Ot: Mwc And Cusa Talking Merger

KoldBeer · December 2, 2010

The Orlando paper has a story talking about the MWC and CUSA merging in some form to get a BCS bid. My guess would be the champions of both would play each other and the winner would get a BCS bid. I hope North Texas didn't wait too long to get its stuff together. We really need to find a way to get into one of these conferences.

Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference could potentially collaborate to earn their own automatic Bowl Championship Series bid.

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said in an exclusive interview with the Orlando Sentinel that he continues to talk with Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson about a variety of potential collaboration options.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-mountain-west-conference-usa-merge20101201,0,4754403.story

Mean Green 93-98 · December 2, 2010

I'm not sure if this would be bad news or good news for us. If they merged the two conferences, it would be highly unlikely that they would be looking to add any other teams. However, the merger would have to exclude some teams. C-USA has 10 football teams, and the MWC will have 9 (I think) once all the upcoming changes go through. They certainly wouldn't want a 19-team football conference, would they? That might open up some teams either to help build a better Belt, or to form a new conference.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Mean Green 93-98

KoldBeer · December 2, 2010

I'm not sure if this would be bad news or good news for us. If they merged the two conferences, it would be highly unlikely that they would be looking to add any other teams. However, the merger would have to exclude some teams. C-USA has 10 football teams, and the MWC will have 9 (I think) once all the upcoming changes go through. They certainly wouldn't want a 19-team football conference, would they? That might open up some teams either to help build a better Belt, or to form a new conference.

I doubt it would be full merger. I'm thinking two separate conferences that share TV deal, etc. The champions from both leagues would face each other for BCS bid.

Of course, PAC-10 and Big 12 talked about doing something like this and then Pac-10 decided to try to take half of Big 12.

Who the heck knows what's going on these days?

By the way, this would be bad for North Texas if we didn't get into MWC or CUSA. It'd create more separation b/t MWC and CUSA and other conferences.

Edited December 2, 2010 by KoldBeer

NT80 · December 2, 2010

The Orlando paper has a story talking about the MWC and CUSA merging in some form to get a BCS bid. My guess would be the champions of both would play each other and the winner would get a BCS bid. I hope North Texas didn't wait too long to get its stuff together. We really need to find a way to get into one of these conferences.

Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference could potentially collaborate to earn their own automatic Bowl Championship Series bid.

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said in an exclusive interview with the Orlando Sentinel that he continues to talk with Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson about a variety of potential collaboration options.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-mountain-west-conference-usa-merge20101201,0,4754403.story

This is a continuation of talks they had during the summer to try and head off some of the raiding going on back then. It would only help their BCS chances if they hosted a dual-conference championship game and the winner's strength of schedule was helped enough by beating a highly ranked opponent. Otherwise, the BCS computer will just say not enough power points to break through into the Top 8 spots. They would never completely merge a conference stretching from East Carolina to Hawaii.

NM Green · December 2, 2010

I do not see quality in a merger that would warrant a BCS bid. That only made sense when TCU, Utah and BYU were in the mix. Those programs are nice but not Big 5 caliber.

If we don't get added to MWC or CUSA we should just wait for the Big 12 to explode. My friend who is a big UT fan says it is only a matter of time before they go indy with their own tv deal. Ironically they now have that series with BYU lined up. Boise should consider Indy in football as well.

GMG

GrayEagle · December 2, 2010

I'm not sure if this would be bad news or good news for us. If they merged the two conferences, it would be highly unlikely that they would be looking to add any other teams. However, the merger would have to exclude some teams. C-USA has 10 football teams, and the MWC will have 9 (I think) once all the upcoming changes go through. They certainly wouldn't want a 19-team football conference, would they? That might open up some teams either to help build a better Belt, or to form a new conference.

CUSA currently has 12 teams and the MWC will have nine when the dust settles. It could affect us positively if both go to 12 teams. It could break out like this:

MOUNTAIN WEST

Hawaii

Fresno State

San Diego State

Nevada

UNLV

Boise State

Wyoming

Colorado State

Air Force

New Mexico

UTEP

North Texas

CUSA

SMU

Houston

Rice

Tulsa

Louisiana Tech

Memphis

Tulane

Southern Miss

UAB

UCF

East Carolina

Marshall

If UCF gets picked up by the Big East they could be replaced by Temple or a SBC team.

The Mountain West would need the Dallas-Fort Worth market area for TV negotiations giving us an advantage. We should be okay on the other sports (except women's basketball) and they will have trust us on football based on financial commitment and coaching upgrade.

While I'd prefer CUSA this alignment would be a bit more fair and balanced. Under that scenario our division would likely consist of Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico and UTEP; certainly better than what we now have (none).

PlummMeanGreen · December 2, 2010

While I'd prefer CUSA this alignment would be a bit more fair and balanced. Under that scenario our division would likely consist of Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico and UTEP; certainly better than what we now have (none).

Having briefly lived in Honolulu during a Young Gun Alum portion of my life, I don't see any league opting for UHawaii in their league as something special. IMHO, the downside outweighs the upside and thats across the board. Its a great place for tourist to visit with all the history on Oahu, Polynessian Culture Center, Pearl Harbor, the North Island with all those giant waves and, of course, the Yum-Yum Tree (my favorite eatery) :rolleyes: but North Texas would still bring a better mainland footprint and would by all means be a better TV ratings generator to the table.

TV Ratings? SUMG once sent me a blurb from the Dallas Morning News in an ABC TV game we were involved with the 'News Cathy Harasta being impressed with the data she had of how North Texas had more than won its time slot; in other words, North Texas was ratings winner on that Saturday and the time of day. This could be a regular occurence in either CUSA or my preference, the MWC.

If our tribunal of Rawlins, Rick V and, yes, Neinas aren't already on top this MWC situation I would be surprised.

GMG

Edited December 2, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

VideoEagle · December 2, 2010

I don't see them being able to do anything significant on this "alignment" before the current BCS deal runs out in a few years. Two separate conferences hold a combined championship game with the winner going to a BCS bowl would require the NCAA and the BCS to both chance a number of their rules. Everything I read suggested the next BCS deal will be very, very difference and thus there is no motivation for the BCS schools to agree to this. If they do a full merger, then only the BCS rules would need to change and again I can't imagine the current BCS schools agreeing to a conference trying to force it's way into their private club.

Meanwhile, all other sports would be an incredible mess. The whole double round robin format would be extremely difficult to achieve.