Oregon State and Washington State are the only two schools with Pac-12 voting rights. (Photo by Marc Sanchez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Oregon State and Washington State in their fight for control of the Pac-12.
The court said Friday that it was lifting a stay that it implemented in October after a request by the University of Washington. Both Oregon State and Washington State have been seeking to be the only schools with voting rights in the conference after the 10 other schools left for different conferences.
The stay came earlier this fall via a request from the University of Washington, as the court said it wanted to have a chance to give the battle for the Pac-12 a full review.
Earlier in October, a Washington state court judge gave Oregon State and Washington State control of the conference — and all of its assets, estimated at around $400 million — after the schools were granted a preliminary injunction. The Whitman County Superior Court judge ruled that the two schools should be the only ones making decisions for the conference because four are leaving for the Big Ten, four are leaving for the Big 12 and two are off to the ACC.
Friday’s ruling upholds that decision and puts OSU and WSU as the only two schools in charge of the Pac-12’s revenue and assets. The decision is a significant victory for the two remaining schools, though it’s ultimately a small one, given what transpired over the past 18 months. Oregon State and Washington State initiated legal action earlier this fall out of fear that the other schools could use their voting power to dissolve the conference and take control of assets before they leave.
“We look forward to charting a path forward for the Pac-12 that is in the best interest of the conference and student-athletes,” Oregon State said in a statement at the time of the October ruling in its favor. “Our intentions are to make reasonable business decisions going forward while continuing to seek collaboration and consultation with the departing universities.”
The University of Washington — one of the four schools heading to the Big Ten along with Oregon, UCLA and USC — then went to the state Supreme Court on behalf of the departing members of the conference and asked for a stay.
The two remaining schools argued that the departing schools had forfeited their voting rights when they chose to leave the conference over the summer. UCLA and USC lost their voting rights in the conference after they announced they were heading to the Big Ten in the summer of 2022. The other eight schools found new conferences in the summer of 2023 after the Pac-12 failed to agree to a new media rights agreement.
The Pac-12’s current media rights deal expires at the end of the 2023-24 school year and allows for a relatively clean exit for Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to the Big 12, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten and Cal and Stanford to the ACC. The four Big 12-bound teams and Oregon and Washington made their decisions first this summer, and Cal and Stanford then moved to find a poor geographic fit in the ACC.