Conference USA to discuss Mountain West merger in January

Conference USA's presidents will meet Jan. 15 in Dallas to decide if that league will merge with the Mountain West Conference, a source involved in the negotiations said Monday.

The source, who didn't want to be named discussing a sensitive matter that has not been finalized, said the presidents will talk about either proceeding with the football-only merger previously agreed to or uniting in all sports.

He described momentum toward a merger as "full speed ahead to get this thing done." A merger could take place next year, but more likely it would be in 2013, after Boise State and San Diego State join three C-USA schools in entering the Big East Conference.

The Mountain West presidents met Monday in Las Vegas. A news release was issued stating the merger was discussed, but it said nothing was decided. It also was unclear when the presidents would meet again.

The Mountain West did announce, however, that it will apply for a two-year automatic Bowl Championship Series waiver for 2012 and 2013. There was no word on when BCS officials would decide, but the Mountain West argued in the release that the conference "met the threshold" of the evaluation period from 2008 through this year.

An attempt to reach UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood on Monday was unsuccessful.

As for the potential merger, the source said a possible scenario is Texas-El Paso moving over to what would be a Western division and giving that side nine football-playing schools.

That would leave the Eastern half with eight schools, but speculation has listed Louisiana Tech as an expansion candidate to even the numbers.

If Louisiana Tech isn't added -- and the source wasn't sold it would be -- the Western division could add Utah State and keep UTEP in the East.

The source said the merger probably would create a new television deal. Many in the Mountain West have complained publicly and privately that its deals with CBS Sports Network, Versus and The Mtn. provide too little exposure. Each Mountain West team receives $1.5 million each year in TV revenue, and the hopes of receiving substantially more helped drive Boise State and San Diego State to the Big East.

C-USA, which also has a contract with CBS Sports Network, began a five-year deal this football season with Fox Sports Networks. Each school in that conference receives between $1.1 million and $1.2 million.

The source was confident a combined Mountain West and C-USA would command significantly more TV dollars, and probably spell the end to the much maligned Mtn.

But, the person warned no final agreement is in place.

"When you're dealing with all this conference realignment, you don't know who to trust," he said. "It's not a done deal until it's a done deal. When the ink is dried on the contract, it's a done deal."

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