Louisiana Tech and Conference USA have reached a settlement in principle in their federal lawsuit, clearing the way for the Bulldogs to officially join the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported Tuesday.
Louisiana Tech announced last July that it intended to leave Conference USA for the Sun Belt “no later than July 1, 2027.” The school later accelerated that timeline and sought to negotiate an early exit in order to compete in the Sun Belt this fall.
Those negotiations ultimately collapsed, prompting the current legal dispute. In mid‑March, both Conference USA and the Sun Belt released 2026 football schedules that included Louisiana Tech, leaving the Bulldogs with an unworkable 20‑game slate.
According to federal court documents obtained by FBSchedules.com, the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System—on behalf of Louisiana Tech University—and Conference USA filed a joint notice of settlement on Monday, April 20.
The court followed with an order of dismissal on Tuesday, signed by Judge Terry A. Doughty.
Financial terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed. Last week, Front Office Sports reported that Louisiana Tech was expected to pay a record exit fee of more than $8 million to secure its move to the Sun Belt this fall.
With the case now resolved, Louisiana Tech’s previously announced 2026 Sun Belt football schedule is expected to stand. The Bulldogs open the season at home on September 5 against Northwestern State before traveling to LSU on September 12 and Baylor on September 19.
Louisiana Tech also hosts Army in non‑conference play on October 3 and welcomes Louisiana on October 10 for its inaugural Sun Belt matchup.
Conference USA, meanwhile, will be forced to revise its 2026 football schedule, as eight member schools now lose a previously scheduled opponent following Louisiana Tech’s departure.
View Comments (15)
I can guarantee that the WKU @ NMSU game scheduled for Oct 7 will be moved to Nov 28, as both teams now have that date open as a result of LT's departure.
I like that observation. Don't want a bye week on the final week of the regular season.
Current schedule for Con USA on FBSchedules has
11 games Delaware
11 games FIU....open 10-10
11 games Jax St....open 9-26
11 games Kennesaw St....open 10-31
11 games Liberty...open 10-24
11 games Mid Tenn....open 9-2
11 games Mizzou St...open 10-10
12 games New Mexico St
12 games S Houston St
11 games W Kentucky
Wonder how 8 of them get to 12 games?
By playing another CUSA team that's not currently on their schedule.
Only an educated guess as they were not scheduled to play on the original schedule
Sam Houston St - Delaware
New Mexico St - Kennesaw St
W Kentucky - FIU
options
Jax St - Liberty
Jax St - Mid Tenn
Liberty - Jax St
Liberty- Mizzou St
Mid Tenn - Jax St
Mid Tenn - Mizzou St
Mizzou St - Liberty
Mizzou st - Mid Tenn
Stan, I went through all 10 teams' schedules, here are the games that I think will be added and moved:
NEW:
Delaware @ WKU (likely the week of 10/31)
Ken St @ FIU (likely the week of 10/31)
MTSU @ JSU (likely the week of 9/26)
MO St @ Liberty (likely the week of 10/31)
MOVED:
Liberty @ Delaware (from 10/2 to the week of 11/21)
FIU @ Liberty (from 10/31 to the week of 10/17)
MO St @ JSU (from 10/28 to the week of 11/7)
Liberty @ WKU (from 10/14 to the week of 10/24)
WKU @ NMSU (from 10/7 to the week of 11/28)
SHSU @ WKU (from 10/27 to the week of 10/17)
Now maybe we can get some non-power regular season win totals.
CUSA surely has a backup schedule waiting in the wings pending the agreement.
Look for a revised schedule VERY soon.
Exactly. The CUSA schedule that included La Tech was obviously fake and should always have been treated as such. CUSA have always has their real football schedule ready to be released whenever La Tech signed the papers agreeing to pay whatever amount of money they are going to pay.
This is, what, the 4th D1 team to move conferences since December? why not wait the 12-plus months that used to be the norm...
Remember when Texas and OU announced their departure 5 years in advance?
There's so much realignment that we forget they are responsible for it.
I stand w/ Conference USA on this lawsuit.
12 Months is the Good Faith business model that = s a Win-Win-Win for All athletic Parties in Dependent 6 Conference's Football World.
C-USA wasn't accepting the Sun Belt Conference's Bad Faith-Bad Business Model treatment of it's membership for a 4th time.
Old Dominion, Southern Miss, ? Marshall Uni. All treated their former Conference with Business Disdain & Arrogance w/ their low status New Conference's tacit support of their Breaches of Contract.
@Herrt Knaupp LMAO. LOL, even. What a naif!
Very fair agreement Louisiana Tech joining Sun Belt.
Three Louisiana schools in that conference is so weird. Tulane hurry up and move to the Big 12 so Tech or the Cajuns can get the call up, yeah?