A great question that has multiple layers of financial complexity, so let’s start with the basics and drill down from there. According to the terms of the scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West, the former would owe the latter a poaching penalty of approximately $10 million per team. That cost comes in addition to the exit fee departing MW schools would owe their former conference.
How much? Figure on roughly $20 million if the departing schools give more than one year of notice and $35 million to $40 million if they give less than one year of notice. (Assume the situation will be resolved at least 12 months in advance.) Washington State and Oregon State will have at least $65 million at their disposal — the amount withheld from the 10 departing universities — that can be used to cover the poaching penalty for up to six MW teams.
But that doesn’t account for the departure fee owed by the outgoing MW schools to their conference. There are at least three options for covering that cost: (Washington has taken this approach to deal with a near-term budget shortfall, accepting loans from both the Big Ten and Fox that must be repaid in the 2030s.) This strategy would work only if the departing schools negotiate a multi-year payment plan with the remaining MW members, which will assuredly take a hard-line approach.
The media value is difficult to sketch, because it depends entirely on the configuration of the new Pac-12. A rebuilt league that features W.
