Mountain West Conference: No Expansion Necessary

Powers at be inside the Mountain West Conference came together over the weekend for their yearly December meetings and decided the current 12 football members, and 11 basketball members are stable enough meaning no expansion is necessary in the near future.

Here is the text describing the talks of the meetings in regard to conference expansion from the Mountain West's official website.

Finally, the BOD engaged in a broad conversation regarding the membership composition of the Mountain West.  Noting the stability and collegiality of the current 12-member configuration, it was agreed no modifications were necessary at the present time.  The Conference will continue to monitor the membership landscape of intercollegiate athletics going forward.

Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson had this to say....

"The entire membership expressed great support for the continued development of the Conference.  There is genuine excitement about the growth which has transpired in the less than three years under the present alignment."

UTEP had zero dialogue with the Mountain West in this latest round of UTEP to the MWC talks.  UTEP's athletic department is in the midst of a six year strategic plan to improve its entire athletic program makeup which makes conference realignment a back burner issue for the athletic department at this time.

Current athletic department funds are directly tied into the current year four of the six year strategic plan which includes face lifts to the Sun Bowl's press box, locker rooms, and concourse among other projects around the athletic program.

Sources tell us UTEP's donors would have more than likely picked up the C-USA exit fee if the Mountain West did decide to expand with UTEP and Rice which was officially shut down today.

Last week's small glimmer of hope turned into reality today.   UTEP will be a C-USA member for a quite a while it seems, but like the MWC says, they will "monitor the membership landscape of intercollegiate athletics going forward." (Meaning come on over BYU?)