Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez is in the midst of one of the most demanding stretches of her career, and her legal background is coming in handy.
Introduced as a 27-year veteran of intercollegiate athletics, Nevarez was featured in a panel titled “Power Players: Women Leading the Game” at Ghostbar in the Palms on Thursday.
Afterward, she spoke to the Review-Journal about the whirlwind she’s navigating at the helm of the Mountain West amid an ongoing dispute with the Pac-12 over tens of millions of dollars.
“It’s funny, because I’ve always considered myself open to change,” she said. “But even the change that we’re experiencing right now in college athletics is pushing my outer bounds of comfort. It’s been a lot.”
After five schools (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State) announced they were leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 in 2026, she adapted.
The rebuilt conference will welcome UTEP, and Hawaii is being upgraded from football-only status to full membership. Northern Illinois will join in football only, and Grand Canyon and UC Davis will join in most sports besides football.
But Nevarez and the conference are still in the hunt for what they believe should be a $55 million payout from the Pac-12.
“We’re still actively trying to finalize the lawsuits,” she said. “We feel good about where we’re going now.”
Confidence high
The Pac-12 filed a federal lawsuit in September questioning the legality of the “poaching penalty” in its football scheduling agreement with the Mountain West from December 2023. That document included language from the Mountain West requiring the Pac-12 to pay a fee of $10 million if a school left for the Pac-12, with additional expenses of $500,000 for each additional school.
Colorado State and Utah State also filed a separate lawsuit against the Mountain West in December in hopes to avoid having to pay exit fees that could range from $19 million to $38 million. Boise State later joined the lawsuit, while Fresno State and San Diego State have not challenged the exit fees.
Although Nevarez didn’t estimate a timeline for the legal drama’s end, the law degree she received from the University of California tells her the Mountain West doesn’t have much to worry about.
“Our confidence is very high,” she said. “Given my background, we have a lot of expertise in the room and feel that our arguments are solid. When you sign an agreement, a contract with lawyers in the room, you can’t — shouldn’t — just run to the legal system and be able to get out of it.”
She expressed that same level of confidence when asked about rumors of the Pac-12 pursuing UNLV and UNR despite their joining the remaining Mountain West members in a long-term television rights pact.
“We executed a full form grant of rights, the same grant of rights used by the ACC and the Big 12,” she said. “Both have survived legal scrutiny in the system, and I think the speed at which we got it done really is evidence of how our schools linked arms and were committed to staying together and growing the Mountain West.”
Merger unlikely
Nevarez, who worked for the Pac-12 from 2010 to ’18, spoke about the conference dispute as a pity more than a threat.
“Having worked at the Pac-12 for so many years, I’m just heartbroken,” she said. “It shouldn’t have disappeared. The fact that it no longer exists as the Pac-12 I knew, it’s still just heartbreaking.”
Sentiment like that seems like it would lend well to the conferences joining forces, but a source familiar with the situation told the Review-Journal the Pac-12 hasn’t been receptive to such a scenario.
“Our board has always been consistent that they would be open to a merger,” Nevarez said. “So we’d be open to the conversation.”
Now, Nevarez is basking in the experience she’s had watching the Mountain West basketball tournament at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.
“It feels like we’re getting back to what we do,” she said. “We have this national crowd, great games and student-athletes. We’re kind of back to the business of sports in the Mountain West. We’re locked in and we’re looking forward. We had our new members for 2026 come visit us while they’re in town, and it’s just been really feeling good.”
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
