The long-running and increasingly bitter legal war between the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain West Conference appears headed for a conclusion after both sides reached a settlement in principle over millions of dollars in disputed ‘poaching’ penalties and exit fees.

In a joint statement released Monday, the conferences — alongside departing Mountain West members Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Fresno State — confirmed that lawsuits filed in both California and Colorado would be paused while the parties finalise settlement terms.

“The Pac-12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference, and Boise State University, Utah State University, the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System for the benefit of Colorado State University, and The Board of Trustees of the California State University for the benefit of San Diego State University and California State University, Fresno have reached an agreement in principle to resolve the pending lawsuits,” the statement read. “The parties have agreed to stay the lawsuits in California and Colorado while they work to negotiate and finalize the settlement.”

The agreement comes just one day before a scheduled discovery hearing in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, where the increasingly high-stakes dispute threatened to expose years of internal conference communications and financial negotiations.

At the heart of the battle was the Pac-12’s aggressive attempt to rebuild after the near-total collapse of the conference in 2024, when all but Oregon State and Washington State departed for the Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. Desperate to survive, Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould spearheaded a reconstruction plan centred on raiding the Mountain West for football members. The conference eventually secured commitments from Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State, all of which are scheduled to officially join the Pac-12 this summer. Texas State University was later added to bring the conference back to the eight football-playing members required for College Football Playoff eligibility.

That expansion triggered a financial and legal counter-attack from the Mountain West under commissioner Gloria Nevarez.

The Mountain West argued that the Pac-12 had knowingly agreed to a scheduling alliance provision designed specifically to prevent the conference from targeting Mountain West schools. Under the deal, the Pac-12 would owe an initial $10m fee for taking the first Mountain West member, with penalties escalating by $500,000 for each additional school. By the time Utah State University accepted its invitation, the total potential liability had climbed to approximately $55m.

When the Pac-12 sued in federal court in September 2024, it claimed the so-called ‘poaching penalty’ amounted to an unlawful restraint on competition and argued the conference had little choice but to accept the provision in order to secure football scheduling stability for Oregon State University and Washington State University.

“The action challenges an anti-competitive and unlawful ‘Poaching Penalty’ that the MWC imposed on the Pac-12 to inhibit competition for member schools in collegiate athletics,” the Pac-12 argued in its filing — something Nevarez strongly rejected at the time.

“The provision was put in place to protect the Mountain West Conference from this exact scenario,” Nevarez said. “At no point in the contracting process did the Pac-12 contend that the agreement that it freely entered into violated any laws.”

The legal war soon expanded further, as Colorado State and Utah State filed a separate lawsuit against the Mountain West, with Boise State eventually joining the case. The departing schools accused the conference and Nevarez of attempting to financially punish members leaving for the Pac-12 through excessive exit fees and internal governance manoeuvres. The schools alleged that the Mountain West was attempting to impose exit penalties ranging from approximately $19m to $38m per institution while also withholding revenue distributions and excluding departing members from conference decision-making.

“This flouting of the Bylaws and Colorado law is not new,” the complaint stated. “It is part of the Mountain West’s ongoing efforts to restrict its members’ ability to freely explore the best options in the marketplace for their student-athletes and penalise certain members for announcing their intent to withdraw from the Conference.”

Financial details of the settlement have not yet been disclosed, and it remains unclear exactly how much money will ultimately change hands between the conferences and departing institutions. Judge Susan van Keulen has reportedly ordered the parties to file a formal notice of settlement by June 2nd.

What is clear, however, is that the agreement removes one of the biggest remaining clouds hanging over western college athletics ahead of the 2026 season.

For the Pac-12, the settlement would allow Gould’s rebuilt conference to move forward without the threat of crippling litigation costs or potentially massive damages. For the Mountain West and Nevarez, meanwhile, it provides certainty after nearly two years of instability triggered by the Pac-12’s collapse and subsequent rebuilding effort. For both conferences, it would finally close one of the most chaotic and politically-charged chapters of the post-realignment era.