As with any merger, the real crunch will be deciding who is going to the commissioner.

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The leaked report stated that Craig Thompson of the MWC would become the commissioner of the combined CUSA / MWC (or whatever name goes forward).

UNLV Prez tweeted that they will only go to the BE if they get an all sports invite, they won't split up their sports.

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Dennis Dodd blog article(previously posted in another thread)with update on MWC/C-USA talks at http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/ ... 2/34342794

Thanks, Freaked. I thought they were farther along than that.

Article out of Las Vegas with comments from UNLV President regarding today's MWC/C-USA talks in Dallas at http://www.lvrj.com/sports/mwc-c-usa-wo ... 72158.html

Dennis Dodd Blog article discussing today's MWC/C-USA talks in Dallas at http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entr ... 2/34396819

I think the MWC and CUSA merger will eventually go through, but there are a number of things in play that are holding up the process to varying extents.

1) Let's assume the PAC-12, B1G, and SEC ae temporarily done expanding.
2) It seems as though the ACC and Big XII may not be done expanding.
3) Even if the BE does not lose any more FB teams, they will be in the market for #12 to come in as a FB only member with Navy.

The above means that CUSA could continue to be tapped by the BE looking for at least one more (and possibly additional replacement) schools.
The MWC could also lose additional schools.
If the Big XII were to expand westward, they COULD go after BYU / Boise (no loss to MWC), however the BE may go after another western school....

From what we read, the BCS AQ's may go away. This was the primary driver for the recent BE expansion.
(The secondary driver was the "promise" of a BE FB TV contract that offers significantly more money per school that CUSA or MWC currently have).
If the AQ goes away, and the BE fails to deliver big TV bucks, would schools such as Boise St., SDSU, and BYU look back toward confernece alignments
that are more geographically sensible ?

Apparently expiration of the MWC's and CUSA's TV contracts are not in synch.
As "the mountain" expires, the MWC schools could approach CUSA's network aout a consolidated contract, but that wouldn't be as lucrative as
competitive bidding for the whole ball of wax....

So there are a lot of complications about teams moving in / teams moving out / TV contracts, etc.
I bet on something in place for the future prior to June 30th (the magic end-of-"year" date).
Hawaii's FB only status is complicating, unless they line up a 2nd FB only school, or an "everything but FB" school
(could they approach Boise St. in hopes of them eventually coming back aboard as a full member ?)

Somehow I picture 20 FB members (10 in the west and 10 in the east).
I see MWC (8) adding Utah St. and sliding UTEP over from CUSA.
CUSA would be at 8 after losing UTEP. Maybe North Texas re-fortifies their previous Texas base.
La Tech would join in a heartbeat, but they'd be in competition with FIU / FAU, I would think.....
Who knows ???

No OBVIOUS direction for MWCUSA right now, all that has to be figured out....

Some good points, tute79.

I expect the AQ factor will indeed be changed soon, which will impact much of this extensively. Five of the BCS conferences, SEC B!G, B12, PAC12, and ACC feel comfortable enough they will secure annual spots in BCS bowls regardless of modifications.

Much of the motive for changing the BCS is to actually INCREASE top conference participation, rather than assure lesser conferences. The rule of having only two representatives per conference has been an issue. For example, in the SEC this past season, some viewed Arkansas as at-large deserving in addition to 'Bama and LSU as title game participants.
Obviously, if rankings w/desirabilty per bowls, conferences such as the B!G and the SEC could regularly have more than two BCS participants each year. Using rankings with flexible desirabilty, it may be even harder for increasing the number of less favored schools to penetrate the system.

When the AQ mechanism changes, schools such as SDSU and Boise State may regret joining the BE unless the revenue distribution system doesn't change. However, the act of eliminating the AQ has got to impact in some fashion how much and where BCS profits go.

If the AQs are gone the MWC need to kill the merger with CUSA, look at the conference...

MWC- Hawaii, Fresno St, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado St, & New Mexico
CUSA- UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane, So Miss, UAB, ECU, & Marshall

The only "good" fb teams left in CUSA are ECU, So Miss, and Marshall/Tulsa every couple of years.

And the only good media markets left are Houston (Rice), New Orleans (Tulane), and Tulsa.

The MWC should just get to work at dominating the west again, since Air Force is likely leaving for the Big East they need an 8th school so grab UTEP from CUSA (who is now an extreme outlier w/o SMU) and the rest of the western WAC, SJSU/Idaho/Utah St/NMSU...

And since their aren't many up and coming programs in the west the MWC would be the place to go. Montana/Montana St could upgrade together and they could just slide Utah St over to the west, and Cal Poly/UC Davis could also come in together later...

New MWC-
West- Hawaii, SJSU, Fresno St, UNLV, Nevada, & Idaho (possibly UC Davis/Cal Poly)(or SD St/Boise St if the BE falls apart)
East -Utah St, Wyoming, Colorado St, New Mexico, NMSU, & UTEP (possibly Montana/Montana St)(or BYU/Air Force)

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I agree to a point.

1) I think the departure of Memphis, a strong hoops market, changes the benefits of an all sports merger. The quality of the markets and penetration in the markets is very limited now compared to what the original alliance was: no more Boise St., SDSU, Houston, SMU, UCF, Memphis. So the TV money isn't likely going to be there.

2) From a football standpoint, I think an alliance does help. Alone, the conferences are much weaker and have no room to negotiate with the power conferences. They are not a huge step up from the WAC even. But together, coast to coast, they are some recruiting advantages and the political benefits of representing so many states (federally funded schools). together, they will have a voice. Alone, they will not.

3) I think for all-sports, the dream should be over. For football, being 16 or 17 will help. For basketball, not so much. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple. MWC can bring in Hawaii for all-sports...force them in actually. And if Air Force leaves, bring in Utah St.

Football Alliance (16):
West- Hawaii, Fresno St, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado St, New Mexico, Air Force/Utah St (if AF leaves)
East - Marshall, ECU, UAB, USM, Tulane, Tulsa, Rice, UTEP

2 separate non-football conferences:
MWC: Hawaii, Fresno St, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado St, New Mexico, Air Force/Utah St (if AF leaves)
CUSA: Marshall, ECU, UAB, USM, Tulane, Tulsa, Rice, UTEP

No need for exapnsion, can keep it simple with a 14 game conference schedule with home and home.
As part of the football alliance, CUSA and MWC could pre-schedule for 4-5 years a rotation of OOC games between schools, not to mention an annual challenge. Can even do something special each year where they schedule 4 OOC games a year to rotate between Las Vegas and New Orleans each year.
Schools in each conference can book, say, 14 conference games and 6 alliance games per year for a locked in 20 game schedule, having to only worry about a handful of their own OOC games to schedule each year against regional or RPI booster foes.

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Reports are it's done. But doesn't include what's happening with Nevada and Fresno State:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... ources-say

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Maybe Katz just forgot to include them. Mc Murphy's article has them aboard:

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/34822810

I would think that it was because they're not formally members yet, so they wouldn't have taken place in the vote, but have to be invited to join the new conference; but then again, Hawaii was mentioned by Katz, and they're in the same boat.

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