Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
A welcome reunion
UNR decision to join UNLV in Mountain West Conference good for state rivalry
Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
The announcement this week that UNR will play in the same athletic conference as in-state rival UNLV for the first time since 1995 is a winning proposition for both schools. UNR plans to join the Mountain West Conference, UNLV’s home since 1999, as early as fall 2011. The reunion is certain to elevate fan interest in this rivalry, and the Nevada universities will benefit if wavering BYU decides to stay in the conference.
These developments come at a time of great upheaval in college sports caused by the big money that television networks and cable stations throw at universities for the privilege of broadcasting their football games. Major collegiate conferences throughout the country have adopted the philosophy that if they add members, they have a greater chance of grabbing more TV revenue, which is then divided among the schools.
One perspective is that the universities cannot be blamed because most are suffering budget shortfalls in this battered economy, and the money football generates is used to pay for other collegiate sports programs. Another perspective is that this is all about greed and that long-standing rivalries are being ripped apart as conferences poach one another’s membership as though they were piranhas in a household aquarium.
The Mountain West, which is losing the University of Utah to the Pac-10 Conference but gaining Boise State University, got caught up in this feeding frenzy. The Mountain West extended an invitation to UNR, and we’re glad the university accepted. Many UNR graduates live in Las Vegas and plenty of UNLV alumni reside in Northern Nevada.
Having both schools in the same conference will make it easier for their respective fans to compare their athletic accomplishments and allow UNLV and UNR to compete for the same league championships.
The schools face each other in football once every year, alternating home field advantage in their bid for the prized Fremont Cannon. But conference competition will also allow the schools to play each other twice a year in basketball — with each team having a home game — rather than the once-a-year contests they have now.
It will be even better for the Mountain West if perennial football power BYU retains its membership. BYU is considering competing as an independent in football, same as Notre Dame, and joining the Western Athletic Conference in other sports. But if BYU takes its football program elsewhere, it would be a blow in the Mountain West’s quest to obtain an automatic bid to one of the financially lucrative, season-ending Bowl Championship Series games.
The BCS is justly criticized for offering automatic bowl game bids to the winners of six major conferences elsewhere in the country, even though the Mountain West or other conferences may have better teams than the fortunate six. By retaining BYU, the Mountain West will have a much better chance of securing an automatic BCS bid for the winner of its conference. At the very least, we can be thankful that the frenzied competition among conferences will bring the Rebels and Wolf Pack together again.
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
Diamond Dave sells it well as Van Halen pours out the power at MGM Grand (2 Comments)
Entering debut at Tryst, Nick Hissom is a model for a rapid rise to prominence (3 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
Maybe we can use this occasion to start referring to UNR like the rest of the sports world does: "Nevada." It sure works for Cal & UCLA, where there is little confusion and UCLA doesn't feel snubbed to allow its northern rival to use the state name.
Having two nationally recognizable university brands is best for the state. Calling Nevada UNR only hurts that institution's name recognition to the rest of the country.
We are University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And, they are University of Nevada, Reno. That would be UNLV and UNR.
If you want to make it a real rivalry then let's play football and basketball where the best of the three wins can wear Nevada. Two basketball wins and one football win where the winner gets to wear Nevada on their shirts otherwise they both wear either UNLV or UNR for their respective schools.
As I say that I have my own doubts about it. Most of the hicks in Reno can't even pronounce Nevada correctly let alone the hicks in Las Vegas. If you listen to ESPN when they talk about Nevada, which isn't very often, they botch the pronounciation too. UNLV just sounds sweet. I'll stick with that. UNLV, UNLV, UNLV, I love the way that sounds. UNR just makes me want to choke.
A history lesson for Reb4Life: UNR was the University of Nevada from 1874 until 1969. UNLV was a southern extension of Nevada from 1951-1969 - called Nevada Southern, When Nevada Southern became part of the University of Nevada system they adopted the name University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada became the University of Nevada, Reno (or UNR). UNLV complained that by having Nevada go by Nevada would mislead people into thinking that there was only one school in the state, but of course, that hasn't happened. UNLV will NEVER be able to go by Nevada and we already play for the Fremont Cannon anyway.
If you are truly such a Rebel fan you need to learn the history of the school.
What is UNR's website? www.unr.edu. How does the President of UNR refer to the campus? "Welcome to the University of Nevada, Reno." Nobody but transplants, who look to California and say "That's how we should do things!" has any problem with how the two universities are named.
Calling the northern university UNR and the southern university UNLV works for Nevadans. If you like how California does things, go there.
Besides, anyone who knows anything about NSHE knows exactly what The University of Nevada is. And UNR isn't it.
Actually, the academics call it UNR but the athletic department makes certain to let everyone know that the teams go by Nevada. Sorry Nevada Southern.