Louisiana Tech has sued Convention USA in its try to go away the league and be part of the Solar Belt for the 2026-27 athletic yr, in line with court docket paperwork filed Thursday.
The college introduced on July 15 of final yr that it could be part of the Solar Belt “no later than July 1, 2027” however instructed CUSA it deliberate to go away for this upcoming fall. CUSA bylaws require 14 months’ discover to depart the convention, and the perimeters haven’t come to a monetary settlement that might permit an early break up.
The lawsuit asks for an injunction on the grounds that enjoying within the Solar Belt will probably be higher for gamers with shorter journey, that CUSA can’t withhold NCAA distributions from the varsity and that earlier distributions can’t be recouped. It asks to bar CUSA from inserting Louisiana Tech on the convention’s 2026 soccer schedule and deem CUSA’s bylaws unenforceable, amongst different requests.
Louisiana Tech’s authorized transfer follows the identical steps taken by Marshall, Previous Dominion and Southern Miss, who sued CUSA in state courts to go away early for the Solar Belt again in 2022. All three did be part of the SBC for that 2022 fall season.
“Once we joined Convention USA in 2013, its membership was totally different, its scheduling was totally different, and the panorama of faculty athletics was very totally different,” Louisiana Tech stated in an announcement. “Seven months in the past, we notified CUSA of our intent to exit in July 2026. We’ve got labored in good religion towards an amicable separation inside convention bylaws. The proposed 2026 soccer schedule drafted by CUSA left us no alternative however to pursue this treatment.”
Convention USA didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In keeping with the court docket submitting, which was revealed by the Lincoln Parish Journal however was not publicly out there on-line as of 4:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, Marshall, ODU and USM every paid the league $1.75 million to go away early, and the three had acquired their convention distribution. In a July letter, Louisiana Tech supplied to pay $480,000 or a membership price, together with forfeiting its convention distribution for 2025-26 and buying again its TV rights.
CUSA responded in August, noting that the league bylaws had modified since that 2022 realignment, together with a 2023 grant of rights settlement, all of which Louisiana Tech signed. Its letter moreover claimed that fellow departing member UTEP has adopted the agreed-upon timeline and forfeited two years of convention distributions. CUSA requested for Louisiana Tech to forfeit the identical, which might quantity to round $3.8 million for the 2024-25 distribution, together with an $825,000 late discover cost, marking greater than $5.5 million whole.
The edges continued discussions for months, in line with court docket displays. CUSA additionally sued Louisiana Tech in a public data case final November, believing paperwork confirmed that the varsity had been planning to go away for the Solar Belt months earlier than the official announcement however waited with the intention to obtain its annual convention distribution from CUSA.
In early 2026, Louisiana Tech stated it deliberate to reschedule nonconference video games to slot in a Solar Belt schedule, whereas CUSA stated it was planning its 2026 schedule with Louisiana Tech included. Convention schedules are launched within the early a part of the yr. (In 2022, CUSA launched a schedule with Marshall, ODU and USM, then later launched one other with out them.)
With the schedule launch crunch nonetheless unresolved, the battle now strikes to a courtroom.
“Regardless of the Board of Supervisors and Tech’s good religion efforts to resolve this matter amicably over a interval of eight months, together with a number of written settlement proposals and repeated requests for mediation, CUSA has declined to interact in significant decision and has as an alternative positioned Louisiana Tech on its 2026-27 athletic schedule in disregard of Tech’s express and repeated written discover that it could not take part in Convention USA competitors starting July 1, 2026,” the lawsuit states.
The Lincoln Parish Journal first reported the information.
