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When the Western Athletic Conference filed a lawsuit to prevent Fresno State and Nevada from jumping to the Mountain West Conference before 2012, it signaled a dramatic new twist in what has become one of the most compelling off-the-field sports stories in years and revealed part of its strategy for surviving the chaotic reshuffling of collegiate conferences across the country.
The basic thrust? Keep it simple.
Attorneys for the WAC have limited the scope of their argument to a District Court in Colorado to only one part of the league's dispute with its outgoing members, the date of their departure. There is no mention of the $5 million buyout the league contends the schools owe for allegedly violating a separate agreement, and no specific request for punitive damages.
"That is a totally separate matter," commissioner Karl Benson said.
Legal analysts said that suggests the WAC wants to keep its case simple and not confuse its principal argument with tangential issues.
Benson himself said that keeping Fresno State and Nevada in the league until 2012 is "the issue that is the most urgent" to avoid what the lawsuit says would be "irreparable" injuries to the league that includes Utah State — including the possible renegotiation of its broadcast contract with ESPN, the potential loss of revenue from the Bowl Championship Series, and the "impossibility" of scheduling replacement football games for some of its remaining members in the 2011 season.
"Call an athletic director and ask them how difficult it would be to schedule a game for 2011 right now," Benson said, "let alone three of them."
The league also says that Fresno State and Nevada leaving next summer would hurt its search for new members and could jeopardize its chances of fulfilling its bowl obligations, so it wants a judge to declare the teams cannot leave until July 1, 2012 — presumably leaving the more complex battle about the buyout for later.
The argument over when Fresno State and Nevada can leave the WAC boils down to what rules apply.
The schools announced their plans to join the Mountain West on Aug. 18, and believe they notified the WAC of their intentions before the Sept. 1 deadline that was listed in the league's annual code book.
But the WAC maintains that deadline was changed four years ago to July 1, something that is reflected in the league bylaws that Benson said "supersede anything else, including the WAC code book."
"Boise State certainly was aware of that date" when it announced its plans June 11 to leave the WAC for the Mountain West next year, Benson said. "I don't think there's any question that the WAC membership was clearly aware of the date."
Whether a judge agrees, though, is another matter.
Keeping the schools in the WAC for basically two more years could be crucial to the league's hopes of survival.
Without them, the league would have only six teams to play football in 2011, which is below the minimum of eight required by the NCAA to qualify as a conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A. That prospect could lead remaining members to try to flee — Hawaii has acknowledged studying a move to football independence, like Brigham Young — which could doom the league and leave teams such as the Aggies without a home.
"It's crucial" to keep Fresno State and Nevada until 2012, said Utah State athletic director Scott Barnes, who believes another round of conference realignment remains on the horizon. "What it does is buy us time" to recruit new members, which the league already is studying.
Indeed, Benson said that "it's our understanding" that as long as the WAC has replacement teams in place for the 2012-13 season — and Fresno State and Nevada do not depart until then — its automatic berths into NCAA tournaments for sports other than football will not be jeopardized.
Similarly, Benson said the BCS has told the league that "regardless of the size of the membership," the WAC will not lose its status as a league capable of sending a team "since the WAC is named in all the contracts for the next four years."
Meanwhile, the schools could try to dispute the merits of the lawsuit itself, on the grounds they were not invited to a meeting of the league's board of directors where a vote approved its filing (using money, in part, supplied by league dues paid by the outgoing schools).
Though Benson maintains that Fresno State and Nevada remain members of the WAC, he said the league believes its bylaws allowed it to leave them out of the meeting. On his conference call, Benson read a section of the bylaws that said departing members forfeit the right to be present at meetings where future membership is discussed.
And even though it was a legal issue being discussed — not a membership one — Benson said, "it's our opinion that this falls under that."
Attorney Jon T. Bradley, who filed the lawsuit for the WAC, did not return calls for comment.
The next step could come quickly.
Fresno State and Nevada have 30 days to answer the complaint, and Benson believes the court will rule within 30 days after that, "if not sooner." But that will signal the end to only this chapter of the saga.
Almost certainly, there is more to come.