The WAC is now changed their tune from saying that there is nothing the league could do to have teams leave or even pay the five million dollar exit penalty to now saying that Fresno State and Nevada must pay the exit penalty and stay in the league through the 2011-2012 academic year. Per WAC officials:
"The WAC fully expects to receive the $5 million from both Fresno State and Nevada and will take legal recourse if necessary to obtain the money," said Benson. "As for the termination date, WAC Bylaws make it very clear that Fresno State and Nevada must remain in the WAC through the 2011-12 season unless the WAC authorizes an 'early out.' Fresno State and Nevada leaving the WAC following the 2010-11 season would cause irreparable financial harm to the remaining WAC members in terms of football scheduling and potential loss of revenue from television and bowl games. The damages that Hawai'i, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State would incur could exceed as much as $2 million per school."
This to me looks like WAC is going to bring in BYU for their non-basketball sports and will use the next year to invite teams such as Montana, other FCS teams, or perhaps a Sun Belt team or two. Or this could be just a big bluff by Karl Benson and the WAC, but either way there will be a bunch of lawyers involved to hash through this.
Plus, Wednesday is when we will know a log more about the WAC since that is the day BYU must decide if it wants to leave the Mountain West after this season.
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