Canzano: Pac-12 and Mountain West skirmish heats up

FILE - Pac-12 Senior Associate Commissioner Teresa Gould speaks during Pac-12 Conference NCAA college basketball media day Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, in San Francisco. The Pac-12 has promoted Teresa Gould to commissioner as the conference tries to navigate a murky future. “Teresa’s deep knowledge of collegiate athletics and unwavering commitment to student-athletes makes her uniquely qualified to help guide the Pac-12 Conference during this period of unprecedented change in college sports,” Washington State University President and Pac-12 Board of Directors chair Kirk Schulz said in a statement on Monday, Feb.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

I knew the Pac-12 was annoyed with the Mountain West Conference but didn’t grasp just how pissed it was until Tuesday.

The Pac-12 unveiled its hard feelings in a complaint filed in the Northern District of California. The conference wants the poaching penalties that were included in the scheduling agreement with the MWC deemed illegal by a judge.

It wants the court to know that it tried to work reasonably with the Mountain West but ultimately felt pushed around, bullied, and backed into a corner.

It wants an open and free market.

It wants UNLV — basically.

The lawyers win again, right? They usually do. But I read the court filing and came away thinking about conversations I had with both parties in the last few weeks.

Pac-12 staff was frustrated as it ended the negotiation to extend the football scheduling agreement with the MW earlier this month. On the Sunday night when negotiations broke down, one source called the MW’s position “delusional.”

The court filing on Tuesday underscored that. It also indicated that the Mountain West wanted to boost the annual scheduling payout from $14 million this season to $30 million next season.

As I previously reported, Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez was accused by Oregon State and Washington State of blocking their attempts to schedule non-conference games with her schools. Nevarez told me she was simply following long-standing conference policy. The Beavers and Cougars rolled their eyes at that.

It turns out the sides weren’t just wrangling and bickering about football scheduling. They were both plotting their next moves.