The messy situation that resulted in Louisiana Tech’s football team being scheduled to play 20 games this fall is on the verge of ending with the school paying a Conference USA (CUSA) record exit fee to join the Sun Belt Conference this summer, Front Office Sports has learned.
Louisiana Tech will pay CUSA an exit fee that’s higher than the $8 million UTEP is paying to leave and join the Mountain West ahead of the 2026 season, sources with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports.
When Louisiana Tech announced its intentions to join the Sun Belt no later than July 1, 2027, its initial CUSA exit fee was pegged closer to $5 million. The exact financial figure remains unknown, but even a modest increase over the $8 million UTEP is paying would bring it close to an eight-figure sum.
None of the six schools that left CUSA in 2022 and 2023 paid more than $3 million. UAB, FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, and UTSA all joined the American Conference at the time.
On Monday, On3-owned outlet Bleed Tech Blue reported Louisiana Tech and CUSA had reached an agreement “clearing the way for the Bulldogs to officially join the Sun Belt on July 1, 2026.”
When reached for comment by FOS, a CUSA spokesperson said, “Both parties remain in settlement negotiations, but an agreement has not been finalized—contrary to the Bleed Tech Blue report.”
Spokespeople for Louisiana Tech and the Sun Belt did not respond to requests for comment by FOS.
How We Got Here
The Louisiana Tech–CUSA dispute dates back to last July, when the school announced it would join the Sun Belt no later than July 1, 2027, as CUSA requires a 14-month notice before departure.
In March, Louisiana Tech sued CUSA in an effort to leave the conference ahead of the 2026 college football season. Then, both CUSA and the Sun Belt released their 2026 conference schedules, which both included full slates for Louisiana Tech.
While Louisiana Tech made multiple offers to depart CUSA early, the conference had felt none of those offers came close to the commitments the schools made in the five-year grant of rights it signed in 2023, sources previously told FOS.
Once Louisiana Tech’s exit is finalized, CUSA will drop from 11 football teams to 10 for the upcoming season, and the Sun Belt will grow from 13 teams to 14.
