WAC punishes Utah Valley University for impending exit, prevents games from streaming on ESPN+

There is some whack sh*t going on in the WAC right now.

The Western Athletic Conference which, for the uninitiated, will be merging with the Atlantic Sun Conference next year, is in the midst of pissing off a lot of people in the state of Utah.

Here’s the background. One of the WAC’s seven members this season, Utah Valley University, will not be joining the merged conference next season. Instead, the school plans to join the Big West. However, UVU is currently embroiled in a civil dispute with the WAC over $1 million in unpaid exit fees that the conference claims the school owes.

As a result, the conference has been going to great lengths to make UVU’s remaining time in the WAC a living hell. Earlier this week, the league banned the first-place Wolverines from competing in the conference tournament, which would all but kill any hopes the team had of an NCAA Tournament bid. But if that wasn’t bad enough, on Thursday the league decided to take all of UVU’s remaining home games off of ESPN+, the WAC’s streaming partner. So for the rest of the season, Wolverines fans won’t be able to watch their team’s home games via the league’s only broadcast partner.

A statement from WAC Commissioner Rebekah Ray pic.twitter.com/m8ebwewE9b

— The Western Athletic Conference (@WACsports) February 5, 2026

“Beginning today with the men’s basketball game between Abilene Christian University at Utah Valley University, the Western Athletic Conference has removed all Utah Valley University home athletic contests from its broadcast schedule until further notice,” a statement from WAC commissioner Rebekah Ray read. “These events will not be available for broadcast on ESPN+ or otherwise. This action is required due to Utah Valley University’s failure to meet its obligations under WAC bylaws, resulting in its status as a member institution not in good standing. The conference is obligated to enforce its bylaws and associated contractual requirements and remains open to discussion should Utah Valley University seek to resolve this matter.”

This is completely ludicrous. Removing the school’s games from ESPN+ is not going to encourage them to pay their supposed exit fee. In fact, it’ll only make the school dig in more.

And obviously, this almost goes without saying, the real people that are screwed by these actions are the players and fans. The players are being robbed of a potential conference championship and NCAA Tournament bid, and the fans aren’t able to watch their school have a successful season. Everyone loses because the WAC can’t figure out how to resolve this matter without resorting to ridiculous and punitive punishments.