Mountain West commissioner weighs in on expansion talks

By Taylor Bern

Wednesday, July 27, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The Mountain West Conference could lose teams to expansion or add more members, but the bottom line is no one’s sure how the current shakeup will play out. That was the message from Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson’s address at this year’s league football media days at the Cosmopolitan.

“What’s going to happen? Nobody has any idea,” Thompson said. “… We’re all playing this game.”

The Big 12 recently approved looking into expanding by two or four teams, so at this point that league is fielding offers from schools across the country. That includes some from the Mountain West as Thompson confirmed that multiple schools had informed the league they would at least explore moving to the Big 12.

Whether the Big 12 would want schools like San Diego State or Boise State, which are arguably the league’s top two programs right now, is up for debate. Thompson pointed out that the average Big 12 football budget is about double the average that Mountain West teams have to spend, though getting into a bigger league with bigger revenue distribution would help even that out.

But just as some schools explore their options elsewhere, Thompson said he’s heard from at least four schools that would be interested in joining the Mountain West.

“This membership/expansion door swings both ways,” Thompson said. “… All scenarios are viable.”

If a current member institution was interested in sending football elsewhere while keeping the Olympic sports in the Mountain West, Thompson said the league probably wouldn’t accept since they turned BYU down on a similar move in 2011.

What seems certain is there won’t be any answers for a while. The Big 12 has no clear timetable for its decisions, and until they make a move it’s unlikely any other maneuvers will take place.

Here are some other notes from Thompson’s news conference:

• At last month’s meeting, Thompson said, the Board of Governors voted 6-4 against increasing the league exit fee to $10 million. That could be viewed as a vote against conference stability or an acknowledgment that realignment can happen at any time, and self-inflicting stiffer penalties doesn’t help anyone.

• While noting that they’re not forcing any football teams to do this, Thompson said it’s the conference’s suggesting that each team use its four nonconference games like this: one game you’re probably going to lose, one game you should definitely win and two that could go either way.

The overall goal is to reach a New Year’s game while each institution wants to increase attendance. Thompson said he feels that formula is the best middle ground for attempting to achieve both, but ultimately the attendance solution has always been the same.

“Schedule better and win games,” Thompson said. “It’s not rocket science.”

Thompson said the Board of Governors approved a similar best practices list for men’s basketball scheduling, and that there can be financial penalties related to scheduling in women’s basketball.

• After setting a record last year at $46 million, Thompson announced that this year’s league revenue distribution is a little over $41 million. That’s the second highest in history — it was $29 million in 2014 — and averages about $3.5 million per institution, though the distribution isn’t even to all schools.

For example, Hawaii doesn’t get a full share because it has its own pay per view TV deal and the national TV bonuses varied per program last year from $100,000 (Colorado State, New Mexico, San Jose State) to Boise State’s $1.6 million.

• There’s no clear solution right now, but Thompson acknowledged that minimizing late kickoff times is a priority for the league.

“There’s probably no larger issue with our athletic directors,” Thompson said.

TV networks generally dictate kickoff times, so getting games on the air requires starting the game when ESPN or CBS Sports wants to start. Since that’s still what brings in the most revenue and remains the way in which most fans want to watch games, schools must play along and start games later than they often want.

Games that stream online can kickoff whenever the host institution wants, and this year the Campus Insiders games online could reach even more homes as they will also live stream on Twitter. That gives schools more control — UNLV’s 2016 opener against Jackson State will kickoff at 7 p.m. and stream on Campus Insiders and Twitter — but without the extra revenue.

“It’s just something that we’re going to have to continue to say, where’s the happy medium?” Thompson said.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.