The Pac-12 and Mountain West took a major step Wednesday toward resolving their legal disputes over more than $100 million in poaching penalties and exit fees, disclosing that they will engage in mediation.

The process is scheduled to begin May 19. The mediator is not named in court filings in the Northern District of California, nor is there a date listed for the mediation to conclude. However, the conferences have requested a 60-day extension on the current stay of the poaching penalty lawsuit. (That stay was set to expire May 16.)

The Mountain West initiated the conversation about mediation, according to a source.

The Pac-12 took the Mountain West to court last fall over $55 million in poaching penalties the Mountain West claimed it was owed following the announced departures of five schools (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State), which are scheduled to join the Pac-12 in the summer of 2026.

A second lawsuit emerged in late 2024 when Colorado State and Utah State challenged the exit fees owed to the Mountain West as part of their planned departures.

— Jon Wilner

NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers have run out patience with wide receiver George Pickens, agreeing on a trade that sends the talented but mercurial 24-year-old to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Steelers will get a third-round pick in the 2026 draft and a fifth-rounder in 2027. The Cowboys get a sixth-round choice in two years.

Pickens is about to enter the final year of the rookie deal he signed in 2022 when the Steelers took the former Georgia star in the second round. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Pickens has spent his first three seasons in the NFL being equal parts productive and petulant, mixing highlight-reel catches with bouts of immaturity along the way.

The Jacksonville Jaguars released veteran receiver Gabe Davis, moving on nearly 14 months after signing him to a three-year, $39 million contract in free agency. The Jaguars designated it as a post-June 1 cut, meaning it will cost them $5.7 million against the salary cap in 2025 instead of $20.3 million.

Davis, 26, played in 10 games last year and finished with 20 receptions for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

The Rams announced their plan to hold their mandatory minicamp in Maui, Hawaii’s second-largest island, on June 16-19. The camp will feature two days of on-field workouts at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku. The Rams will also host a football clinic for local youth teams.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Utah quarterback Cam Rising is giving up football — at least for the foreseeable future — because of his struggle to recover from a hand injury early last season.

“I have been advised by two orthopedic surgeons that I will never be able to return to playing football,” Rising wrote in a social media post in which he announced that he “will be forced to medically retire from the game I love.”

Rising added that he will seek a third medical opinion and proceed with recommended surgery and rehab, but stopped short of indicating that he foresees a path to playing again.

Rising played parts of four seasons at Utah between 2020 and 2024. He passed for 2,493 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2021 and followed that up with 3,034 and 26 TDs in a 2022 season that landed the Utes in the Rose Bowl. But a knee injury in the bowl game sidelined Rising for all of 2023.

MEN’S SOCCER

Paris Saint-Germain weathered one attack after another and showed remarkable adaptability to hold off and defeat an inspired Arsenal 2-1 to reach the Champions League final.

Deprived of the ball possession it usually enjoys, PSG looked shaky early on but found answers by relying on counter-attacks and went on to advance 3-1 on aggregate.

WRESTLING

Olympic silver medalist wrestler Iakobi Kajaia was banned for two years over missed doping control tests, the International Testing Agency said.

Kajaia took silver for Georgia at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 in the men’s Greco-Roman 130-kilogram category. He did not compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.