By Ryan Hope
LAS VEGAS — The Mountain West Conference has been very active along the football front this summer dealing with issues ranging from expansion to possible inclusion in the Bowl Championship during the postseason.
MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said there has been some encouraging progress made over the summer regarding the conference”s access to premier postseason football games. He is pleased with the dialogue that has begun following the formation of a non-BCS coalition earlier this month.
Thompson said that over the last four years the Mountain West Conference has finished seventh nationally in overall attendance, seventh in national TV appearances, seventh in TV ratings appearances and has more BCS wins than any other non-BCS conference, so it should be considered closer to the BCS conferences than the non-BCS conferences.
“We have made the investment in football,” Thompson said. “Where”s that matching bond because we have made a heck of an investment in football.”
Thompson believes the improvement made on the football field in the conference”s four years of existence as well as the $203 million dollars spent collectively by the conference”s eight schools, has garnered the MWC more respect than it is receiving.
“We are after one thing involving the (non-BCS schools) coalition — postseason access to football,” Thompson said.
The Mountain West could benefit from the recent expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference to include Big East powerhouses Miami and Virginia Tech.
“The Big East has to expand,” Thompson said. “They cannot be a 1-A conference with less than eight members. They”re going to expand at the expense of some other 1-A conference.”
Thompson said he expects the Big East to announce its intentions within 60-90 days and it could aid the MWC.
The presidents and athletic directors of the MWC schools are undecided about what course of action to take if BCS talks slide in its favor.
One possibility is expanding from the eight-team structure currently in place.
A subcommittee was formed in June to explore the idea of expansion and Thompson believes a decision will be made by late September.
The MWC is also looking into its ties with postseason bowl games.
The conference has ties with the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the Las Vegas Bowl and the San Francisco Bowl. The conference”s fourth tie-in in 2002 was terminated when the Seattle Bowl was cancelled because of a lack of sponsorship. Thompson believes the bowl could be resurrected for the 2004 season.
Thompson also announced the conference is looking into the possibility of joining in the efforts to create a bowl played in the Denver Broncos” home of Invesco Field beginning in 2005. The Denver Bowl would give the MWC a better geographical location to play a postseason bowl.
A bigger commitment from fans is required for the MWC to continue its progression.
“We need to educate our fans, alumni, boosters that there is a definite cost, a price to play at this level and we need to step it up,” Thompson said. “The $15 dollar football ticket in the Mountain West Conference is long gone. … Our people need to understand that if we want to play at the highest level we have to pay to play at the highest level.”
