MWC, C-USA May Form New League

Member schools from the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA have hired an agency to gauge what a new league would be worth to national TV networks — including ESPN — if the two leagues dissolve and form a new one, the Journal has learned.

In October, the leagues announced a football-only alliance that was to begin in 2013. The two leagues were to play as separate divisions, producing a championship game. The goal was to get an automatic qualifying spot in the BCS football series.

Now it looks like the alliance could go beyond football. The presidents of the schools from both leagues met Jan. 15 to discuss those possibilities and other issues with the football alliance.

“All I will say is that there are ongoing merger discussions between the MW and C-USA,” New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs said Friday.

UNM competes in the Mountain West Conference, which has eight members. It lost two (Utah and Brigham Young) and gained one (Boise State) this school year.

The other members are Colorado State, UNLV, Air Force, Wyoming, TCU and San Diego State.

But TCU departs after this season, and both Boise State and San Diego State leave after the 2012-13 season. In the meantime, Nevada and Fresno State will join next year in all sports, and Hawaii will join in football.

Conference USA currently has 12 schools: Southern Miss, Memphis, UCF, Tulsa, Marshall, UTEP, Tulane, Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist, UAB and East Carolina. But SMU, Houston and Central Florida will leave the league after the 2012-13 season.

Though Krebs used the term “merger,” the new league would not be one, from a strictly legal sense. Since a number of networks own stakes in the TV rights to the two leagues, both leagues would have to dissolve first, then reform under a new name. A new league would almost certainly spell the end of The mtn. TV network.

The formation of a new conference likely would create TV contract chaos and as a result is a sensitive subject. That, in turn, makes the parties very cautious to talk about it.

A new league and new TV contract could leave networks currently doing business with the Mountain West and C-USA out of the loop and looking for legal relief. That is, unless a new league could find a way to strike a deal with all those networks and keep them happy.

CBS and Comcast own the rights to Mountain West games. The 10-year, $120 million deal started in the fall 2006.

CBS and Comcast each own 50 percent of The mtn. network, which televises most Mountain West games. But if there is no Mountain West, there will be no The mtn.

And that’s just the start. CBS and Fox both own broadcast rights to Conference USA. To complicate matters further, ESPN owns the rights for that league’s conference football championship game.

Both the Mountain West and C-USA are keeping information close to the vest, because the ultimate decision on a reconfiguration is not theirs — it’s that of the school presidents.

On Friday, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson told the Journal: “There have been several conversations among board members from both leagues, including in-person meetings, over the past few months. To date, all discussions have centered on individual institutions looking out for their best interests. The majority of the talks have not included either conference office or commissioners.”

The best interests would definitely include TV packages. And new TV packages would be welcome for many MWC coaches and fans, who have complained for years about the lack of national exposure for its schools.

Hayne Ellis, the public relations director of The mtn., did not return a message from the Journal about possible new TV deals, nor did Dan Sabreen of CBS Sports Network.

UNLV President Neal Smatresk, chairman of the Mountain West board of directors, did not return phone messages from the Journal.
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal