Sometime this summer, perhaps even this month, the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee will render a final ruling in long-running Case No. 00202.

But as the University of Hawaii waits to see whether a much-contested ban on postseason play by its men’s basketball team will be upheld, one thing is assured: The eventual price tag will rival — if not exceed — the so-called “Wonder Blunder” as the costliest chapter in the school’s athletic history.

Not to mention make it a most expensive set of lessons across several fronts, including hiring and the writing of contracts.

Legislators put a $1.13 million figure on the phantom Stevie Wonder concert during hearings in 2012, much of that for UH’s outsourced legal and public relations work.

Through March 2016, the two-year anniversary of the NCAA’s active involvement in the basketball case, UH says it has already spent or budgeted approximately $1.2 million for the firing of former men’s coach Gib Arnold and the two-year plus NCAA inquiry that has surrounded it.

Arnold, who was fired on Oct. 28, 2014 under a controversial “without cause” provision in his contract, is to be paid $500,000 in direct payments, according to terms of their settlement. The final installment, $200,000, is due in 2017.

Meanwhile, in response to a public records request by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, UH said it has spent $707,222 on the case exclusive of the settlement to Arnold. Most of that, $659,076, is going to five outside attorneys and their firms from Honolulu to Birmingham, Ala., and representing various figures in the case.

Since UH didn’t submit its last major filing to the NCAA, the reply to the response of the Committee on Infractions, until April 8, one of the highest bills, $161,145 paid to the Alabama firm of Lightfoot, Franklin &White, could go higher.

To date, the largest payments have totaled $274,499 to the Honolulu firm of McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon. William McCorriston represented UH in a series of actions and claims involving Arnold.

In addition, UH said it has paid $36,313 in NCAA fines handed down by the Committee on Infractions, and spent $11,833 for airfare, transportation, hotels and per diem for the 10 members of the UH delegation attending the October 2015 hearing before the committee in Dallas.

Most of the bills, a UH spokesman has said, will be paid out of the UH System Risk Management Special Fund. Little is likely to come out of the already-battered athletic department budget, officials have said.

Officials said the experience has resulted in better-written, more standard contracts and a rigorous review process before they are executed. Contracts for two of the most recent hires, men’s basketball coach Eran Ganot and football coach Nick Rolovich, have come with more stringent language, especially concerning NCAA rules.

In addition, UH has pledged to step-up compliance communication with coaches, players and fans.

It has paid enough for the education.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.