Mountain West, Conference USA to talk to Big East about joining forces

Commissioners from the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA are scheduled to meet with the head of the Big East Conference today to discuss the formation of one 28- to 32-football team super conference in an effort to gain automatic Bowl Championship Series status.

The Mountain West and Conference USA already have agreed to merge by either next year or in 2013.

The Big East has automatic BCS status but is in danger of losing it after the 2013 season and has been exploring adding teams from the Mountain West and Conference USA in an attempt to salvage that standing.

But the two Mountain West members face hefty exit fees should they leave -- Boise State up to $21 million and Air Force up to $9.6 million -- that could dissuade them from jumping to the Big East.

Seeing an opportunity, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson and Conference USA's Britton Banowsky will make the proposal to the Big East's John Marinatto in New York to create a megaconference.

According to a document obtained by the Review-Journal, UNLV could be in a division that includes Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, San Diego State, UNR and Utah State, with San Jose State a possibility if the conference includes 32 teams rather than 28.

"We would figure out some way -- four divisions of seven teams each, a playoff and then a conference championship game -- to come up with the (automatic qualifier)," UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood said. "Craig and Britton are going into this meeting in New York with one thing in mind, to make this happen with the Big East."

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck said he has been too busy preparing for Saturday's game against Colorado State at Sam Boyd Stadium to give the proposal much thought.

"It's interesting," Hauck said. "I don't know what to think about it. It's a lot to analyze."

Attempts to reach Thompson and Banowsky for comment were unsuccessful.

Big East spokesman John Paquette said his conference had no comment.

Paquette, however, told other media outlets no meeting was scheduled, but Livengood said in a text message that the Review-Journal's report was "accurate."

The Big East has been in an aggressive, and perhaps desperate, mode to move forward after Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced they would leave for the Atlantic Coast Conference and Texas Christian reneged on an agreement to enter and instead will join the Big 12 Conference.

Reports surfaced Tuesday that Big East member West Virginia would enter the Big 12 should Missouri leave that league for the Southeastern Conference, which appears likely. Should the Mountaineers bolt, that would leave the Big East with five football-playing members, unless it attracted schools such as Boise State and Air Force.

Boise State president Bob Kustra met with Big East officials on Sunday, the Idaho Statesman reported.

But whether the Big East could lure Boise State or Air Force is questionable. Both schools agreed to steep exit fees. The minimum for leaving the Mountain West next year is $6.9 million, and the minimum in 2013 is $1.9 million. Exit fees are tiered depending on school and the conference bowl participation.

"Every president in the conference signed that agreement in June of this year," Livengood said. "It's not like those were put in last week. They all agreed to those (exit fees) when things began to heat up" with conference expansion.

Should Boise State and Air Force stay, that would increase the leverage by the Mountain West and Conference USA to make a deal with the Big East.

If the Big East agrees to this mega-merger, the three combined conferences could make a compelling argument for automatic BCS status. And having the Big East's powerful insider ties probably wouldn't hurt that effort.

"The old 16-team (Western Athletic Conference) was hard organizationally," Livengood said. "This is a different day and age. If you have 28 teams, with this kind of model, it would have to be included in any (postseason scenario). We would be in time zones across the country and in all sizes of television markets. That's very attractive. It would be good for UNLV. It would be good for all the teams involved."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.