Mountain West claims San Diego State left the conference, owes $17 million exit fee

The Mountain West is at odds with San Diego State after the school reneged its decision to leave the conference at the end of June. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Mountain West claims that SDSU already made its departure official and owes the league an exit fee estimated to be $17 million.

As it stands, the conference is withholding a $6.6 million distribution fee from the 2022-23 season as part of that exit fee. San Diego State, however, says it never left the Mountain West and therefore owes nothing.

The drama began when San Diego State president Adela de la Torre sent a letter to the Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez and the 11 presidents at member universities on June 13. The letter stated that de la Torre wanted “to formally notice that San Diego State University intends to resign” from the conference.

Nevarez responded to the letter confirming SDSU’s notice of resignation and began initiating exit procedures. However, de la Torre wrote back to clarify that her original letter “was not the official notice of resignation.” Instead, she asked for an extension on the June 30 deadline to notify the conference of the school’s intention to leave.

“Our goal was and has always been to be transparent about our intentions to give the MWC the opportunity to meet before June 30 to consider our requests, especially our request concerning an extension of the resignation window,” she stated. “As you know, there have been delays outside of our control such that we continue to ask for your special consideration on the deadline.”

De la Torre continued in her letter, discussing the exit fee.

“Second, because SDSU has not yet already resigned from the MWC, the formal Notice Date, as defined in Bylaw 1.04(a), has not yet occurred,” de la Torre wrote. “As such, no payments due to SDSU from the conference for the previous year should yet be withheld and applied to any future exit fee at this time.”

Nevarez replied by denying an extension and stating that she disagreed that the original letter was not an official notice of resignation. Just before the 11 p.m. PT deadline on Friday, San Diego State told the Mountain West it does not want to withdraw.

Despite that, the conference claimed that SDSU’s original notice still stands and informed the school it would be withholding the $6.6 million distribution fee as the first payment installment of that exit fee.

The news comes after rumors that San Diego State could leave to join the Pac-12. Those talks apparently fell through, which explains why the Aztecs seemingly changed their minds and recommitted to the Mountain West.

Nevarez told de la Torre that the Mountain West “will discuss the status of SDSU’s membership” at a Board of Directors meeting on July 17. However, because the conference considers San Diego State to already have left, de la Torre will not be a part of that meeting.

This past season saw San Diego State have plenty of success in a variety of different sports. Most notably, the basketball team advanced to the national championship game, becoming the first Mountain West school ever to do so. Additionally, the softball team appeared in a Super Regional for the first time in school history.

San Diego State will remain a member of the Mountain West for at least the 2023-24 season. If the resignation stands, it would not go into effect until July 1, 2024.