Idaho Statesman: Mountain West fighting a losing battle

[TopFrog]

Idaho Statesman: Mountain West fighting a losing battle

By Brian Murphy

LAS VEGAS - Craig Thompson isn't waving the white flag yet. But the Mountain West commissioner might be writing the terms of his surrender — to the market forces that are turning the Football Bowl Subdivision into a caste system with his league relegated to one of the bottom tiers.

Just hours before the Pac-12 announced the creation of its own seven-channel TV network sure to bring in millions more, Thompson on Wednesday decried the arms race in college football and suggested that his league members couldn't keep up with the escalating cost of doing business.

"We're in that mode of sell the boat, go to a smaller college, pay less tuition, take a second job," said Thompson, equating the league's financial situation to that of a struggling family. "Whatever it's going to take to maintain what we have."

Maintaining is not enough. ...

 

[JurisFrog]

My goodness what a telling article.

The recent Staples article regarding a big-six conference split, plus another article (the author's name escapes me) about this topic a few weeks ago seem to have legs. These are pretty significant trial balloons being floated out there to gauge public reaction, and frankly the public reaction has been tepid to non-existent.

Even Hair Thompson has appeared to throw in the towel. I am shocked that Hair is not rallying the troops, fighting, threaten ing to involve Senators and Govenors and Attorneys General, and whoever else he can find to stomp out this rumor before it ever leaves the ground.

Instead, he is saying that all this is inevitable. It could be that the schools involved have approached these politicians and been told that there is no way they will fight this because it takes too much money to compete, and in these new days of "austerity" there is no way they're going to invest in these athletic programs. Thing is, the lack of big time football in a lot of these states will do a great amount of economic harm in the long term.

It is truly a miracle that TCU is peaking at this time, because there is no better time to peak in the history of college football than right now. TCU is likely the last guy on the train.

Still, I hate it that this is happening because a split will be bad for college football and bad for those states whose schools are stuck with the little boys, such as Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

It's just a damned shame, reallyl.

 

[Stiff Arm Frog]

I'm with JurisFrog.

 

[West Coast Johnny]

It is truly a miracle that TCU is peaking at this time, because there is no better time to peak in the history of college football than right now. TCU is likely the last guy on the train.

I for one am a little annoyed with TCU being constantly mentioned as the last guy on the BCS train. We are inevitably discussed with Utah & BYU as the last schools that made it above the bar.

I'm also annoyed with the news items today which seems that the only compelling story coming out of MWC media days is how none of the MWC can afford major athletic programs. The schools that they are bringing in like Nevada, Fresno, & Hawaii have bare bones budgets and they join Wyoming, New Mexico etal... Schools that just barely are scraping by.

 

[JurisFrog]

It may be annoying, but it's true.

TCU's success has been the product of hard work, smart decisions, and some luck.

 

[ricksterh]

I don't know if any of you will agree with me on this but I really feel for Boise and hope something can be worked out for them. I have been to the last two bowl games when the Frogs played them and found them to have some great fans and a really solid football program that is well run and well coached.

I wonder if looking back on their move to the MWC they feel like they made a mistake? Even if Utah, BYU and TCU would hae stayed it would have been a very good level conference but I say no wat the AQ conferences would have allowed the MWC entry. Even though they would have deserved it power and money would not let it happen. Because of that when a school gets an offer to join an AQ conference like Utah and TCU did no way can those schools turn it down. Then because what happened for Utah the Morman church dictated that BYU go independent.

I hope for the best for Boise and hope they catch a break to join an AQ conference.

 

[Kaiser]

I hate the idea of a split. I feel like TV is ruining college sports. Regions no longer matter. Ticket prices keep going up. More and more money pours in, but it just means more and more gets spent. Sweet, we got a new TV contract, now Coach X can sit on a Gold crapper instead of that Silver one.

 

[KingmanIII]

I don't know if any of you will agree with me on this but I really feel for Boise and hope something can be worked out for them. I have been to the last two bowl games when the Frogs played them and found them to have some great fans and a really solid football program that is well run and well coached.

I wonder if looking back on their move to the MWC they feel like they made a mistake? Even if Utah, BYU and TCU would hae stayed it would have been a very good level conference but I say no wat the AQ conferences would have allowed the MWC entry. Even though they would have deserved it power and money would not let it happen. Because of that when a school gets an offer to join an AQ conference like Utah and TCU did no way can those schools turn it down. Then because what happened for Utah the Morman church dictated that BYU go independent.

I hope for the best for Boise and hope they catch a break to join an AQ conference.

I'm optimistic that something will be worked out for BSU when it's all said and done.

I simply can't envision such a solid program being left to die and nobody crying foul.

 

[asleep003]

They've earned the right, but they're in a very small market... and that is the priority. They bring the goods and still a national darling, but when the Peterson era is gone ... they're still stuck with a 32k stadium and minimal TV audience... that is what a conference has to take into the accounting of such an invite.

Cheers!

 

[njustus7]

I think next year will determine their fate - once they lose this class and the next one comes of age. Let's not forget that TCU had to be consistent for a decade before we got the bump...

 

[westoverhillbilly]

I think next year will determine their fate - once they lose this class and the next one comes of age. Let's not forget that TCU had to be consistent for a decade before we got the bump...

Indeed... we were really the only program to answer the wake-up bell in '94 and even then it took us alot of preserverance and luck to claw back to where we are now...


Think about it, in '94 (when the announcement of the SWC demise was made) until we were invited to C-USA in '99 (didn't go until '01), the general public pretty much viewed us interchangeably with Rice and SMU... We knew we had an edge (in attendance and support) but nobody else did... Anybody that throws us into the same category now (and yes, there are some who know better but still do) are being naive at best but in reality quite ignorant...

 

[Boomhauer]

I don't know if any of you will agree with me on this but I really feel for Boise and hope something can be worked out for them. I have been to the last two bowl games when the Frogs played them and found them to have some great fans and a really solid football program that is well run and well coached.

I wonder if looking back on their move to the MWC they feel like they made a mistake? Even if Utah, BYU and TCU would hae stayed it would have been a very good level conference but I say no wat the AQ conferences would have allowed the MWC entry. Even though they would have deserved it power and money would not let it happen. Because of that when a school gets an offer to join an AQ conference like Utah and TCU did no way can those schools turn it down. Then because what happened for Utah the Morman church dictated that BYU go independent.

I hope for the best for Boise and hope they catch a break to join an AQ conference.

I don't. I hope they get left out and end up back in 1-AA or become a JUCO again. A truck driving school with that piece of shi* blue field doesn't belong on the big stage. They can let their gimmicks play out somewhere else.

 

[JurisFrog]

Boise has a poor academic reputation, which is a huge impediment to their moving up.

When a conference takes a school they have to think long term, and if Boise were to become mediocre again, the conference will be stuck with a school with a poor academic reputation, poor media market, poor facilities, poor athletic budget, poor tradition, and poor recruiting area. Compare that to TCU.

Boise is a short term boost but a long term dud.

 

[Endless Purple]

College football is going to peak and crash if it maintains its present course.

It has become all about money and not one concern over competition or providing a quality schedule for the fans (ie. numerous FCS games and money games for OOC, when they could use those opportunities to make compelling match ups from teams in different regions).

Recipe for failure. No other sport league does this. NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA all have salary caps and drafts to help equalize competition levels to try to maintain competitive games. College athletics are the only ones will unlimited money disparity (and the teams that feel they are entitled to wins because of it over team play).

 

[KingmanIII]

I think next year will determine their fate - once they lose this class and the next one comes of age. Let's not forget that TCU had to be consistent for a decade before we got the bump...

BSU has been consistently as good as TCU for about the same length of time.

BSU's biggest problem, aside from poor academics and relatively small population base, is the fact that, out West, there is no "Big East" type of conference -- unless you play in the PAC, you're not playing big-time ball, perception-wise. The MWC was well on its way to becoming that type of league, but then the raids and defections went down.

 

[KingmanIII]

I don't. I hope they get left out and end up back in 1-AA or become a JUCO again. A truck driving school with that piece of shi* blue field doesn't belong on the big stage. They can let their gimmicks play out somewhere else.

:blink: Tell us how you really feel...

 

[KingmanIII]

College football is going to peak and crash if it maintains its present course.

It has become all about money and not one concern over competition or providing a quality schedule for the fans (ie. numerous FCS games and money games for OOC, when they could use those opportunities to make compelling match ups from teams in different regions).

Recipe for failure. No other sport league does this. NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA all have salary caps and drafts to help equalize competition levels to try to maintain competitive games. College athletics are the only ones will unlimited money disparity (and the teams that feel they are entitled to wins because of it over team play).

 

[Waccy Frog]

I don't know if any of you will agree with me on this but I really feel for Boise and hope something can be worked out for them. I have been to the last two bowl games when the Frogs played them and found them to have some great fans and a really solid football program that is well run and well coached.

I wonder if looking back on their move to the MWC they feel like they made a mistake? Even if Utah, BYU and TCU would hae stayed it would have been a very good level conference but I say no wat the AQ conferences would have allowed the MWC entry. Even though they would have deserved it power and money would not let it happen. Because of that when a school gets an offer to join an AQ conference like Utah and TCU did no way can those schools turn it down. Then because what happened for Utah the Morman church dictated that BYU go independent.

I hope for the best for Boise and hope they catch a break to join an AQ conference.

If TCU, BYU, and Utah had stayed, then I think adding BSU to the conference would have put us over the top for AQ status. Denying a league that had won 5 of 6 BCS games (the loss was TCU to BSU), produced multiple Top 5 teams, etc., would have been nearly impossible.

The problem is, AQ status alone does not close the financial gap. The real question is "If the league had stayed together with BSU added, could it have cashed in on a big TV deal comparable to the other leagues." I think the answer is probably no. The league would have had value at the top end (e.g., would have had one or two matchups a week of true national interest) but not the same depth of games that would have led to bids for secondary and tertiary rights. We'll never know for sure. By the sound of Thompson's comments, it's pretty clear one of those deals is not on the horizon now.

 

[TopFrog]

 

[Gunner]

My goodness what a telling article.

The recent Staples article regarding a big-six conference split, plus another article (the author's name escapes me) about this topic a few weeks ago seem to have legs. These are pretty significant trial balloons being floated out there to gauge public reaction, and frankly the public reaction has been tepid to non-existent.

Even Hair Thompson has appeared to throw in the towel. I am shocked that Hair is not rallying the troops, fighting, threaten ing to involve Senators and Govenors and Attorneys General, and whoever else he can find to stomp out this rumor before it ever leaves the ground.

Instead, he is saying that all this is inevitable. It could be that the schools involved have approached these politicians and been told that there is no way they will fight this because it takes too much money to compete, and in these new days of "austerity" there is no way they're going to invest in these athletic programs. Thing is, the lack of big time football in a lot of these states will do a great amount of economic harm in the long term.

It is truly a miracle that TCU is peaking at this time, because there is no better time to peak in the history of college football than right now. TCU is likely the last guy on the train.

Still, I hate it that this is happening because a split will be bad for college football and bad for those states whose schools are stuck with the little boys, such as Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

It's just a damned shame, reallyl.

Couldn't agree more with Juris. Slive and Delaney are evil people. No other way to describe it....