If Miami, BC, and SU go to the ACC and the BE is reduced to 11 members, there is a solution to keeping the BCS bid.

Add one other all sports team to bring the conference to 12. Lets say Louisville. Army and Navy would be added to make up required 8 football members and TV contracts.

The BE could work a long term deal with the MWC to stage a championship game at the end of the season with the winner advancing to the BCS.

BE: Pitt, Lou, WVU, UConn, Rutgers, Va Tech, Army, Navy

MW: Utah, BYU, Wy, Col St, UNLV, NM, SDS, Air Force

This alignment would allow the BE to keep its BCS bid and reduce the conference to 12 teams for basketball.

Syracuse and BC could and should remain in the BE. Miami, Va Tech, and Lou could go to the ACC.

This alignment with the MWC and BE is sort of like an alignment with the Big 10 and Pac 10.

What if Miami stays and keeps all its special DEALS.
Then you have Miami,UCONN,BC,Virginia Tech,Army and Louisville. And the other division of Syracue,Pitt,Wvu,Rutgers,Navyand Cinncinnati for football.And you have 16 members for bb in one division.Miami keeps all its deals has a playoff and a better TV contract.

tigersharktwo, good point! If the thread is true that each ACC school makes 9.7 million and what is a BCS bid $? Got to be more than 9.7?????

What is there is another twist to all of this.

Miami to the ACC for 10 members. Round robin benefits!

This frees up a spot in the BE for Penn State. Notre Dame and Penn State make the Big East 10.

Big 10 goes back to round robin 10 members.

Pac 10 was right after all!!

Who knows?

I really hope the MWC administration gets their $hit together soon and realizes what a great opportunity we have right now to destroy the Western Athletic Conference.

UTEP will be accepting a CUSA invite in a matter of days. As soon as UTEP accepts that invite it will be crucial that the Mountain West make a bold move to completely destroy the WAC!

Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State should be offered immediate MWC-12 invites the second that UTEP accepts the bid to CUSA-12.

Our main competition the WAC would be absolutely destroyed if that happened, they would be left with Hawaii, Louisiana Tech and bunch of dead weight in between. The WAC would not be able to survive the losses of Fresno State, Nevada, Boise State and UTEP,.... that would be the end of the WAC.

Hawaii would have to go independent in Football.

San Jose State would drop Football and join the Big West.

Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech would be forced to go back to the Sunbelt with their tails between their legs.

This a strategic move that the Mountain West leadership must make to secure our spot as a Western Power for the next 50+ years! This is a critical time in the history of College Sports and if we could eliminate the WAC from existence it would do wonders to help the future chances for the Mountain West in all sports!

We must become the MWC-12 right now!

UTEP leaving the WAC and joining CUSA is a major blow to the stability of the WAC. The WAC is ready to be destroyed and the MWC leaders must have the guts to do what has to be done.

These moves must be made for the long term good of the Mountain West, if we take a hit financially in the short term that is fine because we know we will make it up over the long haul.

Adding three schools like Fresno State, Boise State and Nevada may not be something that helps the Mountain West today but it is without a doubt what needs to be done to secure our seat at the BCS table tomorrow.

The Mountain West must make bold moves to secure our future. We must lock up the Western part of the United States so that only two conferences exist out here (PAC-10 and MWC-12), this will guarantee us a spot at the table within 15-20 years. The West is growing at an unbelievable rate and will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country, long term this is good news for the PAC-10 and MWC-12 because it means we will have more recruits available to choose from and to stack our conferences with. It is only a matter of time until the MWC-12 and PAC-10 would completely dominate the collegiate sports world. That is why the WAC must be eliminated, no matter what it takes it must be accomplished. We do not need the WAC sticking around, growing stronger and becoming our competition. The WAC shouldn't even exist.

The MWC-12 could host a Football Championship game in a new Football Stadium that will be built in San Diego California. This MWC-12 Championship may not be a huge success from day one but over time as we build the tradition it will grow and become a great source of revenue for this conference. This Championship game is something that has to be built over time, right now we are wasting year after year of not building this great tradition while other Conferences are only getting stronger and making more and more money.

A MWC-12 Basketball Tournament could become a huge money maker for this conference over time also. It isn't going to sellout 20,000 per game in the first year but if we built the Tournament it wouldn't be long before each of the MWC-12 schools would be bringing 2,000 or 3,000 fans each year and the Tournament would become a huge success! I am talking standing room only for people to attend the event. This won't happen overnight but must be built, each year we waste a great opportunity to build stronger rivalries and stronger Conference Championships.

Imagine Football rivalry weekend at the end of November for the MWC-12 with:

MWC-12 Rivalry Weekend
BYU vs. Utah
TCU vs. New Mexico
Colorado State vs. Wyoming
Fresno State vs. San Diego State
Air Force vs. Boise State
UNLV vs. Nevada

We could build rivalry weekend into a great tradition for this conference but that isn't going to happen unless we make the bold move to 12 teams and kill off the annoying WAC!

We without a doubt want to improve our Mountain West Conference image. The way to do that is by investing in the future and making bold moves that will secure us a place at the table, not today but maybe tomorrow. To do that we must lock up the Western part of the United States so that only two major conferences will exist out here.... The PAC-10 and MWC-12!

The 12 of us need to work together to build a great conference, otherwise alone we are going to all crumble. The MWC could be great if it was willing to invest in the future, if it keeps living in the past or is afraid to fight for what is rightfully ours.... we will die a slow death. That is what is happening now, a slow painful death into nothingness.

Kill the WAC Now!

MWC-12

Mountain Division
Colorado State
TCU
Air Force
New Mexico
Boise State
Wyoming

Pacific Division
BYU
Utah
Fresno State
San Diego State
UNLV
Nevada


Grow some balls Thompson! Do what needs to be done for our future.

Mt west not likely to expand... a champ game would not produce enough revenue to pay for 3 schools.... wac will add 1... or possibly 4 if they wish to help La tech.. that will prob end this for a while..

Your scenario, RR, will not happen anytime soon. The MWC recently looked at the expansion issue, and chose only to add TCU. That only complicated C-USA's pick for a #12 replacement, which according to reports, will be resolved by adding UTEP.
Ironically, C-USA has been the conference most changed by all the recent conference expansion/switches that were initiated last year by the ACC raid on the BE. Yet, C-USA while becoming more southern, may have helped itself for the long term in all-sports identity. It all involves a shifting of basically second tier 1-A schools, acknowleging there is a mythical third tier (some SunBelt entities, etc.). Fundamentally, only the ACC absorbed real prominent ones.
If the MWC, indeed went to 12 with 3 WAC additions, that does not mean they would be totally secure in the changing conference landscape. What if the PAC 10 in the future decided to add two? Guess where they may come from? Suppose there was a change in the Big 12 in the future, Colorado State may get targeted.
The MWC, as a whole, may be viewed to be better than the WAC. But it is neither profound nor comprehensive.
A group of the BE (UCONN, WVU, Rutgers, Pitt) viewed the ACC and Miami were out to destroy the BE. Rather, it may be more of the ACC being opportunistic at the expense of the BE. By comparison, it does not seem the MWC views the WAC as a regional threat, and thus take a few members from them in order to destroy them.
Having the WAC in the west, may be supportive to college football/sports in general, rather than a detractor.
The MWC was born out of the WAC. Their intent is not to re-consolidate. Some conferences just have not embraced "12" as the magic number. Of course that can change, but the Big 10, PAC 10, and BE are not doing it anytime soon.
SEC territory involves much of the SunBelt, C-USA, a quarter of the ACC, and tidbits of the revamped BE. I doubt the SEC feels its future is threatened by any of it. Thus, the vast American far west, can handle three (PAC 10, MWC, & WAC) 1-A conferences just fine. This does not mean losing UTEP will not hurt the WAC. And, the LA Tech distance factor is a troubling matter that warrants some strategic thinking.

Bank robbers can also be considered as taking an opportunity.The biggest of these was BC,clearly a truly DUMB move.Maybe Miami can fly in people directly from their problems with the law rather than indirectly.

TS2, no disagreement on the BC thing. The lawsuit stuff....whatever. The ACC by adding Miami and VoTech (your terminology :D) certainly will compromise the ACC's ficticious image of "academics upmost". Was that ever the case?

Let's think along RR's line for a moment, but put it in dollars and sense.

Reno and Boise don't really add substantial TV markets.

Fresno "can", and from at least one rumor I've seen around here, does draw enough interest that ESPN wants them in the MWC.

Therefore, I argue Fresno State adds more value to the conference than a conference championship football game does.

Moreover, if Fresno leaves, kiss San Jose bye bye, and then you have the 1999-2000 Big West all over again. NMSU probably would bail back to the Sun Belt at that point, and the rest are destined for independent obscurity, probably 1-AA (well, Hawaii can hang as an indie, it's the rest that'll have problems).

Why do with 3 schools what you can do with one?

Just hope Boise sticks around when San Diego State falters. (Which reminds me, that's one of three reasons why there WON'T be a new stadium in San Diego.)

Pounder, I agree with you on the concept of the MWC just adding Fresno St., something I suspect will happen once the school improves itself off the football field. Evolving into a more national university will help that effort tremendously.

I'm questioning your idea of SDSU "faltering." In just football, or as an overall athletic program? That's a big market for the MWC to lose, especially with aspirations of Holiday Bowl ties. I'd like to see the Broncos play in the MWC myself, but would rather UNLV drop football for that to happen.

As for NMSU, I can't see them going back to the Belt. The WAC, while declining in value, still has leverage over the Belt for all the western schools unless the MWC does indeed take three members. Any actions leading up to this will take some time, however, and we'll have a different landscape to consider.

DogsNthingys is correct, the MWC expanded, and is not trying to issue a fatal blow to the WAC. The MWC has who they want for the time being. Their recent #9 addition happened to come from C-USA, and not the WAC.

Also, the MWC and the WAC have state schools in common states such as California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. Political elements in the demise of a sister school's conference shall come into play with affected college presidents if such comes to the forefront.

Will MWC add schools this year?

Boise, Fresno, and Reno.

No Portland State,Eastern Washington and Montana.

TS2... see my numbers in the other thread. Even if there isn't an OFFICIAL 15,000 minimum, there's a practical one. Eastern Washington isn't even close on facility capacity alone... and the Spokane area votes with their feet to Gonzaga basketball. Portland State just isn't close on attendance.

There is only the slightest hint of an indication that the Mountain West would expand this year. That talk was higher when Fresno seemed like it was running away with the WAC. It got quiet when Fresno crashed, rather than shifting to either Boise or Nevada, neither of whom really pierced the rankings this year.

BTW, while we're dredging up this thread, interesting to see the attendance gains San Diego State made this year. There's still an open question with their football program over the long haul (10-20 years)... attendance had been too bleak for several years for them to be paying rent at Qualcomm. Mind you, some of this is listening to people who think there's a general trend with football attendance throughout the state of California (a local piece of domino theory, so to speak); I had seen SDSU specifically cited as next in line once San Jose State goes down.