- Utah Valley disputes WAC's $1 million lawsuit, citing lack of Texas jurisdiction.
- The university seeks a restraining order to compete in WAC championships.
- UVU claims WAC's actions harm its athletic programs' growth and visibility.
OREM — Utah Valley is fighting back against the WAC.
The largest university in the state of Utah filed a response to the Western Athletic Conference's $1 million lawsuit in a Tarrant County court Tuesday, claiming the state of Texas "lacks jurisdiction" over the school as it defends itself from accusations of an unpaid exit fee for leaving the conference, according to a copy of the injunction obtained by KSL.com.
In addition, the university also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against the league, urging a Utah court to reduce the lawsuit before Feb. 23, 2026 so that the Wolverines could compete at the WAC indoor track and field championships.
The WAC indoor championships are scheduled to be held Feb. 27-28 in Spokane, Washington. The conference's men's and women's basketball tournament is scheduled for March 11-14 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
In the filing Tuesday in Utah's Fourth District Court, the university claimed the WAC's lawsuit over unpaid exit fees and a subsequent ruling barring Utah Valley from broadcasting games through the league's media partner (ESPN) and from competing in conference championships was "causing irreparable harm to the growth, visibility and recruiting ability of UVU's athletic programs by depriving its teams and student-athletes of unique opportunities that can never be replicated," according to a copy of the TRO obtained by KSL.com.
The order calls for the WAC to reinstate the school's WAC-sponsored media broadcasts, permit all teams and athletes from Utah Valley to participate in postseason tournaments and championships, and reinstate the eligibility of Utah Valley teams, coaches and athletes for postseason awards consideration.
Utah Valley University is fighting back against the WAC for banning them from postseason competition and televising home games.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 17, 2026
According to documents obtained by @TheFieldOf68, UVU's legal team has filed in Texas claiming that there is no jurisdiction over UVU in that state.…
In the court document, Utah Valley claims the university entered into an agreement with the six other current members of the conference — Abilene Christian, Texas-Arlington, California Baptist, Utah Tech, Southern Utah and Tarleton State to retain their membership to the WAC for a two-year period beginning June 21, 2024.
The agreement would distribute approximately $5.6 million to retained members paid for by exit fees from departing members, including close to $300,000 in distributions in June 2024 and another $1.15 million in distributions last June, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by KSL.com.
"If an institution were to leave prior to June 30, 2026, the exiting institution would be responsible for exit fees and would not receive the above-mentioned distributions or any other conference distributions," the agreement read. "Exit fees would be increased during this two-year period to $1.5 million with notice and $3 million without notice."
At the time, Utah Valley had been approached by five other athletic conferences for admission, including one conference that had extended an invitation. But the Wolverines declined the invitation — largely "based on the promises made by the WAC and the other member schools," according to the TRO — and elected to stay in the conference.
The agreement was signed by Brian Thornton, then the commissioner of the WAC who is now the vice president of men's basketball in the Big 12, as well as all seven institutions.
But when California Baptist announced in March 2025 that it was leaving the conference for the Big West, things changed, according to court documents. During a scheduled board of directors meeting in March 2025, UVU's representative was excluded from the room for a vote and the other members of the conference voted to rescind the commitment agreement.
Utah Valley president Astrid S. Tuminez did not attend the regularly scheduled meeting because she was on sabbatical following the death of her husband, Jeffrey Tolk, at the time. UVU and its representatives abstained from the vote to rescind the commitment agreement, according to court documents.
The university then accepted an invitation to join the Big West, effective July 1, 2026, and informed the WAC of its intent to withdraw June 9, 2025. Less than a month later, Southern Utah and Utah Tech announced plans to join the Big Sky beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, and the three Texas-based schools revealed with the WAC that they were entering into a "strategic alliance" with the ASUN and United Athletic Conference to effectively merge the entities beginning in July 2026.
SUU and Utah Tech were not required to pay the exit fee required under the terms of the original agreement, Utah Valley noted in the court filing.
"As part of that communication," the restraining order filing reads, "UVU conveyed its expectation that no exit fees would be owed based on UVU's unquestioned compliance with the commitment agreement's two-year membership pledge."
