Three Schools Sue Mountain West, Commish Over Withheld Funds

Boise State, Colorado State, and Utah State updated a complaint in a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference on Thursday, claiming the league withheld millions of dollars from member schools and misled them about the addition of Grand Canyon University.

All three schools are leaving the MWC for the Pac-12 as part of a massive wave of conference realignment on the West Coast in recent years. The Pac-12 nearly disintegrated as all but two teams departed for other Power 4 conferences with more lucrative TV deals. The remaining Pac-12 schools, Oregon State and Washington State, will soon be joined by a new crew heavily made up of teams from the Mountain West.

The updated complaint added MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez as a defendant. The suit says the conference and Nevarez have withheld tens of millions of dollars from Boise State’s College Football Playoff payouts, travel reimbursements, and NCAA distributions for financial aid, academic support, and athlete welfare. The MWC wants to charge each departing member at least $19 million in exit fees, which the schools say is unlawful. (The Mountain West is also suing the Pac-12 for $55 million for poaching its schools.)

A spokesperson for the MWC declined to comment on the updated complaint, instead referring to a statement issued last week. “The Mountain West is prepared to respond to whatever assertions may be included in the Second Amended Complaint,” the conference said. “We remain confident in our legal position, which we will vigorously defend.”

The MWC also said it is “inconsistent and unjust” for the departing schools to try to skirt their exit fees when they “sought to enforce” them against San Diego State in 2023 when the Aztecs considered leaving.

Another Grand Problem

The other issue raised in the new complaint is that of Grand Canyon University, which the MWC announced in June would join the conference this fall. The trio of lawsuit complainants say Nevarez repeatedly told them Grand Canyon wouldn’t join immediately, then after the schools said they would leave for the Pac-12 (subsequently giving up their voting rights), the Mountain West accepted the Antelopes weeks later. 

The schools say this could cost them millions of dollars between travel budgets, conference seeding and payouts, and NCAA tournament bids.

Nevarez last month pushed back against these claims, telling The Athletic: “When you give your notice [to leave], you give up your board seat and your vote. It’s Conference 101.”