Future 'Dogs football conference consolidating

Details

Published on 10/14/2011 - 3:50 pm

Written by Business Journal staff

With teams jumping ship and going from conference to conference throughout college football, the Mountain West and Conference-USA decided it was in each of their best interests to “consolidate their member football programs into one larger association,” the conferences announced on Friday.

Last year, Fresno State announced, along with Nevada, it will be joining the Mountain West Conference, starting in 2012. Boise State already preceded the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack and Hawai’i would later follow.

Although their had been some teams changing conferences already, the move by Fresno State and Nevada seemed to kick the conference realignment talks into full throttle.

This year BCS conferences the Big East and Big 12 have been on the prowl to add members. The recent announcement by the MWC and C-USA seems to indicate the conferences are bracing for impact.

“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,” said Craig Thompson, the MWC commission, in a press release. “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.”

The specifics about the association were not revealed and conference officials were not able to be reached for further clarification.