The Pac-12 is suing the Mountain West over what it claims is an "illegal" poaching fee, according to Shehan Jeyarajah and Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, after the conference lured Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Utah State away from the Mountain West in an attempts to reach eight football schools by the 2026 season.

Per that report, the Mountain West wrote a "poaching penalty" into its scheduling agreement with the Pac-12 last year that would charge the conference "$10 million per school in damages, which are separate from the $17 million exit fee that schools must pay."

"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 legal 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."

Indeed, when Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA ditched the Pac-12 for the Big Ten—and Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State did the same to join the Big 12—both Washington State and Oregon State were left scrambling to schedule opponents for the 2024 season.

They ultimately came to a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West, paying $14 million for 12 games in the 2024 season. There was an option for a second season, but it went unexercised, with the Pac-12 claiming the Mountain West asked for $30 million to extend the agreement.

Still, the conference's desire to void a poaching penalty they agreed to feels a bit flimsy from a legal standing:

That said, there might be some recourse for the Pac-12.

"They're [Pac-12] basically claiming they had no choice, they were under duress," sports law attorney Mit Winter told CBS Sports. "Their best argument might be that it's an unenforceable penalty. When you have a liquidated damages clause like that, it can't be unreasonable or otherwise it's considered an unenforceable penalty."

There is also the matter of UNLV. The Pac-12's poaching of Mountain West schools has left both conferences at seven programs each, with UNLV another potential target of the Pac-12. Bringing UNLV aboard would move the Pac-12 to the eight football schools required to be recognized as a conference and eligible for a potential automatic berth in the College Football Playoff.

And after the Mountain West lost four of its top schools, alongside Utah State, would UNLV be hamstringing itself by remaining in a weakened conference that is also facing a lawsuit?

"I don't see why UNLV would stay in the Mountain West now," Winter noted.