The West Coast Conference has filed a lawsuit against Grand Canyon for breach of contract following the university's decision last month to back out of its commitment to the WCC and join the Mountain West.
"This is clearly a breach of contract," WCC commissioner Stu Jackson told ESPN. "Our conference bylaws state that all financial obligations must be satisfied within 30 days of written notice of withdrawal from the conference. They submitted a notice of withdrawal on Nov. 1, and they did not meet those financial obligations to pay the remainder of the entrance fee into the WCC as well as the withdrawal fee. We intend to be made whole."
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, interest and other fees. It does not specify how much money the WCC feels it is owed, and Jackson declined to provide those details to ESPN.
In May, GCU announced it was leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the WCC as a full-time member starting in 2025.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, GCU made one of two scheduled buy-in payments to the WCC, with the second one due in January. The lawsuit says GCU, per the terms of its contract with the WCC, was obligated to make a withdrawal payment within 30 days of notifying the WCC it was joining the Mountain West.
GCU has communicated to the WCC that it does not intend to make those payments, Jackson said.
"We understand the disappointment in our decision to ultimately decline the WCC's invitation and we empathize with their circumstances after also losing prominent members such as BYU and Gonzaga recently," Grand Canyon said in a statement issued Thursday. "GCU was not scheduled to become a member of the WCC until July 1, 2025, and the WCC's claims that GCU has "withdrawn" from the WCC or breached any contractual obligation are inaccurate. We look forward to presenting our case in court."
GCU was the second school that announced in would leave the WCC, following Gonzaga's decision to leave the conference for the Pac-12.