CHAOS: "Mega Conference" Merger? Houston Cougars to the Mountain West?
by Adrian Mac on Aug 20, 2010 1:06 PM MDT
in NCAA Conference Realignment
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PrintChaos. That's the only real way to describe what's happening right now. Still, no concrete reports, just a rapidly increasing amount of movement between Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal's Dan Wolken is hearing more chatter related to a "mega-conference" merger.
Two sources directly involved with C-USA/MWC situations: Momentum tracking toward some sort of mega-conference merger.
Dan Wolken
DanWolken
Minutes before Wolken's tweet, we saw a sign of solidarity (how rare is that?) between the C-USA and the Mountain West when the two leagues released near simultaneous press releases confirming a Thursday meeting in Colorado Springs. Minutes after that, rumors of Houston defecting to the Mountain West Conference started picking up steam.
First, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports tweeted this:
Seeing reports that Houston is going to MWC.
Dennis Dodd
dennisdoddcbs
Now Cougarsden.com, the Houston Rivals site that just yesterday reported the possibility of the merger is reporting that the Cougars may be off to the MWC.
Is it possible that Houston is leaving to the MWC to, along with BYU or someone else, make a 12 team league? That seems unlikely to me if only because we just saw that the C-USA and MWC are negotiating on a deal. Is it possible that TCU or someone else might move to the C-USA side and Houston might move over to the MWC side? That doesn't make sense to me either. If Houston moves, I feel it has to be part of some sort of large scale agreement. Is it a "Mega-Conference Merger" that Wolken's sources alluded to?
Time will tell.
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ok…right now we have 12 teams in C-USA, and 11 teams in the MWC. If the Big East takes 2 teams (Memphis and East Carolina) that leaves 10 teams there. CUSA cuts Marshall…and you are at 9 team. TCU moves from MWC to C-USA. Hawaii joins the MWC and BYU goes indy and we have 10×10
I think Houston to the MWC is old news actually. It fits if BYU stays…but not with an agreement between the MWC and C-USA. If MWC needed a 12th team they can go West for Hawaii, and not screw over their new BFF’s
Colorado Rockies correspondent at My Team Rivals (www.mtrmedia.com/rockies) and my own site Rockies Reporter (www.rockiesreporter.wordpress.com) and one of the top Rockies writers at the Bleacher Report.
from the Honalulu Star
Unless there’s a shift in the continents, Hawaii’s isolation is a deal breaker. If BYU opts to remain in the MWC, and the league needs to add a 12th member, the Warriors still aren’t on the invitation list. Word on the boulevard is TCU wants to bring in Houston; New Mexico wants to invite UTEP.
http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com/2010/08/19/independence-day/
ok…maybe Hawaii isn’t in the mix
Colorado Rockies correspondent at My Team Rivals (www.mtrmedia.com/rockies) and my own site Rockies Reporter (www.rockiesreporter.wordpress.com) and one of the top Rockies writers at the Bleacher Report.
I am a BSU fan and all this chatter is driving me crazy!! I also heard Temple is supposed to move to C-USA. What if C-USA has agreed to let Houston go to the MWC and pick up Temple in their place there fore both conferences have a 12 team conference. Then they pull the giant merger to have a 24 team super conference truly creating their own mini playoff? Crazy!! WHAT THE hell is going on???
My Immediate Thoughts On This...
…is please please please CUSA Commish, dont trust anything Craig Thompson has to say! That dude is a snake, we all saw what he did with the WAC and now all signs point to him trying to entice HOU to the MWC. All this super merger talk is unreasonable and evertyone knows it! The most logical thing is the MWC inviting HOU to make 12 teams.
It would make TCU happy and make it very hard for BYU to leave.
Losing HOU would be a huge blow to the CUSA. Hopefully the Cougs stick with the Texas schools that have been with them from the very start and demand UTEP and SMU go with them to make 14 teams. And if somehow UNM gets UTEP into the mix, I would never think bad of the Lobos again.
This is starting to smell worse and worse to me by the minute. But again, ultimately the BCS makes the final decision here. Maybe ESPN (who will have the TV rights to the BCS in a few years) is pulling the strings to get this playoff deal done. You would think the MWC would be happy with that deal because they have to assume their best team will beat CUSA’s best team 7 out of 10 times.
Bottom line, I just dont want UTEP to fall out of the mix here, and be forced to go head between legs back to the WAC, yikes, someone assure me this isnt going to happen!
One side note—The WAC is looking to pick up my alma-mater Texas State when all its teams defect. I love UTEP, but went to school at Texas State and seeing them in a D-1 conference would be awesome, at least on my part.
I'm with you on your first point...
I hope that C-USA will be very diligent in smoking out any tigers that could be lurking in the tall grass. Fortunately, the AD’s of C-USA will have a voice in any dealings or acceptance of any proposition and we all know that AD Stull is an intelligent man who has a knack for vetting these situations. Here’s to keeping the fingers crossed.
who doesn't want hawaii?
Maybe i’m biased because my wife is from hawaii and graduated from that school. Wouldn’t that be a great reason to go to hawaii to see your team play. What if your school ends up with unlv and sdsu? Those are great trips. I personally would be incline to follow the miners passionately on the road. But that is me…
Amac— your site is on top of all the re-alignment talk/rumors. You even have houston cougars fans referencing your site for breaking news in the chron blogs. Keep up the good work.
by MinerManiax on Aug 20, 2010 7:30 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
Hawii is in a different time zone from the mainland
Most of the D-1 schools do not relish playing in Hawaii for a multitude of reasons.
The first reason is that it is several hours in a different time zone even from the West Coast. Most schools to be cometitive have to arrive in Hawii a few days ahead of time to make up for the jet lag.
In addition to this it is hard to maintain concentration and focus while in Hawii as we all know there are considerable distractions.
The cost to get there is tremendous for the team, coaches and managers.
There is no other D-1 conference affiliated school in the Islands with which teams may share traveling costs. Only one school will travel to the region with no cost sharing that is possible with traveling partner schools from the same confrence.
However, it is great for the fans who have the spendable cash to get there and spend time on the distractions.
University of Hawaii has a real advantage when playing at home due to all of the above.
Whew!...
Away for 24hrs and I feel like I missed Christmas and New Years.
Hawaii – I don’t believe the Warriors are going to receive any love on this. Not that there’s anything wrong with the University but the travel time and distance is a killer for everybody not going there on vacation. This has always been considered a disadvantage for visiting teams both fiscally and geographically.
Temple – They might as well be on another island. Other than Marshall, there’s no geographic advantage in adding them. Difficult to imagine that this would be a legitimate consideration all things considered.
MWC & CUSA swapping TCU for HOU doesn’t make any sense….for Houston anyway. I can’t see CUSA giving away the houston market for the TCU market. This would be a loss for CUSA.
On a side note, with all the talk of a ‘Mega Conference’ I wonder if Memphis is starting to second-guess it’s whining and position about wanting to move to the BigEast?
Bleacher Report seems...
Jazzed about the proposition of a merger between CUSA & MWC:
Yes, the scenario is still complex and far from being complete. But unlike the Pac-10’s attempted merger with the Big 12, this one works out fantastic for nearly everyone involved.
Even though the bid may be the most lucrative part of the deal, it only gets better from there. A conference this large and widespread would almost guarantee a huge television contract, another prize that even the biggest schools crave.
Operating in three time zones, the MWC/C-USA conglomerate could be the only conference to feature games throughout Saturday on its network. The Big Ten Network only has two or three slots for games per Saturday due to its compactness.
Now it just needs a new name. Any one got a suggestion?
My Vote is for The Super XX
The Little Mouse that Roared...
I hope that CUSA & MWC have the stones to pull the trigger on this. This prospect of the Mega Conference would take a back seat to no other conference. There would be far too many Inter-Conference matchups in Football, Basketball, Baseball etc… this would be too lucrative an opportunity to not receive a huge TV deal.
I actually agree with you. The day of superconferences has arrived.
The wac will not survive. Then we are down to 10 fbs conferences. If we were able to pull of some kind of merge then we have only 9 conferences. Then the bt, sec and pac-12 devour the former big 12 and now we got 8 conferences. SEC, acc and bt devour big east now we have 7 conferences. The whole idea is to have as few conferences so we can get rid of the bcs. Jim Delaney bt commissioner(the most powerful commissioner) wants this and has said that a playoff would generate at least twice the money as the bcs did. You know espn is on board for this. Many more people at espn want a playoff than not and same with the powers that be. It might not work exactly like that but superconferences will happen. Not sure what happens to mac and sunbelt conferences. Maybe they merge too. Just an opinion i have.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 2 weeks till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 20, 2010 10:52 PM MDT up reply actions
Then there's this...
Mountain West commissioner refutes C-USA merger rumors
Thompson said the leagues are not planning to merge, nor are they going to stage a game between their champions that would award the winner a spot in a BCS bowl.
As for some of the more fantastic rumors that emerged from the meeting, Thompson said they were just that.
It's just been a crazy, crazy day....
But exciting nonetheless- still it does seem like the superconference idea is the long term plan for an AQ. I don’t think this is going away anytime soon—- all eyes still on BYU. What are they going to do?
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
Jim Delaney said he was going to do nothing for 12 to 18 months. Two days later nebraska is invited
they all say that.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 2 weeks till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 20, 2010 10:55 PM MDT up reply actions
Good point-
I wasn’t too familiar with Thompson until now- the sense I get is that we really shouldn’t trust anything he says publicly- do you agree?
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
College football has become a shady business.
I personally would invite houston, utep, smu, tulsa and rice(rice did win the ncaa college world series in 2005?) and basically imho that would call byu’s bluff and have them return to the fold. those are the 16 teams we need to make a superconference and then the mwc is solid for the future. hopefully it could happen by sept 1. i really think byu is bluffing b/c i think they still covet a pac-12 invite tha twill probably never come. the big east can’t be that dumb and could take east carolina and southern miss. i don’t know what happens to the other teams.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 2 weeks till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 22, 2010 12:34 AM MDT up reply actions
Solid points....
At some point a non AQ conference needs to take the leap. As the bigger conference continue to gear up to poach the smaller ones, it will ultimately create conference killers. The only way to keep your head above water is to add more floation. It’s more than likely going to have to take two solid conferences e.g. CUSA & MWC to merge/unify in order to strengthen, solidify and in all likelihood improve their existence.
Yes indeed. You said it better than me. Someone needs to do something bold
and hopefully that person is Craig Thompson and your commissioner.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 10 days till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 22, 2010 8:00 PM MDT up reply actions
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