WAC Demands $1 Million Payment From Utah Valley, Threatens Conference Tournament Elimination

Here’s why a conference is, in a sense, holding two basketball teams hostage.

Utah Valley’s messy WAC exit has distracted from its best-ever Division I season. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

On paper, both of Utah Valley’s basketball teams enjoyed strong seasons—the men went 24–7 and women 16–13. As the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds in their respective fields, both likely could contend for WAC tournament titles.

In 2026, however, how things look “on paper” and the complex mechanics of college basketball administration can sometimes have very thin relationship.

Both Wolverines basketball teams may be declared ineligible to play in the WAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments due in part to non-payment of Utah Valley’s conference exit fee, the conference announced Tuesday afternoon.

“The conference will release new brackets if the university does not comply with the court’s directive within the order within 5:00 MT on Tuesday, March 10,” the WAC said—creating, in a sense, a basketball hostage situation.

"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 university said Tuesday afternoon in a statement via Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Why is the WAC leveraging Utah Valley’s conference tournament spots for $1 million?

The Wolverines, members of the WAC for over a decade, are scheduled to join the Big West on July 1. As part of the terms of Utah Valley’s conference membership, the Wolverines were supposed to pay a fee of $1 million by Jan. 31. Utah Valley did not do that, and in response the WAC took the university to court.

As part of the conference’s lawsuit, the Wolverines were banned from appearing on WAC-sanctioned radio and television packages and in conference-sanctioned championships.

On Friday, Utah Valley told Sean Walker of KSL-TV in Salt Lake City it had won an injunction overturning the bans, nominally clearing the way for the Wolverines to play in the WAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

The WAC’s statement, however, signals it will not comply with that injunction. Specifically, as Brice Larson of KOVO-AM pointed out, the conference is defying court language that directs Utah Valley to put $1 million in escrow while ordering the WAC to drop its punitive action against the Wolverines.

The WAC men’s tournament is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Paradise, Nev., with a game between Abilene Christian and Tarleton State. The women’s tournament will also begin Wednesday in the same building with a game between Utah Tech and Texas-Arlington.

For both the WAC and Utah Valley—whose divorce has now become one of the messiest in the history of college sports, which is saying something—the clock is ticking.

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