As some colleges merge to better handle a new higher education landscape with fewer students—and thus diminished tuition, dorm and meal plan revenue—along with less federal money for research, greater restrictions on international student visas and more restrictive federal student loan caps, the athletics implications could prove confounding and litigious.

Enter: a new lawsuit brought by two merging schools, Ursuline College and Gannon University, against the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) over the potential exclusion of Ursuline as a member.

When the merger is completed this December, the Ohio-based Ursuline will be renamed Ursuline College Campus of Gannon University. Although it will operate under the Pennsylvania-based Gannon, Ursuline will maintain distinct athletics and academic programs. The colleges, which are located about 95 miles apart, say their merger will create “the largest Catholic system of higher education along Lake Erie.”

Ursuline and Gannon, which play in NCAA Division II, sued the G-MAC on July 1 in an Ohio federal district court. In a complaint drafted by Matthew Duncan and other attorneys from Brennan, Manna & Diamond, the schools accuse the conference of breach of contract and violating Title IX over G-MAC’s possible plan to exclude Ursuline, which has a student body of about 90% women. 

Like at many private colleges, athletics are a major driver of enrollment at Ursuline. The school anticipates that 45% to 50% of its incoming class will be athletes.

The ‘College-Enrollment Death Spiral’ and College Athletics

The merger of Ursuline and Gannon stems in part from the enrollment challenges that have become a focal point of higher ed administrators across the country.

Because of a decline in U.S. birth rates that began during the Great Recession in 2008, the number of Americans of typical college age enrolling in universities is expected to drop by around 15% from 2025 to 2041. This phenomenon has been coined the “enrollment cliff” or, more ominously, the “college-enrollment death spiral.” 

For smaller private colleges that are tuition dependent and lack substantial and accessible endowments, even a modest reduction in enrollment could prove calamitous. Additionally, Trump administration policies that reduce other forms of university funding are compounding the enrollment-based financial anxieties. 

Those policies include more stringent approaches to international student visas (with international enrollment expected to drop by about one-third), reductions on federal grants for university researchers and new student loan caps that will make it harder for some students to finance their education. There are still other worrisome cost drivers, including higher healthcare costs for university employees and inflationary pressures on payroll and operations expenses.

A recent study by Huron Consulting Group illuminates these worries. As detailed by NPR, Huron estimates that 442, or about 25%, of the nation’s 1,700 private, four-year colleges and universities “are at risk of closing or having to merge” within the next decade. The study incorporated such factors as “enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt and cash on hand.”

The potential athletics ramifications are sizable, too. There are more than 1,100 NCAA member colleges spread out across Divisions I, II and III, and there are more than 230 NAIA member colleges and more than 90 NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) schools. 

Some of these member schools and their teams, probably won’t be around by 2036, with their conferences left looking for replacement schools that can pay dues and schedule games. Others might be in operation but unable to afford the same offerings in athletics.

A Merger and Conference Dispute

Back to Ursuline and Gannon. The decision to merge, as Crain’s Cleveland Business explored, partly reflected concerns about domestic enrollment. It also relied on Ursuline being able to continue to operate “as an independent, stand-alone” D-II program. 

That status has the NCAA’s approval. 

In May, the NCAA D-II membership committee issued a letter saying it will continue to recognize Ursuline as “an active member of D-II following the merger.” In other words, the Ursuline Arrows and the Gannon Golden Knights, which play in the D-II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, will remain separate programs, with separate coaches and facilities.

The complaint describes as problematic communications and developments regarding Ursuline’s membership in G-MAC. 

Ursuline has been a charter member of the conference since 2011, and it says it’s complied with all conference rules. The complaint contends Ursuline hasn’t been given a fair chance under G-MAC rules and procedures to show that it should remain a member, with school leaders allegedly denied opportunities to participate in key meetings that involved decision-makers.

To illustrate, Ursuline contends G-MAC issued a letter of disqualification last October in which the conference said Ursuline could no longer satisfy membership requirements because Ursuline “would cease as an autonomous institution.” Ursuline argues this depiction is factually wrong, and asserts the conference failed to identify any specific reason, such as a provision of the conference constitution or loss of institutional control as defined by the NCAA.

The complaint also describes Ursuline requesting associate membership in G-MAC for several sports, including women’s basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball, but G-MAC’s council only recommending softball and volleyball for associate membership. Also, the conference has allegedly punted on clarifying Ursuline’s membership status and last month “advised Ursuline that additional time was required for further consideration.”

The school believes G-MAC has delayed action for strategic reasons, namely to facilitate the June 24 announcement that the University of Indianapolis would join the conference—and thus pay $30,000 in annual dues. Ursuline surmises that G-MAC “delayed its response” to the school “to ensure that it had secured inclusion of the University of Indianapolis to cover the funds it would lose by removing Ursuline.”

The unsettled conference status for Ursuline is causing the school harm, the complaint contends. 

The school’s ability to “schedule competition” and “plan for future athletic operations,” along with efforts to recruit and retain athletes—who, along with their parents, want to know whether they’d be able to play in the upcoming school year—is up in the air. The complaint says that the school has already lost two women’s soccer players and several recruits because of the conference uncertainty. Coaches and athletics department staff are also worried.

Making matters worse for Ursuline, the school says it lacks other conference options. 

Ursuline officials have met with other athletics conferences in recent months, but none “is willing to take all of Ursuline’s sports teams.” One big hurdle is that Ursuline only has men’s teams in golf, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track & field, in contrast to a dozen women’s teams.

The complaint demands an injunction requiring G-MAC to reinstate Ursuline to full conference membership. Ursuline maintains the conference has breached its constitution and bylaws in both substantive interpretation and adherence to procedural safeguards.

The complaint also accuses G-MAC of violating Title IX, a federal law that commands gender equity in college sports. 

Ursuline and Gannon argue G-MAC is subject to Title IX because it received federal financial assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. To receive PPP money, G-MAC “was required to certify compliance with applicable federal laws, including nondiscrimination requirements.” By allegedly harming Ursuline, with an athletics program that primarily serves women athletes, the complaint says G-MAC is “disproportionately” restricting athletic participation opportunities for women.

A conference spokesperson told Sportico the conference doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

In court filings, expect the conference’s attorneys to raise several defenses. G-MAC will argue it has complied with its constitution and bylaws and point out that courts usually accord high deference to private membership organizations, including athletic conferences, when interpreting their own rules.

Another defense is that courts have generally found that conferences aren’t subject to Title IX, unlike their member schools, which are recipients of federal funds. This has been a topic in House v. NCAA, among other college sports disputes. Ursuline and Gannon insist that PPP funds provide a nexus for the application of Title IX to G-MAC, but expect the conference to push back. It will also likely assert that, even if Title IX applies, it has complied with it.

Ursuline & Gannon v. G-MAC might seem outside the heart of college sports litigation, but higher ed leaders will likely follow it closely. The enrollment cliff will lead to closures and mergers over the next decade, and this case could set important precedent for athletics.