UNLV, Air Force decide to remain in Mountain West Conference after negotiating re-signing bonus with league

The Mountain West Conference has successfully convinced UNLV and Air Force to remain in the league despite both teams being deep in conversations to jump ship to other leagues, sources told CBS Sports late Wednesday night. UNLV was considering an exit for the Pac-12, while Air Force was fielding interest from the American.

After negotiations, the MWC is expected to pay at least $25 million in bonus money to each school to remain in the conference, a person familiar with the decision told CBS Sports. The bonuses are expected to be primarily funded by exit fees that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State will pay the conference for breaking their grant of rights agreements to join the Pac-12 in 2026. The MWC is due upwards of $17 million from each of the five departing schools.

With UNLV and Air Force committing to stay in the MWC beyond 2026, the conference has staved off further poaching with six full members and seven football members. Eight members are required for a conference to be recognized by the NCAA, an important designation to remain eligible for one of five automatic berths in the College Football Playoff’s 12-team field. The Pac-12 stands at seven members following its latest additions.

The AAC on Monday received commitments from Memphis, South Florida, Tulane and UTSA to remain within the conference after flirtations with the Pac-12.

What’s next might be most be the most interesting development as the Pac-12 turns to a third plan to lure at least one more school into the conference. Sources told CBS Sports earlier in the process that Pac-12 leadership desired at least nine football members and 10 basketball members. 

The MWC has been attempting to get Its members to sign a grant of rights agreement to lock the schools in for another five years despite not yet having a new TV contract beyond its current deal, which expires In 2026, sources told CBS Sports.

The bickering between the conferences went nuclear in court Tuesday when the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit against the MWC over additional aggregate withdrawal fees (a “poaching penalty”) for accepting the five MWC schools, which is outlined in a scheduling agreement signed by the Pac-12 and MWC in 2023. Those fees total $55 million, according to documents obtained Tuesday by CBS Sports, and it sits on top of the roughly $17 million each school owes the MWC in exit fees. The Pac-12 argued the poaching penalty is unenforceable under antitrust law.

The MWC added the poaching fee as a poison pill should the Pac-12 try to lure schools to reform the league through at least Aug. 1, 2027.

The Pac-12 recently “incentivized” the decision for the five MWC schools to jump with an additional $5 million to $7 million per school coming from the league’s war chest, sources told CBS Sports earlier this week.

“The MWC imposed this poaching penalty at a time when the Pac-12 was desperate to schedule football games for its two remaining members and had little leverage to reject this naked restraint on competition,” the Pac-12 wrote in its filing. “But that does not make the poaching penalty any less illegal, and the Pac-12 is asking the court to declare this provision invalid and unenforceable.”

MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement Tuesday the poaching penalty is valid. 

“It is my responsibility to protect the conference and always keep its best interests in mind,” Nevarez said. “The Pac-12 Conference is challenging a contractual provision that it expressly agreed to and acknowledged was essential to the Mountain West Conference’s willingness to enter into a Scheduling Agreement, all while advised by sophisticated legal counsel. The provision was put in place to protect the Mountain West Conference from this exact scenario. It was obvious to us and everyone across the country that the remaining members of the Pac-12 were going to try to rebuild. The fees at issue were included to ensure the future viability of the Mountain West and allow our member institutions to continue providing critical resources and opportunities for our student-athletes. 

“At no point in the contracting process did the Pac-12 contend that the agreement that it freely entered into violated any laws. To say that the Mountain West was taking advantage of the Pac-12 could not be farther from the truth. The Mountain West Conference wanted to help the Pac-12 schools and student-athletes, but not at the expense of the Mountain West. The Pac-12 has taken advantage of our willingness to help them and enter into a scheduling agreement with full acknowledgment and legal understanding of their obligations. Now that they have carried out their plan to recruit certain Mountain West schools, they want to walk back what they legally agreed to. There has to be a consequence to these types of actions.”