Air Force and UNLV are remaining in the Mountain West, sources told Action Network.
An official announcement that the seven remaining Mountain West teams are staying together is expected on Thursday, a source said.
Air Force and UNLV, which were considered the key components in keeping the league together after it lost five members to the Pac-12, will be rewarded for their loyalty.
Air Force and UNLV will receive a signing bonus between $25-$30 million from the Mountain West — a whopping five times the value of their annual media rights — to remain in the league, a source said. The signing bonus will come from the pending exit fees the MWC is scheduled to receive.
The decisions by Air Force and UNLV leave both the Mountain West and the Pac-12 with seven members each.
By 2026, both leagues must have eight football-playing members — the minimum required to remain an FBS conference and be eligible for the College Football Playoff.
On Sept. 12, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State announced they were leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12. Two days ago, Utah State became the fifth MWC member to leave for the Pac-12, putting the Mountain West’s future in jeopardy.
The MWC expects to receive a total of $155 million in exit fees and “poaching fees” from the schools and the Pac-12.
However, the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West saying it should not be required to pay $55 million for the MWC's "poaching penalty."
"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,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said. “The provision was put in place to protect the Mountain West Conference from this exact scenario.
“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.”
Like most things involving college athletics these days, lawyers — and likely settlements — will determine how much of the “poaching penalty” is paid out.
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