Mountain West and Conference USA Announce Football Association Landmark Plan Will Give Members Stability, Exposure and Access IRVING, Texas/COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Mountain West Conference and Conference USA have unanimously come to an agreement in principle to consolidate their member football programs into one large association. Commissioners of the two leagues formulated this creative and innovative plan with the support of the presidents, chancellors and athletics directors. The 12 members of Conference USA and 10 football-playing members of the Mountain West will join forces for this strategic landmark in college football. "The role of a conference is to provide its members with the best possible environment in which to conduct their intercollegiate athletics programs," said Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson. "Rather than await changes in membership due to realignment, it became clear the best way to serve our institutions was to pursue an original concept. The Mountain West and C-USA share a number of similarities, and the creative merger of our football assets firmly positions our respective members for the future." http://www.themwc.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101411aah.html http://conferenceusa.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101411aai.html
Source: C-USA board to talk merger Conference USA's board of directors will meet later this week to discuss the possibility of a full-scale merger with the Mountain West Conference, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The prospect of a merger was already on the meeting agenda, even before C-USA member Memphis was on the verge of joining the Big East, the source said. Memphis was officially invited into the Big East on Wednesday and has accepted the invitation. The school will join in 2013. In the past year, C-USA members Houston, SMU and Central Florida accepted invitations to join the Big East in 2013-14. That, along with Memphis' pending departure, would leave C-USA with eight members: Southern Miss, Tulsa, Marshall, Rice, UAB, Tulane, East Carolina and UTEP. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...possibility-merging-mountain-west-source-says
"This is an exciting development that will stabilize the current conferences and create the first truly national conference with members in five time zones and television viewership from coast to coast. This partnership brings together like-minded institutions to improve the integrity and stability of intercollegiate athletics," said UNLV President Neal Smatresk. "We are moving our plans forward rapidly and expect to complete our conversations in the near future. Look for further announcements soon as we work together on this exciting new venture." The structure of the new conference will likely include: *Membership of 18 to 24 universities *National scope from the Atlantic Seaboard to Hawaii *Championship football game format that includes semifinal match-ups *Championship basketball tournament *Regular season scheduling in divisions *NCAA FBS affiliation *Mechanisms to emphasize and improve academic standards and fiscal responsibility http://www.themwc.com/genrel/021312aab.html
MWC, C-USA athletic directors to meet in Las Vegas on Thursday to discuss new league MWC, C-USA athletic directors to meet in Las Vegas on Thursday to discuss new league Among the topics expected to be discussed are: (1) whether to stay at the current 18 teams or expand; (2) the name of the league; (3) the potential television opportunities; and (4) how many divisions will be formed within the conference. This will be the first meeting between the conference’s athletic directors since they convened in Dallas in September. The schools’ presidents met last month when it was announced the conference would merge in all sports. http://www.rgj.com/section/blogs16?...&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
