Fresno State and the four other schools that ditched the Mountain West for the Pac-12 owe their former conference just $49 million in exit fees, according to a settlement agreement and release of claims that was obtained by The Fresno Bee on Monday through a public records request.
That sum is less than half of the $100 million that the Mountain West was seeking, along with $55 million in poaching penalties from the Pac-12.
Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and then Utah State announced they intended to leave the Mountain West in September 2024. That became official July 1, when the five schools joined Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12 along with Texas State from the Sun Belt Conference and Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference.
The Mountain West will deduct the settlement payments of $9.8 million per school from final conference distributions for the 2024-25 and the 2025-26 seasons, according to the agreement. Under Mountain West bylaws, the exit fees for leaving the conference with one year’s notice is three times the average annual member distribution payment, estimated to be around $20 million.
Fresno State will end up with some conference distribution from the Mountain West — it is expected to receive a little more than $6 million each year. That does, however, leave a hole in the athletics budget. University president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said that will be made up in a number of ways.
“We will address those costs responsibly as details are finalized,” Jiménez-Sandoval said, in answering questions about the transition to the Pac-12. “This will not be approached as a blank check or as a single-source solution. We expect to use a combination of available athletics resources, conference-related revenues, private support and prudent financial planning.
“The move to the Pac-12 is a major strategic investment, and we have to manage it with the same discipline we expect in every other part of the university.”
The Mountain West also agreed that the departing universities will not be responsible for any attorneys’ fees or other expenses the conference has incurred or will incur related to legal action among the parties. The five schools retain the right to conduct an accounting or audit of the Mountain West’s books and records to verify the calculation and payment of the distributions.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West agreed to settle all litigation among the parties earlier in August. Utah State, Colorado State and Boise State in December 2024 filed a lawsuit against the conference in Colorado state court over exit fees to be paid. They later amended that suit to include Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez as a defendant and added a claim for fraud against both the conference and its commissioner.
The California State University board of trustees joined the lawsuit in January for the benefit of Fresno State and San Diego State. The Pac-12 filed a separate claim in the Northern District of California over the poaching penalties, which were included in a scheduling agreement between the conferences for the 2024 football season.
“With these matters concluded, the conferences and institutions can move forward with certainty and focus on serving their student-athletes, campuses, fans and communities,” the conferences said, in a joint statement.
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