LAS VEGAS — Utah Valley and the Western Athletic Conference have cleared up their $1 million dispute that threatened to leave the Wolverines out of the league’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
Utah Valley plans to leave the WAC for the Big West Conference at the end of this school year. The WAC said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that Utah Valley hadn’t complied with a judge’s order directing the school to place $1 million in escrow with the court, an amount equivalent to its exit fee for leaving the conference.
WAC officials said at the time they were planning for the possibility that Utah Valley wouldn’t play in either tournament if the fee wasn’t paid because “it would be a member not in good standing.” That would have left the men’s tournament without its top seed.
But the league issued another statement Tuesday night saying Utah Valley would be playing in both tournaments.
“The Western Athletic Conference has been assured by the Utah court that the $1 million payment from Utah Valley University is in process, in accordance with the court’s directive, and will be completed in the morning, before tipoff of the first game tomorrow,” the WAC said. “Relying on this assurance, the WAC board of directors will allow Utah Valley to compete in the WAC basketball tournaments.”
Utah Valley is the No. 4 seed in the women’s tournament. Both events start Wednesday in Las Vegas.
WAC officials had been planning to release new brackets without Utah Valley if the school hadn’t complied with the court’s directive.
Utah Valley made headlines last September when conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event on the campus in Orem.
