct. 19 with a lower-body injury and missed the Michigan State game last week. He’s still recovering from that lower-body injury, and his timeline to return is uncertain.
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said this week that Johnson is expected back at some point this season “for sure” but didn’t specify when.
Johnson is considered the top cornerback prospect for the upcoming NFL draft. He has delivered two pick-sixes this year for the Wolverines, returning interceptions 86 yards against Fresno State and 42 yards against USC.
Last season, he snagged four interceptions for the Wolverines and earned defensive MVP honors for the 2023 national championship game.
247 Sports first reported Johnson’s expected absence.
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