WAC Threatens to Ban No. 1 Seed Utah Valley From Conference Tourney Over $1M Exit Fee

Hell hath no fury like a conference scorned.

The WAC threatened to remove the Utah Valley men's and women's basketball teams from this week's conference tournaments on Tuesday, according to ESPN, claiming that the school—which is departing for the Big West Conference next season—didn't put $1 million in an escrow fund as directed by a judge, the amount of its exit fee.

As ESPN noted, "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."

ESPN's Pete Thamel later reported that the funds were placed in escrow on Tuesday night and the WAC acknowledged that Utah Valley would be cleared to appear in the conference tournaments:

The two sides have been in a legal fight over the exit fees. In late February, Utah's Fourth District Court gave Utah Valley a 14-day temporary restraining order that allowed their track and field teams to compete in the conference's indoor track and field championships and broadcast their matches. On Saturday, a preliminary injunction seemingly extended that temporary restraining order ahead of the men's and women's basketball tournaments and directed the school to put $1 million in escrow.

But the WAC interpreted that ruling to mean that the preliminary injunction would only be extended after the money was put in escrow. Otherwise, the previous 14-day temporary restraining order would expire and Utah Valley wouldn't be eligible for postseason tournaments. Utah Valley is contesting that interpretation of the ruling, calling it an "overt violation" of the court-ordered injunction.

It's all a moot point now, but banning the men's and women's basketball teams would have been a wild development, especially considering the men's team is the top seed in the tournament. With NCAA tournament bids potentially on the line, it would have had massive repercussions for the student-athletes who had nothing to do with the legal showdown between the WAC and Utah Valley.