Report: Multiple C-USA schools leaving for Sun Belt sooner than expected
Three Conference USA schools are planning to leave the league earlier than expected, according to a report from Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss now all plan to leave the league on June 30 to join the Sun Belt before the start of the 2022-23 academic and athletic years. The three schools are expediting the process by one year.
When the three schools originally decided to leave C-USA for the Sun Belt, the goal was to join the new conference for the 2023-24 academic and athletic years. According to reports, C-USA did not meet about a negotiation for the upcoming year, prompting the move.
Per source, Marshall, Southern Miss and Old Dominion plan and hope to join the Sun Belt for fall 2022 now, but that’s not officially done yet.
These schools say C-USA won’t even sit down to negotiate an early exit, so they’re leaving and the lawyers will figure it out.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) February 11, 2022
The three schools leaving C-USA for the Sun Belt is just another move in a year that has been full of conference realignment discussions. It started last July, when it was reported that Texas and Oklahoma were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.
