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1. Increase revenues The MW is considered the second-best Group of 5 conference in the nation behind the American Athletic Conference, and generally, that's accurate even though the MW sees itself as the top non-power conference. The AAC has appeared in six New Year's Six bowls since the MW last did so and has had more success in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, including back-to-back Elite Eight berths by Houston, a 2021 Final Four team. The AAC has been better than the MW. But the AAC also is losing Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12 in 2023, which means now is the time for the MW to overtake the AAC. The biggest difference between the two conferences is the annual budgets and size of the football stadiums, which is partially tied together (if you can fill those stadiums, the revenue explodes). Part of that advantage leaves the AAC when Cincinnati, Houston and UCF exit. But currently, the average AAC budget is about $10 million more than the average MW budget. That makes a difference. Growing the MW's revenue so its members are even with the new-look AAC — which will add Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA — is the top priority. The MW's annual financial distribution must increase. Read more: https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/seven-things-atop-gloria-nevarezs-to-do-list-as-she-becomes-mountain-west-commissioner

Nothing. Avoid this at all costs. Unfortunately, the Mountain West has become known for being reactive and waiting to see what everyone else does before making a move. They can not afford to do so this time around. The bottom line is, it is well past time for the Mountain West to become the aggressor. It is not a stretch to imagine Thompson and the conference are working behind the scenes. But until they get something done, they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Maintaining the status quo will not help the conference remain relevant. Losing teams will only make matters worse. The only option is to add. Preferably, they should strengthen their own conference by weakening their rival conference, the American Athletic. Also, seek to fortify itself as a basketball conference works by adding Gonzaga and St. Mary. Those teams can’t be happy BYU is pulling out of their conference, so make them an attractive offer to play against the likes of Utah State, SDSU, Colorado State, and others in what could easily become one of the six strongest MBB conferences in the nation. read more: https://www.mwcconnection.com/platform/amp/2021/9/15/22670913/peak-perspective-mountain-west-college-football-conference-realignment-battle-fight-expansion

NORTH TEXAS Pros: No C-USA school is doing a better job of investing in facilities than UNT, which has also earned some buzz as a future member of the Mountain West Conference. The football program is ascendant and it’s not inconceivable that UNT could work as a football-only member. Cons: The AAC already features SMU in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and there’s not much love between the two programs. Even with a beautiful football stadium and a winning team, attendance continues to lag for UNT football. The Mountain West Conference may be a better possibility down the road. read more: https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/university-of-southern-mississippi/article231899688.html Read more here: https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/university-of-southern-mississippi/article231899688.html#storylink=cpy

LOS ANGELES -- "In a perfect world," Gonzagawill make a decision about its conference affiliation in the next two weeks as the potential exists for it to join the Mountain West ahead of the 2018-19 season, athletic director Mike Roth told CBS Sports. There is mutual interest between both parties in Gonzaga becoming the 12th basketball member of the 20-year-old Mountain West. In early March, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson confirmed to the San Diego Union-Tribune that his league had been in expansion talks with Gonzaga and "other schools." read more: https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/gonzaga-to-the-mountain-west-zags-hope-to-reach-conference-decision-in-next-two-weeks/

The college sports-television industrial complex is at a crossroads. It seems like everyone involved is dealing with one crisis or another. The SEC, Big Ten and (soon) the ACC have or will have their own private fortunes through television networks, but traded a portion of their souls to get there. The Pac-12 has its own network, but no fortune. The Big 12 has a host of issues, stemming from its lack of a network. ESPN and Fox are losing subscribers by the bundle, threatening to bring the entire system down with them. On the other end of FBS, the MAC has submitted itself fully to the whims of television, releasing a schedule earlier this month that calls for zero Saturday games in November. The Mountain West has also handed carte blanche to the television networks in exchange for a pile of cash, and is now wondering if the trade was worth it. As detailed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Mountain West is fresh off a conference tournament that saw the second of its two semifinals scheduled for a 9:30 p.m. Pacific time tip off (which resulted in a 9:52 actual tip time)… and its championship game tip at 3 p.m. the following day. “I’ve had several people, at least three people today, text me and say, ‘Is it really 9:30? I just looked at the schedule,’” Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson told the paper “I had to say, ‘Yeah, it’s really 9:30.’ It’s brutal.” read more: http://footballscoop.com/news/mountain-west-leave-tv-online-only/

He speaks about investing in your program and playing out West: The coach noted the renovations on Amon G. Carter Stadium were already underway. The $105 million improvements started after TCU beat San Diego State in 2010, the year the Frogs won the Rose Bowl and finished second in the final Associated Press poll. That was still when TCU was in the Mountain West Conference. Patterson recalled getting home from West Coast conference games halfway through the morning and then practicing later that day. He'd like to leave those late nights in the past. "I would prefer not to have to get home at 6 o'clock in the morning like they used to do in the WAC [Western Athletic Conference] and the Mountain West," Patterson said. read more:. http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2016/08/03/gary-patterson-expanding-big-12-conferences-job-make-university-better

read more: http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/harry-minium/conference-usa-kicks-off-two-day-football-media-event-today/article_84319471-6923-5e34-bea3-bb108e7b6e2a.html Boy could the timing be worse for us? We need our new AD out there shaking hands and kissing babies right now. Maybe Hank is filling the void?

Story here

WHILE I BELIEVE HAWAII FOOTBALL is safe I'd estimate a 5 percent chance it gets cut it's fun to think about how the Mountain West, which Nevada is a member of, would replace the Warriors, who are the league's lone football-only school. The top option would be BYU, but the Cougars seem unlikely to return to the conference they helped found. The other options aren't that attractive. Texas-San Antonio, UTEP, Rice, SMU, Texas State and North Texas all bring the league into the Lone Star State, but there's no guarantee any would make the jump. You could dip into the FCS ranks and try and lure a powerhouse like Montana or North Dakota State. You could also stay at 11 full members to get a larger share of the TV revenue. But, in the end, it's best for Hawaii and for the MWC for the Warriors to keep playing football. Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college/nevada/2014/08/22/week-words-hawaii-football-little-league-nate-burleson/14452325/

The Mountain West Conference will send a team to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl this season, giving the conference six bowl affiliations, the conference and bowl game announced Monday. The New Orleans Bowl on Monday announced a contract extension with the Sun Belt and Conference USA for this six-year bowl cycle, but a Mountain West team will take the place of the C-USA team this year, when the game is played at 8 a.m. (Pacific time) on Dec. 20 at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome. It will be televised by ESPN. Javan Hedlund, a spokesman for the MWC, said there are talks for the MWC to get a spot in three of those six years, but nothing has been finalized yet. He said there are "several moving parts" to the agreement. Colorado State took part in the inaugural New Orleans Bowl in 2001, and San Diego State did so in 2011. Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college/nevada/2014/07/14/mountain-west-send-team-new-orleans-bowl/12653461/

UNT is growing like crazy. I exepect them to do sort of what Central Florida has done in the past 10-years. I liked Smatresk and thought he did a good job at UNLV, considering. He made a big mistake hiring Livengood in the first place, but then again he was our 2nd choice and he really wanted to hire Moos. Oh well, good luck to Neal, he's going to a much better job imo. UNLV is a dysfunctional mess. Read more: http://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?s=cb9577c9714edefe932446d83186ca3d&showtopic=51017

LAS VEGAS – The gulf between college football’s 1 percent and the proletariat is widening. In recent weeks, several of the top power brokers in the sport have proclaimed that it might be time for some major restructuring. Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Monday that it might be time to consider a model in which the five major conferences (Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC) would form their own “federation” within the NCAA — because it’s no longer practical for football programs with million-dollar budgets to be governed by the same rules as programs with budgets of more than $100 million. Tuesday afternoon, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said he agreed with Bowlsby, but played down the idea that the “Big 5” might be considering a secession from the NCAA. “If you read carefully, what they are saying is that there needs to be transformative change. Field hockey cannot be treated like football,” Thompson said, adding that he does not think the top 70 programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision will break away from the rest of the football-playing schools any time soon. “It might happen; I don’t think it will happen,” Thompson said. “I think there will be a different solution for those people. If they want to give (student-athletes) cost-of-attendance stipends, we should allow them to do that. It’s not going to affect the way we perform and play.” It won’t affect the conferences finances, either, Thompson said – at least not in the near future. The Mountain West recently signed a seven-year media rights deal with ESPN and CBS Sports Network through the 2019-20 season. “CBS Sports Network and ESPN would have to pay us the same $18-20 million," Thompson said. "We have a contract." Read more: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jul/23/mwc-craig-thompson-major-change-college-football/

The MWC will have their collective ++++ in their hand come bowl season. IMO, if the MWC and CUSA are seamingly going to be paired up so often, perhaps it's a sign that "the alliance" isn't dead after all. I have always felt that UTEP and UTSA would eventually align with the Western side of The Alliance. And Banowsky has made no secret that he's open to taking two more teams. The Basketball in The Alliance may be worth it by itself. UNLV, UNM, SDSU, USU, UAB, WKU, ODU, UNCC, USM, UTEP... In the long run, Banowsky and Thompson seem to be keeping their synergy in play. Read more: http://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?s=139a80839a80a24485c625a3357bc614&showtopic=48456

The Mountain West Conference has agreed to tie-ins with six bowl games starting in 2014, sources said. The Mountain West's six bowl tie-ins are expected to be six-year deals from 2014-19. The Las Vegas Bowl will get the first selection from the Mountain West, while the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego will get the second selection, sources said. The Hawaii, Armed Forces in Fort Worth, Texas, and New Mexico bowls will share the third, fourth and fifth selections. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, will get the league's sixth selection, sources said. Despite a number of bowls changing conference affiliations after this season, the final year of the current four-year bowl cycle, the Mountain West retained all of its previous six tie-ins. The league also is considering adding a seventh bowl in 2014, sources said. Read more: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9462190/las-vegas-bowl-anchor-mountain-west-conference-deals-sources-say

....and it needs to start in Texas.... Texas State and UTSA are going to grow a lot faster than people think, and they're both excellent schools to add. The Mountain West made a great move when they added TCU, and now they need to go back and pick up 2 more Texas schools... Read more: http://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?s=b1ba6774cbb6316c8d65b49e6cf26b99&showtopic=48026

Influential El Pasoans should push hard for UTEP's admittance into the Mountain West Conference. Sell UTEP -- plus El Paso --to conference members. UTEP officials either are not trying to move this city up in the collegiate athletics world, don't think they can compete favorably in the MWC, or have been told by the MWC to just buzz off. In any case, UTEP or the MWC would not be expected to comment if there's a push going on or not. These things are all behind-the-scenes stuff. There's no transparency, nor can there be. You don't announce which teams you've invited to join your league, and then name the schools you didn't choose. You don't embarrass people in that way. But since UTEP isn't saying anything, either way, one can wonder if the university is even trying. So, this push for MWC membership could be a job for our new mayor, County Judge Veronica Escobar and the city swells who make up the Paso del Norte Group. That's some oomph. Of course, UTEP President Diana Natalicio and Athletic Director Bob Stull would have to back the effort. We're making too many positive strides in this city not to have our school in a healthy athletic situation. The Miners are our "major league" franchise. They're our Dallas Cowboys, our New York Yankees, our LA Lakers. We're bringing in Triple-A baseball in 2014. We've approved construction of a new multi-use arena. Our Downtown is getting a good spiff-up. A fourth large mall is under way. Read more: http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_22970734/joe-muench-city-bigwigs-should-push-utep-into

Decisions, decisions. San Diego State suddenly finds itself back in the market for a sports conference, barely a year after announcing it would leave the Mountain West next summer for the Big East in football and Big West in everything else. Technically, nothing has changed; SDSU is still leaving the Mountain West after the current academic year. In reality, everything has. Boise State, its western partner in the jump to the Big East, announced it is staying in the Mountain West, and even SDSU athletic director Jim Sterk after months of steadfastly, even stubbornly, saying his school was committed to the Big East conceded in a statement that the news represents a significant change in conference alignment. So now what? Stay in the Mountain West? Or go it alone into uncharted territory? Neither choice is particularly enticing, at least compared to what could have been. Understand that SDSU is a state institution that is largely funded by taxpayer dollars and that wants to play big-time NCAA Division I football. Now mix in a biting recession and some of the nations most stringent gender equity guidelines, meaning what limited financial resources are available cant be poured into football and mens basketball while ignoring the 16 other teams on campus. SDSUs athletic department needs money to thrive or even just survive, and the Big East offered it. All things being equal, SDSU never would have left the Mountain West. But all things havent been equal. SDSU, according to school officials, received about $1.4 million last year in Mountain West television revenue and is projected to get $600,000 this year. Conservative estimates for a new football TV contract in the Big East were $6.4 million per year. To Sterk and SDSU President Elliot Hirshman, it was a no-brainer. If there is a tragic element to recent developments, it is that neither option facing SDSU likely offers the same revenue potential. And that could have profound repercussions across the athletic department from assistant coaches in Olympic sports, to football funding, to a new practice facility for the Top 25 mens basketball team. But its the boat they find themselves in. Heres a look at some factors in deciding which way to paddle. Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/sports/college/aztecs/sdsu-breaking-down-mountain-west-vs-big-east/article_37c52d73-37f4-5b92-bf85-0d289cad7e3b.html?comment_form=true

While San Diego State still gets the first chance to remain in the Mountain West by Jan. 31, but that does not mean that Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson is burning through his long distance minutes contacting other schools to join the league. Earlier on Monday, it was being reporter that the SMU Mustangs are not interested in joining the Mountain West, and if that is the case than adding the Houston Cougars seems like a far fetched option. It would make sense for both Houston and come as packaged dell, well that is unless Tulsa, or even Texas-San Antonio, join the league. UTSA was mentioned as a possibility since they are in Texas, and actually have drawn well in their infant years as a FBS program. However, InsiderRunnerSports.com is reporting that UTSA has not been in contact with the Mountain West, but Tulsa has (via ESPN Insider): "A source was able to confirm that the Mountain West has not been in recent conversation with UTSA for expansion and, this time around, it would be very unlikely an invitation for membership would be extended," InsideRunnerSports.com reported. "Multiple sources have confirmed to IRS that discussions between Tulsa and the Mountain West are ongoing, but preferred not to make any further information public." UTSA is too much of a risk for the Mountain West to take a chance on, even though they are in a large market San Antonio, but it just doesn't seem to fit. The only way that UTSA could be considered is if Houston is involved as a travel partner. Read more: http://www.mwcconnection.com/2013/1/8/3849464/mountain-west-expansion-tulsa-ut-san-antonio

The proposed marriage between the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA ended before it got to the altar. The two conferences agreed in October to merge, but after running into difficulties forming an alliance, they tried to create some sort of working relationship. That didn't pan out, either. So Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, speaking Wednesday morning at the conference football media days at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, said the deal is off - for now at least. He said several factors played into the split, such as different TV contracts, scheduling issues and C-USA's expansion to three schools in the Eastern time zone. "The decision was made several months ago - take care of your own," Thompson said. "Our people said, 'We're not really interested in flying to Miami and Charlotte (N.C.) and Norfolk, Va., no offense to those three institutions. Nor were they interested in flying to Fresno (Calif.) and Logan, Utah, etc. Read more: http://www.lvrj.com/sports/mountain-west-goes-it-alone-163824886.html

If this is true, you have to think C-USA got the better of the deal essentially locking the Mountain West out of Texas and securing UTEP. I think there will still be a relationship between the two but in the end they will both have to look out for themselves. Read More: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/19074166/cusa-completes-expansion-by-adding-odu/rss

Bump'd From the FanPosts- Conference Realignment isn't going anywhere and this is a nice perspective on why UTEP might be interested in the MWC. - AM Sorry I haven't been around as much, bitching about UT has taken up the majority of my time lately, couple that with the chaos in the Mountain West, and finals I haven't kept tabs over here. First let me be frank, the MWC's TV contract is HORRIBLE they must do something to change it to have a prayer at taking ANY Conference USA team. Second lets make some assumptions: 1st Hawaii and a non-football school (like Denver) join the Mountain West 2nd Utah St joins to keep the Mtn. on in Utah and the SLC market and adds excellent basketball 3rd another team WILL be added either from CUSA or the dieing WAC That leaves the Mountain West with only a few reasonable options because adding anyone (besides UTEP) in the state of Texas will only increase travel costs and have little market saturation. TCU has been great but people in Texas don't watch, and yes I blame some of that on the TV contract. Most MWC fans want UTEP, for their kick ass basketball, El Paso media market, history with WAC/MWC schools, great attendance numbers, and their improving football program. That leads me to why I think UTEP should join the Mountain West Conference. Read more: http://www.minerrush.com/2010/12/1/1850237/why-utep-should-join-the-mountain-west

Read more: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2012/04/29/san-jose-state-athletics-on-the-verge-of-mountain-west-invitation/#more-25155