West Coast Conference sues Grand Canyon for breach of contract after quick exit

The West Coast Conference is suing Grand Canyon University over breach of contract after the school changed course and decided to join the Mountain West Conference.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Grand Canyon has refused to pay entrance and exit fees after the school decided to switch conferences six months after agreeing to join the West Coast.

“We felt we needed to take legal action because it was a breach of contract and our intention is we be made whole,” WCC Commissioner Stu Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Our conference bylaws state financial obligations for members that withdraw have to be satisfied within 30 days. That didn’t happen, so then we took legal action.”

Grand Canyon has been a member of the Western Athletic Conference since 2017-18, when the school completed its four-year transition to Division I athletics. As a new round of conference realignment swept through college athletics, GCU signed an agreement in May to join the West Coast Conference by July 2025.

When WCC powerhouse Gonzaga announced in October it was leaving for the re-formed Pac-12 in 2026, GCU announced a month later that it was headed to the Mountain West instead of the WCC.

Grand Canyon paid the first installment of an entrance fee determined by the WCC president’s council shortly after signing the agreement to join the conference, but it has refused to pay the remaining amount nor the exit fee for leaving the conference, according to the lawsuit.

A Grand Canyon spokesman said the school is working on a statement, but it may not be released until Thursday because it involves litigation and certain confidentiality clauses.

The amount of the fees were not disclosed, but it is significant, particularly for a smaller conference that doesn’t have the resources of a bigger league like the Southeastern or Big Ten conferences.

“Their choice to go to another conference is theirs, but in doing so the financial obligations to the WCC need to be satisfied,” Jackson said.

The WCC appeared to be in a good spot in May when GCU and Seattle signed to join the conference, but the loss of Gonzaga in early October was a huge blow.

The Bulldogs have become one of college basketball’s strongest programs under coach Mark Few, making deep annual NCAA Tournament runs, and their move leaves the WCC with eight member schools — for now.

“Even before Gonzaga’s departure, we had planned to remain aggressive in terms of evaluating membership opportunities for the conference,” Jackson said. “That hasn’t changed. We are going to remain aggressive.”

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By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Basketball Writer