In the classic Seinfeld episode "The Revenge," George Costanza famously quits his job, going out in a hail of a blaze of verbal glory, telling off his boss in a way that many employees fantasize about but so few rarely do. George then strategizes with Jerry about his next move and, having come to the realization he quit with zero forethought and he's not qualified to do any of the jobs he'd like to do, he ultimately realizes his best move will be the roll into the office on Monday morning like nothing happened. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
A similar dynamic is playing out in the Mountain West.
As detailed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego State and the Mountain West are currently in disagreement over whether or not the Aztecs are still members of the conference after the 2023-24 athletic year.
At issue is a Seinfeld-ian dispute over the respective parties' interpretation of the phrase "intends to resign."
On June 13, SDSU president Adela de la Torre wrote a letter to MW commissioner Gloria Nevarez and her colleagues on the 11 other MW campuses explaining that San Diego State "intends to resign" from the conference, without a specific date of departure. Mountain West bylaws stated that any exiting school would owe $17 million if it left the conference with more than one year's notice, and $34 million if providing less than a full year's notice. June 30 represented a drop-dead date, with the 2023-24 year officially beginning on July 1. Therefore, any exit after July 1 would come with less than a full year's notice, and a $34 million price tag.
It's no secret that the Aztecs will likely gain a Pac-12 invite once that conference's TV deal is complete, but with negotiations dragging, and dragging, and d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g, it became apparent by June 13 that the Pac-12 wouldn't have its contracts signed by June 30, and so de la Torre was writing to see if there was any way SDSU could leave the conference on, say, July 20 and still pay a $17 million exit fee.
However, that's not how the Mountain West chose to interpret the June 13 letter.
Nevarez and the MW office took "intends to resign" as San Diego State's official resignation, not a warning that SDSU will leave the conference at some TBD date in the near future.
Which means, as far as the Mountain West is concerned, San Diego State is not a member of the conference after June 30, 2024, and any problems that creates in San Diego aren't the conference's concern.
In fact, the MW's response to SDSU's June 13 letter indicated that the conference received the school's letter, will be sad to see the school go, wishes them well on their future endeavors, and also that, per league bylaws, de la Torre had been removed from the MW Board of Directors and the conference will withhold a scheduled $6.6 million payment as part of the required $17 million exit fee.
To which San Diego State effectively responded.... "Wait, wait, wait, no, not yet."
“We previously advised you that SDSU had not made a final determination as to whether to resign from the Mountain West Conference,” de la Torre wrote in a subsequent letter to the conference. “I am pleased to advise you that SDSU has decided to remain in the Mountain West Conference and therefore will not be resigning at this time.”
"Oh what, that? Are you kidding? I didn't quit."
It's possible (likely?) that this a negotiating tactic from the Mountain West. SDSU is the MW's most valuable member. Not only do the Aztecs sit in the conference's largest media market, their .738 winning combined winning percentage in football and men's basketball since 2010 is the highest in all of FBS. As noted by the Union-Tribune, the MW's TV partners (CBS and Fox) picked up all 18 Aztec conference games during the most recent basketball season, which saw the team make a miracle run to the national title game. The Aztecs' home game with Arizona was also picked up by big CBS to open the 2022 football season; 10 of the 11 available Aztec games either aired on a CBS or FS1 property.
There's no world in which the Mountain West is stronger without San Diego State, and it's likely that reality will be discussed at the conference's July 17 board meeting. A meeting that won't include SDSU's president because, as far as the conference is concerned, the school is no longer a member after this upcoming athletic year.
Meanwhile, Pac-12 Media Day is July 21. That conference has been working on its TV deal for close to a year now, and "weeks away" from an announcement for months now. It's possible the Pac-12 has a new TV deal, to begin in 2024-25, with an invite to SDSU coming thereafter. Or, perhaps the conference has a deal in place, but San Diego State isn't invited to join until 2025-26. Or maybe there's no deal in place at all, and time continues ad infinitum without a new Pac-12 TV contract.
At which point, San Diego State will be forced to negotiate its way back into a conference it helped found back in 1998, a conference it currently carries, and a conference that it believes it never left in the first place.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
7/19 Update: Yahoo! and ESPN are reporting that the Mountain West has confirmed SDSU is a "member in good standing" and released the $6.6 million payment, minus attorney fees.