Squabble over exit fee leaves Utah Valley's status uncertain for WAC tournaments
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Audio By Carbonatix
1:49 PM on Tuesday, March 10
The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The start of the Western Athletic Conference tournaments was thrown into uncertainty Tuesday, the eve of both the men's and women's basketball tournaments, when the league threatened to leave out Utah Valley over a $1 million payment it says the school hasn't made.
Utah Valley plans to leave the WAC for the Big West Conference at the end of this school year. WAC officials said in a statement posted on social media Tuesday that Utah Valley hadn’t complied with a judge’s order directing the school to place $1 million in escrow with the court, an amount equivalent to its exit fee for leaving the conference.
WAC officials said the league’s board of directors instructed the commissioner to plan for the possibility that Utah Valley wouldn’t play in either tournament if the fee isn’t paid because “it would be a member not in good standing.”
This creates the possibility the men's WAC Tournament could begin without its top seed Wednesday at Las Vegas. Utah Valley had earned the top seed by winning the league’s regular-season championship.
Utah Valley was seeded fourth in the women’s tournament beginning Wednesday, also in Las Vegas.
WAC officials said they would release new brackets without Utah Valley if the school doesn’t comply with the court’s directive by 5 p.m. MT Tuesday.
The school filed a response shortly after the conference's social media post.
“To set the record straight, the Utah Attorney General’s office contacted the Court on Friday, March 6, 2026 at 5:02 p.m. seeking guidance from the Court on how to satisfy the directive to deposit the funds," the Utah court documents said.
According to the documents, Utah Valley followed up with the court by phone and was informed that directions on how to make the deposit would be provided on Tuesday. The filing said Utah Valley expects to deposit the funds as soon as directions are provided.
Utah Valley made headlines last September when conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event on the campus in Orem.
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