Letters Between San Diego State, Mountain West Revealed
The exact text is revealed
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Sure looks like SDSU asked out
The letters that San Diego State and the Mountain West have exchanged are now revealed in their full texts, per public records requests.
Here is the exact letter that San Diego State sent to the MWC on June 13 about exit fees and resigning from the MWC, obtained via an Open Records Request:
I have a few more letters and #context to share in tomorrow's Extra Points: pic.twitter.com/4tiBTmtUnO
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) June 26, 2023
The first letter has one word doing a lot of heavy lifting with “intends”in regarding its future with the Mountain West. The full line is “intends to resign.”
Here is the full letter from June 13, via The Athletic.
San Diego State president Adela de la Torre goes with a big swing by saying “given unforeseen delays involving other collegiate athletic conferences beyond our control.”
Basically, blaming the Pac-12 for not getting their stuff together. Plus, to reconsider the exit fee since San Diego State earned the conference $10 million in NCAA Tournament credits for making it to the title game.
June 30 is this Friday. What does San Diego State's future conference affiliation look like?
— Mountain West Wire (@MWCwire) June 27, 2023
The Mountain West came out swinging basically saying that the wording in the letter triggered an exit. That includes not getting $6 million that is due soon and also not receiving any media rights money this upcoming year.
Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez replied with confirmation that on June 13 as San Diego State’s “Notice Date,” was an official notice of resignation from the conference.
It mentioned the exit fees which is approximately $17 million since this was before the June 30th deadline to leave the conference before that penalty doubles.
Nevarez also wrote that she would convene the Board of Directors to review SDSU’s waiver requests over exit fee and dates. That was being generous since she could have told the Aztecs these are the rules.
San Diego State responded again in a letter to the league on June 15 with these comments and backtracking.
“First, our letter dated June 13, 2023 was not the official notice of resignation from the MWC pursuant to Bylaw 1.04(a). As plainly set forth in that letter, its purpose was twofold: to request a one-month extension of time under which we could formally provide our notice of resignation, and to ask for the opportunity to discuss the exit fee.
“Second, because SDSU has not already resigned from the MWC, the formal Notice Date, as defined in Bylaw 1.04(a) has not yet occurred. As such, no such payments due to SDSU from the conference for the previous year should yet be withheld and applied to any future exit fee at this time.”
The end of the letter asks for a special deadline extension.
June 16th was the final correspondence that is currently available via open records requests.
Nevarez and the board came back with a hard no on negotiating an extension that would lessen the penalty for leaving the Mountain West.
“We write to inform you that the Conference will not approve any waiver of any requirement under the Bylaws of the Mountain West at this time.”
The conference has a deadline of June 30 for San Diego State to avoid exit fees skyrocketing to about $34 million. That day will be huge for the Mountain West, Pac-12, and San Diego State.
Once the calendar flips to July 1 it will be interesting to see how the end of the week goes for the Aztecs and if there is an announcement from the Aztecs or the Pac-12.
