Pac 12... 11... 10... 9... 8... 7...6...5...4... POOF!

Yeah. It's going to be a mosh pit. Everyone will take a few bruises.

 

Utah avoids the upset

 

The teams I thought would be good are good and the teams I thought would be bad are good. This is going to be a hell of a swan song!

 

He is not wrong in doing so. But he did graduate from WSU. Seems like a conflict of interest.

 

That remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

I'm not sure if he's wrong or not. The PAC will still be the Pac-12 for the next 11 months, so saying the 12 members, thru the board, can't conduct business or have board meetings seems overly broad. My hunch would be that an appeals court would lift the injunction rather quickly, but I don't know if the PAC will appeal

 

about the injunction:

the judge who granted the injunction is not a federal judge. He's a judge for the state of Washington, and LOL the only judge in the sparsely populated county. He is also a past president of the WSU Booster Club. OSU/WSU very clearly went venue shopping...which give the PAC an opportunity to have the lawsuit kicked

if the PAC departing 10 schools want to contest this, they'd probably start by filing to move the case to a federal court since the Pac-12 offices & facilities are in California, and the PAC-12 footprint covers 5 other states besides Washington. It might be really hard for an injunction granted by a state judge against a corporation in another state to withstand legal challenge

now I don't know if the 10 departing schools will fight this, but if they do, and especially if they get it moved to the federal courts, the case will take years. And time is not on the side of OSU/WSU. They need to be in a conference by next August, probably sooner, and their dreams of a reverse merger would probably die if the PAC was tied up in litigation

this looks a little like a hail mary by the Pac-2 to get the other 10 teams to settle

 

What is being printed in the news here in Phoenix is that the 10 schools that petitioned to leave have abandoned their rights to vote as members. Only OSU and WSU are voting members. They simply want to stop the schools leaving from changing the by laws, thus allowing them to raid the coffers and sell off assets that the league owns. I don’t see why anyone would think that USC or any of the other defectors should be able to put the conference in bankruptcy after stealing assets. The remaining teams should be able to dictate their own futures, not be stabbed in the back again by the defectors. But it only makes sense they would want to take back their knife, leave nothing behind I guess.

 

well, that's just false.

There is nothing in the by-laws about intent. What is in the by-laws is that no team can file a notice of exit until August 1, 2024. Until that time, all teams are still members of the PAC-12, and the Pac-12 has 'current' business until next August. That's almost 11 months. OSU/WSU will be the only voting members after the exits. The idea that they are the only voting members now is fucking idiotic. Yes, they are the Pac-2 for future decisions but again, those future decisions don't start for 11 months.

If they were the only voting members, they could hold a board meeting between themselves and change the by-laws to:

* all media money paid to the conference for the current football season (2023) only goes to them
* OSU/WSU are exempt from repaying their share of the 50M Comcast debt they helped create
* OSU/WSU are exempt from all other debts which then fall to the 10 other teams
* they get ALL March Madness money
* the 10 exiting schools are liable for the 10 year facilities lease to house the Pac-12 Network the conference signed a couple of years ago, but OSU/WSU are exempt

this has become a legal dispute meaning that logical and fair are flushed down the crapper.

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My take is that OSU/WSU were either a bit paranoid about the possibility of the other 10 teams being assholes, OR, they wanted to have a lever to compel a negotiated settlement. What they really want, and need, is clarity about current & future PAC revenue, assets, and liabilities. And that clarity needs to happen soon; as in the next 2-3 months.

Clarity sure as hell won't happen if the entire PAC-12 shitshiree is locked up in the courts. Which I think points to the risk OSU/WSU are taking. Because if the other 10 schools decide to fight back and litigate fundamental issues, it could be years before the cases are settled. I don't think the exiting schools are going to be real aggressive, but I do believe they want their share of revenue generated over the next 11 months

the issue is that OSU/WSU want to squeeze every penny of possible revenue they can from the corpse of the Pac-12. And also keep the Pac brand alive. They will have two years until 2026 (which coincidentally is the same time the MWC GOR expires) to convince MWC schools to exit their conference, or disband it, and reform the PAC. But that can't happen if the PAC is enmeshed in litigation. And if that happens, OSU/WSU will be scrambling, hard, to schedule two years of football, basketball, baseball, and all other sports. And they will be getting exactly zero media dollars.

in other words, OSU/WSU want the past and current business of the PAC settled, financially, and legally. And they want it settled ASAP. This lawsuit may be a good idea, assuming it compels a settlement. But it could also be a really bad idea if it pisses off the other 10 schools enough to litigate

 

It's impressive you can write up so many opinions and speculative statements without having any real insight.

 

LOL...yeah, OK...now why don't you tell us all, again, about what Portland's best options for a Dame trade are. Pot/Kettle

 

Wizenheimer clearly did not listen to the hearing yesterday. That was as open and shut a presentation as there could be. Only 2 schools still sit on the conference board of directors - there's no argument to be made (successfully) to the contrary.

 

if that was the case, the judge would NOT have ruled that a 12-0 vote would not violate the TRO. He said 12-0, not 2-0

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the ruling yesterday pretty much tie everyone's hands?

The 10 departing schools can't come together and vote to change the distribution schedule and the 2 remaining schools also can't vote to modify revenue payouts.

 

seems to do exactly that unless there is a pre-vote agreement of 12-0. As I understand it the main focus of the scheduled meeting were some retention contracts, like for officials in the basketball season, administrators, Pac-12 Network facilities managers, etc. But obviously OSU/WSU were worried about the majority changing some bylaws that would have prevented 2-way splits on any revenue streams

really seems there should be room between both sides for a settlement that allows OSU/WSU some extra cash and retention of the PAC brand which would allow immediate clarity, and a 12-way split of most revenue generated by all 12 teams thru July 2024, after accounting for liabilities.

 

Your settlement idea is far too reasonable and doesn't require a gross amount of legal fees, therefore it won't happen... at least not until more billable hours are stacked up!

 

Welcome to the internet and especially S2!

 

Departing Pac-12 schools UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Colorado reportedly tried stunning move ahead of upcoming exit