Oregon State, WSU in Control of Pac-12 After Court Denies Request to Review Lawsuit

Oregon State and Washington State have taken control of the Pac-12 ahead of its final seven months as a 12-team conference.

The Washington Supreme Court on December 15 denied a request to review a lower court's decision to give the universities control of the Pac-12 board, according to ESPN's Kyle Bonagura.

The decision lifted the emergency stay granted by a Washington State Supreme Court commissioner to the University of Washington on November 28.

The November 14 decision by Whitman County Superior Court Judge Gary Libey to make OSU and WSU the sole governing members of the conference will now go into effect.

The 10 schools planning to depart from the Pac-12 in August at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season will no longer be able to vote on conference decisions.

Libey's initial ruling stated that whenever OSU and WSU meet as the Pac-12 board, they must create an agenda and share it with the 10 departing schools, per KHQ's Noah Corrin, Emily Frint and Ava Wainhouse.

Departing schools impacted by the state Supreme Court's decision include Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Oregon, Southern California, Stanford, UCLA, Utah and Washington.

The 10 schools have previously accused OSU and WSU of wanting direction of the board to control the revenue earned by the Pac-12's current members.

OSU and WSU argued that the 10 schools already gave up their seats on the board by sharing plans to leave the Pac-12, citing the absence of USC and UCLA representatives from board meetings after the schools announced their upcoming departures in 2022.

WSU and OSU are set to play a six-game schedule against Mountain West opponents as a two-team conference in the 2024-25 season.