OSU, WSU ask court to prevent departing Pac-12 schools from preventing conference rebuild

Oregon State and Washington State on Friday filed a complaint in Washington state court against the Pac-12 and Commissioner George Kliavkoff, seeking to prevent departing member schools from taking any actions that could stand in the way of the Pacific Northwest schools’ effort to rebuild the conference.

The breach of bylaws complaint was filed in Whitman County and requests a temporary restraining order that would keep departing members of the Pac-12 board of directors from taking any action regarding the status or governance of the conference, according to a news release from Oregon State and Washington State.

The Pac-12 currently has 12 members, but 10 of them are leaving next year: Southern California, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are leaving for the Big Ten; Stanford and Cal are leaving for the ACC; and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are leaving for the Big 12. Each school has cited the desire for more financial stability in abandoning the “Conference of Champions” and leaving only Oregon State and Washington State.