New Mega-Conference

[WyoExpat]

Here is the news per ESPN: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7571596/mountain-west-c-usa-form-new-conference

I am not a fan. I couldn't care less about UAB or East Carolina. We already know that Pokes' fans aren't going to waste time traveling for games against Rice and Tulsa. Nevertheless, they are back.

Does this mean that the 18-24 teams only get one automatic bid to non-football NCAA championship tournaments now?

This basically reminds me of the old WAC-16 without the geographic logic, brand identification and fan interest that we enjoyed with Rice, Tulsa and San Jose State.

If it were me, I would have simply taken the next-best available Western public research universities that fit our footprint and then tried to build that brand into something that was at least as interesting as the CU vs. Utah vs. Arizona schools games. Build from the ground up and keep your brand. Cherry-picking is not usually a viable long-term strategy--unless you are the NY Yankees.

 

[TSpoke]

I don't think we will be playing uab or ecu or even rice or tulsa much if at all. the specifics havent been released but the way i understand it we will continue to play the same teams we normally would in the west and meet for a championship game. At least for football. For basketball there might be some crossover but I really doubt there will be much. the purpose for this is primarily to get more money from a tv contract and it looks like we will get quite a bit more or else i don't see this happening. Is it ideal no but I think it is a good thing. We have to find a way to keep up with tv revenue.

 

[Aaron]

MEH