Realignment Update via Craig Thompson

[Harry]

• Thompson said he was disappointed that no officials from the Sugar Bowl contacted him about inviting Boise State to the game. Thompson spent 12 years in the city as commissioner of the Sun Belt. Sugar Bowl Executive Director Paul Hoolahan has said the Mountain West did not contact them.

"I know everybody on that committee," Thompson said. "My phone rings in as well."

Thompson said the Sugar Bowl missed an opportunity by inviting Michigan and Virginia Tech over the Broncos.

"Michigan was their No. 1. Done. I went to several of the Virgina Tech Sugar Bowls in the '80s and '90s when I lived there. That's who they wanted. That's their prerogative," he said. "They can choose whoever they want. They have a missed opportunity because Boise State would travel 20,000 people to New Orleans and have one heck of a party."

• The Mountain West announced a two-year affiliation with the Hawaii Bowl beginning in 2012. It will be the fifth bowl tie-in for the league. Four of the bowls are played in Mountain West stadiums — at San Diego State (Poinsettia Bowl), UNLV (MAACO Bowl Las Vegas), New Mexico (New Mexico Bowl) and now Hawaii (Hawaii Bowl). The league's other bowl tie-in is with the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

• Thompson said there was little the Mountain West could do to persuade Boise State to stay in the league and not leave for the Big East in football.

"The toughest thing these days about a conference is you've always had to balance between individual institutions and the conference. The conference affiliation is absolutely secondary to what I'm going to do for my institution, and it's challenging," Thompson said.

• Thompson said the Mountain West and Conference USA continue their discussions about a potential merger. He said the Mountain West has two options: repopulate its league with two or three teams after the defections of Boise State and San Diego State or go larger and do something that will stabilize the league with 16 or 18 teams.

"I just want to get to stability. This is all I do. This is all I’ve done," Thompson said.

Read More: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2011/12/21/bmurphy/mountain_west_commish_sugar_bowl_never_called_him_bcs_aq_status_

[shaft]

So basically what we already knew.

If MWC gets an auto-bid they won't need the merger, and will be slow to add teams because they don't want to split their new found BCS Cash.

If MWC doesn't get the AQ, they go forward with the merger and the collective needs to add 1 to balance out at 18.

If there are no more automatic qualification they don't need the merger, but need to get to 12 to stabilize and the same goes for CUSA.

Edited December 24, 2011 by shaft