The West Coast Conference this week sued Grand Canyon University for breach of contract after the school announced last month that it will be joining the Mountain West Conference next year.
According to Sportico, the lawsuit comes amid widespread legal action over D-I conference realignment. Mountain West is currently in litigation with the Pac-12 over a “poaching penalty,” while the Pac-12 was embroiled in litigation in 2023 over 10 schools departing and Oregon State and Washington State remaining.
Back in May, GCU entered into an agreement for the school to join the WCC and begin competing in that conference in the 2025-26 academic year. GCU is currently a member of the Western Athletic Conference, which the Antelopes joined in 2013.
The WCC argues that that agreement would become binding if the presidents of WCC member schools approved, and Seattle University joined the WCC and was approved. Both of those events happened, the WCC asserts.
GCU announced in a November that it was joining the Mountain West Conference no later than 2026 and had “declined an invitation” to join the WCC. According to the WCC, Grand Canyon informed WCC commissioner Stu Jackson by voicemail of this news and submitted written notice that it was terminating their deal.
In its lawsuit, the WCC says Grand Canyon had no right to nullify their deal, arguing that by doing so it was in breach of contract and owes a payment for exiting the deal.
