SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego State University sent a letter to the Mountain West earlier this week to tell the conference it plans on resigning, according to reports from both ESPN and The Athletic.
According to the reports, the letter is not an official resignation, but rather a request to extend the deadline to give notice for an exit in 2024 by one month.
Currently, the deadline is set for June 30, and if SDSU were to officially put into motion its resignation from the Mountain West after that, the exit fee would increase from roughly $16.5 million to about $34 million, per the reports.
According to ESPN, SDSU wrote in its letter it wants the extension because of "unforeseen delays involving other collegiate athletic conferences beyond our control."
It's unclear if the Mountain West will approve the extension and allow SDSU more time to secure a smaller exit fee. Neither report included a full copy of SDSU's letter.
As of Friday afternoon, SDSU does not have a formal invite to join another conference. Rumors and speculation over the years point to the Pac-12 as a likely destination for the Aztecs.
Athletic director J.D. Wicker has spoken publicly about conference realignment before.
"As there has been a large amount of discussion about conference realignment nationally, we continue to do our due diligence to identify the best opportunity and fit in the interest of both our university and our student-athletes," Wicker said in a statement sent to ABC 10News.
SDSU's desire to leave the Mountain West comes on the heels of the greatest season in the basketball program's history, securing a Final Four berth before ultimately falling to UConn in the national title game.
Additionally, Aztecs football's 2022 season was the first played in its newly constructed, $310 million Snapdragon Stadium.
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This is a developing story. Stay with ABC 10News as our team of journalists works to gather more information.
