The Pac- 12’s two remaining players have reached a proper exit deal with their 10 departing group partners, a arrangement that will result in forfeiting more than$ 65 million on their way out of the door.
Under the 20- site arrangement, a edited version of which was shared with Sportico, the 10 schools leaving the Pac- 12 will each have$ 5 million withheld from their 2023- 24 income distributions. The agreement, which wraps up months of legal back-and-forth and appears to be purposefully designed to prevent any future litigation, will also require them to contribute an additional$ 1.5 million to the conference.
Oregon State and Washington State, which were left behind when the rest of the convention made the decision to switch to other teams as a result of a global restructuring, are on paper receiving a$ 65 million agreement. In fact, the two schools may observe a lot more than that, because they’ll even keep the bulk of potential Pac- 12 revenue. The contract stipulates that all potential Pac- 12 profits will remain with the meeting if paid for any potential income that was supposed to be received prior to the 10 teams leaving this summer.

That includes the tens of millions that the Pac- 12 may be compensated for in the following six years for their participation in past men’s March Madness competitions. The NCAA creates difficult units that pay out for six more years of awards for competition success. As a rough surrogate, each game a Pac- 12 team plays in the event is ultimately for about$ 2 million over the course of those six times, and the Pac- 12 has yet to be fully funded for dozens of those devices.
That means Arizona’s run to the Sweet 16 ( three units so far ) and units earned by fellow departing members Colorado ( three ) and Oregon ( two ) will all stay with the conference.
There are roughly four pages of redacted information regarding the total nature of the tournament’s upcoming revenue. A rep for the Pac- 12 declined to comment on the specifics.
Legally talking, the settlement is structured to avert possible conflicts that had are- trigger litigation. The arrangement ensures the departing schools also have a voice on the present but not the future by calling for the 10 departing schools to keep their votes on conference issues that will affect the remainder of the 2023- 24 scientific year and clarifying that Oregon State and Washington State, and not the closing schools, will choose conference matters that affect potential revenue and decisions.
Additionally, the agreement urges the departing schools to refrain from trying to dissolve the conference. Failure to comply with that provision could lead to potential consequences of injunctive relief granted to the departing schools and liquidated damages, including unrealized future earnings for the conference. To prevent the departing members from trying to undermine the conference’s future on their way out, the emphasis of such a clause is to prevent.

Neither side wants a scenario where the case is reopened, or one side sues the other for breach of contract ( settlement ). In that scenario, legal fees and unwanted press attention would surface. The ongoing litigation may also make it harder for the Pac- 12 to reorganize and attract new members.
In the event that the conference ceases to exist, the settlement also looks into how to distribute the assets. According to the agreement, any remaining assets are distributed pro rata by the departing and remaining schools if the conference shuts down before the end of fiscal year 2026. However, if the dissolution occurs after the last day of fiscal year 2026, the departing schools are not entitled to any distribution. The value of conference assets will be unknown in two years due to the many factors that contribute to its dissolution, but this rule would encourage the remaining schools to continue the conference for at least a few years. ( The Pac- 12 has entered into scheduling agreements with the Mountain West and WAC. )
Although the details of the settlement are still unknown, OSU President Jayathi Murthy and WSU President Kirk Schulz both stated in December that the 10 departing schools would forfeit some payments made between 2023 and 2024. The two presidents also asserted that the departing schools provided” specific” albeit unrevealed “guarantees against potential future liabilities,” a claim that could include the waiver of potential legal claims against the conference or indemnity provisions in the event of additional litigation, such as with conference business partners and employees.