WSU and OSU win PAC-12 legal battle

PULLMAN — The Washington Supreme Court came to an agreement on Friday, Dec. 15, to not review the court’s decision which granted both Washington State University (WSU) and Oregon State University (OSU) control of the PAC-12 moving forward.

The ruling granted a tremendous victory to both WSU and OSU moving forward, the two schools have control of the finances and conference direction moving forward.

This ruling was initially made by Judge Gary Libey in the Whitman County Courthouse in Colfax in November.

The original ruling was recommended by the other 10 departing schools: University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Stanford, California, University of Utah, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles and University of Colorado, to be reviewed by the Washington Supreme Court immediately following the ruling by Judge Gary Libey.

The decision was placed on hold on Nov. 28 as a stay was put on Libey’s ruling, when the case was sent to the Washington high court.

With the decision made on Friday, Dec. 15, the original ruling from Libey is now the controlling ruling.

“We look forward to continuing our work of charting a path forward for the conference that is in the best interest of student-athletes and our wider university communities,” said Washington State President Kirk Schulz and Oregon State President Jayathi Murthy in a joint statement.

The collapse of the PAC-12 conference began on June 30, 2022, when USC and UCLA announced their shocking departure from the conference to head for the Big-10 conference.

July 27 then saw Colorado announce their leave of the PAC-12 for the Big-12 conference.

Upon departure, USC, UCLA, and Colorado could no longer act in interest of the PAC-12 conference, and be involved with decisions regarding the conference.

As the PAC-12 was set for a media deal with Apple TV on August 4, Washington and Oregon announced their leave for the Big-10.

Later, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah all left for the Big-12.

On Sept. 1, the final nail in the PAC-12 coffin was placed, as Stanford and California left for the ACC.

With the 10 schools departing, the Pac-12 conference has dwindled down to WSU and OSU as the sole members.

Both WSU and OSU have been cited stating that they intend to stay as members of the PAC-12, and will attempt to rebuild the conference.