Mountain West joins conference realignment craze - Salt Lake Tribune
The ever-changing world of college football conference alignments received another big jolt Friday from the Mountain West, Conference USA and the Big East.
And it is a bolt that could have major ramifications for Utah State's future.
The Mountain West and Conference USA agreed to consolidate their football programs into a single 22-school football association.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported that the Big East plans to invite Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members and Central Florida to compete in all sports, after it doubles the exit fee for current members to $10 million.
The Big East — of which Utah's Saturday opponent, Pitt, is a member — would like to expand to 12 football schools and split into two divisions, which would allow the league to play a championship. But Pitt and Syracuse have announced plans to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, though the Big East says it will keep them for the next two years.
"The role of a conference is to provide its members with the best possible environment in which to conduct their intercollegiate athletic programs," said Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson. "Rather than await changes in membership due to realignment, it became clear the best way to serve our institutions was to pursue an original concept. The Mountain West and C-USA share a number of similarities, and the creative merger of our football assets firmly positions our respective members for the future."
But what that future will look like remains to be seen.
Boise State and Air Force are two of the marquee members of the Mountain West, which is already losing another national power in TCU next year. The Horned Frogs, originally slated to join the Big East, recently announced they would join the Big 12.
What's more, Conference USA members UCF, SMU and Houston could be prime candidates to move to the Big East, which has the Bowl Championship Series berth the Mountain West lacks.
What Friday's announcements mean to Utah State remains to be seen. With TCU already gone and Boise State and Air Force possibly leaving, the Mountain West may need more members that play football. The Aggies' improving football team coupled with its traditionally strong men's basketball team could make them a prime candidate to leave the Western Athletic Conference and join the stronger Mountain West.
"Craig [Thompson] announcing this today is a motive for Boise and Air Force to stay in the Mountain West and not go to the Big East," a source familiar with the situation told The Tribune late Friday. "If Boise and Air Force do go to the Big East, there would be some speculation as to whether Utah State would receive an invite to the Mountain West."
The changes in conference alignments would likely have little effect on BYU, which appears to continue to want to remain independent in football and play in the church school-oriented WCC in other sports. Rumors that the Cougars would join the Big 12 have cooled since TCU announced it would join that league. Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.
That said, if Navy were to join the Big East, that would leave BYU, Notre Dame and Army as the only major college football teams playing an independent schedule.
The Western Athletic Conference, already hurt by defection of Boise State and the future loss of Nevada and Fresno State, could be affected by the moves as well.
"We've known that there has been dialogue between the two sides [Mountain West and Conference USA] for some time, so I am not surprised by this development," said WAC commissioner Karl Benson. "This development, however, does not necessarily mean that there is going to be a further change in the Mountain West."
The football alignment between the Mountain West and Conference USA is interesting because of the huge distances involved. The current 22 members are located in 16 states. Conference USA has existing television partnerships with Fox Sports and CBS Sports, as well as ESPN for its championship game. The Mountain West has partnerships with CBS Sports and Comcast/NBC Universal.
Next Page » 15 Oct, 2011--
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