UIC Athletes Banned from Winter Championships by Horizon League After Conference Swap

The Horizon League Board of Directors announced Wednesday all University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) student-athletes would be barred from its winter conference championships because of the school's violation of its "timely notice requirement for departing members."

UIC confirmed in January it was leaving the Horizon League for the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1. The Horizon League board said in a statement such a decision requires at least one year of notice:

"Horizon League Bylaws provide a choice to departing members: either provide a reasonable one-year notice of a decision to join another league or lose the privilege of having its teams participate in League championships and potentially carry the Horizon League banner into NCAA tournament competition. The League's eligibility Bylaws have been in place for years and were approved by its members, including UIC, fully aware of this choice."

UIC Athletics released a statement in response to the league's ruling:

The Horizon League is following in the footsteps of other conferences that imposed similar measures following a carousel of program movement jump-started by Oklahoma and Texas announcing in July they'd be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC no later than July 1, 2025.

That started a whirlwind of movement that has left several conferences scrambling to ensure they'll remain viable in the coming years.

In November, the Colonial Athletic Association banned James Madison athletes from its championships following the school's decision to leave for the Sun Belt Conference.

The America East Conference followed suit last week when it barred Stony Brook from postseason play because of its impending departure for the CAA.

In December, NCAA president Mark Emmert said trust issues began to develop between the conferences because of the work behind the scenes to recruit programs to switch allegiances, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.

"The schools regulate each other. Sports is just another example of that. That is utterly dependent upon collegiality, cooperation and trust," he said. "If you can't self-regulate an environment on collegiality and trust and good communications, you've got a big problem."

Of course, the biggest issue with the conferences' recent decisions, as ESPN's Jay Bilas pointed out after the Stony Brook announcement, is that the athletes are punished for no fault of their own:

The rulings also cover all sports, so while most of the focus surrounding the conference changes has been focused on moneymakers like football and basketball, every athlete is impacted.

Meanwhile, UIC noted in its full statement the Horizon League denied it an opportunity to argue its case in front of the board before rending a decision.