What’s the cost of leaving the OVC? EKU says it’s ‘navigating’ seven-figure exit fee.
After 73 years, June 30 is the final day Eastern Kentucky University will spend as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. Eastern Kentucky officially joins the ASUN Conference on July 1.
Apparently, it could cost Eastern a seven-figure exit fee to depart the league it helped found in 1948.
According to an OVC bylaw that conference commissioner Beth DeBauche says was unanimously approved by league presidents in 2017, schools that leave the Ohio Valley Conference and also give less than two full years notice of their intentions to withdraw owe a $1 million exit fee.
DeBauche says she was notified by Eastern of its intention to exit the OVC in January of this year (according to the OVC bylaw, withdrawing schools that give two years notice would owe $750,000 to depart).
“On behalf of the (Ohio Valley Conference) Board, we feel very strongly about the (exit-fee) provisions in our bylaws because they were determined by the (league) membership,” DeBauche said Tuesday.
According to the OVC bylaw, both Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State — the Alabama university that is also leaving the Ohio Valley Conference to join the ASUN — can pay their exit fee in two installments of $500,000 each.
As of 5:06 p.m. (EDT) Tuesday, DeBauche said that, to her knowledge, neither EKU nor Jacksonville State had made an exit fee payment to the OVC.
Asked last week how EKU planned to address the $1 million exit fee, Colonels Athletics Director Matt Roan said “that is something, both internally and with the league office, we are navigating.”
Does “navigating” mean Eastern is seeking to negotiate different terms to its OVC departure?
“That is being navigated. That is being discussed,” Roan said.
Overall, Roan said Eastern’s divorce with the OVC has been amicable.
“Seventy-three years ago, we founded a league. I think we brought a lot of value to (the OVC) over that time,” Roan said. “We have tried very hard to go out on the right terms. And I give a lot of credit to the league office, the fact that they have (tried to do the same) as well.”
When the Ohio Valley Conference was formed, it was essentially a “Kentucky league.” In addition to EKU, the OVC founding members were Evansville, Louisville, Morehead State, Murray State and Western Kentucky.
With Eastern now joining U of L (left in 1949) and WKU (1982) in departing the league, the OVC in 2021-22 will be down to two Kentucky schools, Morehead and Murray.
The commonwealth’s two remaining OVC members “are vibrant members of this league and are valued,” DeBauche said.
As for EKU’s departure from the league, according to the OVC bylaw, the first exit fee payment is due June 30 (in other words, Wednesday) with the second installment due “within 12 months of the initial payment not later than June 30 of the next year.”
DeBauche said she has “not received any notification” from Eastern Kentucky University President David T. McFaddin on what EKU’s stance is regarding the exit fee.
A $1 million expenditure would not be a small thing for Eastern. EKU’s total athletics budget for fiscal year 2019-20 was $15,930,980, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis website.
DeBauche says “it is certainly the intention” of the remaining OVC members that the departing schools pay their exit fees.
“There is a process in place,” she said. “Certainly, it would be our intention based on what has been adopted that it would be followed.”
