College Sports Chaos: Graney — MW, Pac-12 forgot to check their egos at the door
It could and should have been different.
It was a massive opportunity lost. And continues to be so.
The Mountain West and Pac-12 could have avoided all this, all the legal wranglings, all the fighting over exit and poaching fees, all the back-and-forth.
Could have created a powerful Western Region conference that would have ruled the Group of Five and possibly even been considered at some point a power league.
But it didn’t happen, and now we have a failed attempt at mediation and a lawsuit being taken to court.
We have a bitter dispute yet to be resolved.
And that’s sad. And it’s wrong given how things could have been with a merger of the conferences.
So now you have TV deals and revenue streams split between two leagues instead of allotted to one. You have the Pac-12 challenging in court more than $150 million in exit and poaching fees that the Mountain West believes it is owed from five schools defecting. You have rising attorney fees for public institutions.
You have more than a bit of chaos.
A long delay?
“We’re really confident in our legal position,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Wednesday from her league’s football media days at Circa. “We’re committed to resolving these things as quickly as possible because I believe it’s best for everyone.”
One problem: The Pac-12 probably disagrees.
A popular feeling at Wednesday’s meetings was that the Pac-12 wants the case to be delayed for as long as possible.
That it believes a long, drawn-out process could seriously damage the Mountain West financially.
“I’ve certainly heard that theory myself,” Nevarez said. “I can’t speak to what is true or not. We’ll focus on what we can control and protecting the Mountain West. We’re not suing anyone. We’re being sued.
“Our position is strong. We feel folks should honor a contract they entered into knowingly, willingly and with the advice of counsel.”
A major reason the merger never happened: ego.
The five departing schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State — never gave Nevarez a legitimate chance to negotiate better revenue streams for their specific schools.
She had been working on an uneven revenue package that would reward the conference’s top teams and demand the bottom ones reach a threshold of support or be removed from the league. The ball had begun rolling in that direction. It was far down the road.
Nevarez certainly showed an ability to strike a deal when the conference agreed to pay UNLV and Air Force more than others to remain in the league and not jump to the Pac-12.
We’ll never know if she could have done the same for the five defectors. They never stuck around to find out. They just left one night.
So now you have what could be in the long run two mediocre leagues instead of one strong one. Now you have what is this reality instead of what could have been with the additions of Washington State and Oregon State as a merged league with the worst teams being held accountable (kicked out) for not competing financially.
Nevarez has been clear about one thing: She has always preferred one conference, be it the Pac-12 or Mountain West. Always preferred revenues being collected into one pot. Won’t happen.
Sad and wrong
“I think we did everything we could and controlled what we could control,” Nevarez said. “We explored every option available to us, and this is where our path led.
“We put (mediation) on the table because it’s a natural off-ramp when you’re in litigation — to see if you can resolve things faster. Unfortunately, we couldn’t come to an agreement, so we’re taking the next step.”
It could and should have been different.
Could have all been avoided. But egos got in the way.
And we’re left with this. Courts and lawsuits and two conferences instead of one.
And that’s sad. And that’s wrong.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.
