Boise State, AAC settle lawsuits

In December 2011 Boise State accepted an invitation to join the Big East Conference in football only and planned on placing their olympic sports in the Big West Conference. But in December 2012 they decided to remain in the Mountain West Conference with all their sports. Two major reasons given were that the soon-to-be American Athletic Conference had failed to add more Western members and had also failed to obtain a strong television package. Four months later in April 2012, Boise State filed a lawsuit against the Big East (now the AAC) in an attempt to avoid paying a $5 million dollar exit penalty. Soon afterward the Big East filed a countersuit against the university. 

Six weeks ago word surfaced that Boise State and the AAC would enter into mediation over the issue of exit fees and penalties. On Thursday the legal battle leading up to that came to an end. According to a story posted by Dave Southorn of the Idaho Statesman, Boise State has agreed to pay an exit fee of $2.3 million. The AAC was given $1.6 million earlier this week and will receive $140,000 per year for the next five years.  Boise State also paid a $1.79 million exit fee to the Big West earlier for not joining that conference.

Those figures have not been confirmed by the American Athletic Conference.  The AAC's official site is simply announcing that "Boise State University and the American Athletic Conference announced today that they have agreed through mediation to resolve the litigation between them. All claims between the parties will be dismissed."