Tailgate parties, marching bands, and packed stadiums mean college football season is in full swing. Behind the familiar fall traditions and storied rivalries, Keker, Van Nest & Peters recently steered the Pac-12 through a fight for its survival. The Pac-12’s 2026 season kicked off with a full football roster, though three years ago its fate was uncertain.
When ten of the Pac-12’s schools announced plans to leave, Keker helped Oregon State and Washington State preserve its future through two critical legal battles: securing the remaining schools’ control of the conference and challenging a $55 million obstacle to its expansion.
In 2023, Keker represented Oregon State in securing an emergency order to block a board meeting at which the departing schools intended to dissolve the Pac-12 and distribute its considerable assets. The firm subsequently won a preliminary injunction establishing that only Oregon State and Washington State could govern the Pac-12. After the Washington Supreme Court declined to review the ruling, the schools reached a settlement preserving the two remaining members’ control, along with an opportunity for the conference to reset and rebuild.
The path to rebuilding wasn’t an open field. Oregon State and Washington State set a football schedule with Mountain West teams conditioned on the acceptance of anticompetitive penalties designed to deter Mountain West member schools from changing conferences. When the Mountain West sought to enforce the penalties, Keker led a first-of-its kind litigation arguing “poaching penalties” were anticompetitive and unlawful, citing violations of both federal and state antitrust laws. The conferences agreed to settle.
Now that the Pac-12 has met the NCAA member school quota, it can focus on rebuilding its caliber as a power conference again. Widely covered by ESPN, CBS Sports, Front Office Sports, and other national outlets, the Pac-12’s near collapse in 2023 and its hard-fought survival is among the most consequential success stories in college athletics’ unprecedented realignment era.
Team Keker included Eric MacMichael, Nick Goldberg, David Silbert, Franco Muzzio, Anjali Srinivasan, Nate Brown, Taylor Reeves, Kelly Kaufman, Paul von Autenreid, and Charlotte Kamai.
