It’s conference moving day — finally — for Boise State and its athletic department. The Broncos officially are a member of the Mountain West, a move at least eight years in the making.
“For several years, our sights have been set on membership in the Mountain West Conference,” Boise State president Bob Kustra said. “The Mountain West is a young and dynamic conference that reflects our up-and-coming reputation.”
The move after 10 years in the far-flung Western Athletic Conference to the geographically-tighter and competitively tougher Mountain West comes with great excitement — and some remorse.
Utah and BYU, who were in the league when Boise State got its invitation in June 2010, are departing on the same day the Broncos arrive. TCU will leave a year later, when former WAC teams Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii make the jump to the Mountain West.
“It’s a great opportunity for our program. It’s exciting having new schools, new venues and new cities to become familiar with,” Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said. “It’s exciting and refreshing and I think all of our coaches are looking forward to it.”
Boise State does not have to pay an entrance fee and will receive a full share of conference money next year.
And there will be challenges, even for the Broncos’ highly ranked football team.
“Anytime you join a new league there’s just so many uncertainties,” coach Chris Petersen said. “It’s a much harder transition than most people think.”
Here are 10 challenges Boise State athletics will face as the program makes the move to the Mountain West, which began play in 1999:
TELEVISION CONUNDRUM
The Mountain West TV package is unpopular with some fans around the league because it prohibits ESPN from showing members’ home games and the three TV partners — Versus, CBS Sports Network and The Mtn. — aren’t universally available.
Both Cable One and DirecTV will carry the channels in Idaho. The Mtn. isn’t on Dish Network. No games will air on free, local TV.
The deal is worth much more money to Boise State — the Mountain West makes $12 million per year compared to the WAC’s former $4 million per year — but will reduce the school’s exposure on ESPN.
Boise State has played seven regular-season games on ESPN/ABC each of the past two years but will only get three such appearances this year — and none after Oct. 7.
“We hope (the TV deal) improves. It’s going to be different, but I think there is potential there for it to increase our exposure,” Bleymaier said.
“It didn’t hurt BYU or Utah or TCU. It’s more of a local question. Nationally, people are going to be able to watch more of our games than in the past.”
As part of the contract, the Mountain West said, any game in any sport can be shown on the CBS network, as a BYU-San Diego State basketball game was last season.
“We will see more of that in the near future,” Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said.
The TV deal does provide additional exposure in other sports, particularly men’s basketball.
UNDERDOGS NO MORE
When Boise State joined the WAC in 2001, the Broncos had an underfunded program that had spent just five years at the Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Broncos were expected to take their lumps from the likes of Fresno State and Hawaii.
Instead, they dominated on the field — winning eight titles in 10 years — and won the all-sports Commissioner’s Cup the past two years.
They enter the Mountain West as the new flagship program — expected to lead the league’s quest for an automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series.
“There’s pressure, but it’s not based on moving conferences. That pressure is going to be on us because we want it to be there,” Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said. “We want to maintain the level of excellence that we’ve attained in football regardless of what conference we’re in.”
While football looks like an instant championship favorite, coach Chris Petersen says the league will present challenges even for his decorated program. In their first year in the WAC, the Broncos went 6-2 — the only time the football program lost more than one conference game in a season.
“That first year, no matter how good a team is supposed to be, it usually doesn’t go that great,” Petersen said. “I think it’s going to be a pretty intense experience.”
A STEP ABOVE
Boise State leads the WAC and is 79th in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup this year. Final results for the overall athletic department trophy will be released Friday. Only two other WAC programs — Fresno State (91st) and Hawaii (134) — are in the top 180.
Five Mountain West programs are currently in the top 75 — better than Boise State — and none rank out of the top 160. The group that beat the Broncos includes departing members BYU and Utah, but also TCU, New Mexico and San Diego State.
The Mountain West’s football and men’s basketball success is widely known. The league is strong in many other sports, as well — sending four men’s golf teams and five women’s golf teams to NCAA play this year. Colorado State’s volleyball program has made 16 straight NCAA appearances.
“Top to bottom, the league is so much deeper in every single sport than the WAC,” TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “… The competition in men’s basketball is pretty steep in the Mountain West.”
Two successful Boise State programs will not compete in the Mountain West. The wrestling team will remain a member of the Pac-12. The women’s gymnastics team will be an independent. The Broncos applied to the WAC to compete as an affiliate member, but the league denied the request, athletic director Gene Bleymaier said.
HOOPS HAVEN
San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico give the Mountain West three well-respected men’s basketball programs even after the membership changes. The league has produced seven NCAA Tournament bids in the past two years, and qualified at least two teams for the tournament in 11 of its 12 seasons.
Two teams reached the Sweet 16 in 2011.
“The bar certainly has been raised,” Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said. “Our basketball programs have built to the point where we are a three or four NCAA-bid league now and that should not drop off.”
The conference is known for loud, intimidating road venues — even at places like Wyoming and Colorado State. New Mexico and UNLV routinely average more than 12,000 fans per game.
A more attractive home conference schedule could help the Broncos lure more fans to Taco Bell Arena, something that would help the department’s bottom line.
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS …
Boise State’s uncanny ability to find a fantastic bowl situation year in, year out could end in the Mountain West. The league’s bowl partners get to choose from the available teams, which means the Broncos likely will be locked into a Mountain West game unless they reach the BCS.
This year, the pecking order goes MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, Poinsettia (San Diego), Independence (Shreveport, La.) and New Mexico (Albuquerque).
The best opponent probably is in Las Vegas, which gets the fifth pick from the Pac-12.
The Mountain West only gets four tie-ins this year because of its drop to eight members. The league expects to add a fifth bowl when it expands to 10 teams in 2012, with the Hawaii and Humanitarian bowls the most likely newcomers.
“There’s more stability. Financially, it’s more attractive in the Mountain West and at the end of the day that’s really what it comes down to,” Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said.
As for the BCS, the Mountain West is counting on a big year from Boise State to try to convince the Presidential Oversight Committee to award the league automatic-qualifier status in 2012 and 2013. The Mountain West likely will meet two of three criteria for AQ status over a four-year period — it almost certainly will fall short in the category that ranks leagues by the average computer ratings of their teams — and be eligible to apply for an exemption.
“It’s realistic and possible,” Bleymaier said of earning the exemption.
RARE AIR
The Mountain West has four schools at 5,000 feet of elevation or higher — New Mexico (5,000), Colorado State (5,004), Air Force (7,163) and Wyoming (7,220).
Boise State athletes, who train at 2,842 feet, won’t experience the same effects as the Aztecs of San Diego State but likely will notice the lighter air.
GROUNDED FALCONS
In Boise State’s first year in the WAC, Rice embarrassed the Broncos 45-14 with a triple-option offensive attack.
Air Force runs a new-fangled version — it includes some spread formations and a capable passing attack — and tends to make new opponents look silly. The Falcons rushed for 351 yards last year against Oklahoma.
Some teams, like TCU, prepare for the Air Force offense by spending part of spring ball and fall camp working against option principles so it isn’t quite as much of a shock come game week.
Air Force visits Bronco Stadium on Oct. 22 — the only scheduled meeting between the teams until 2014.
ROSE BOWL CHAMPS
Boise State has won its conference football title eight of the past nine years and hasn’t lost a league home game since 1998. But in all that time, they haven’t welcomed a single ranked conference opponent to the blue — let alone a team anything like Rose Bowl champion TCU.
The Horned Frogs have played in back-to-back BCS games, losing to Boise State in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.
“Everybody knows TCU and knows what kind of program they are,” coach Chris Petersen said this spring. “It will obviously be a huge, huge game.”
IF YOU BUILD IT …
Boise State hopes to expand Bronco Stadium, but that plan has taken a back seat to building a new football office and training complex in part because the Broncos haven’t been able to draw regular sellouts to 33,500-seat Bronco Stadium. The Broncos averaged 33,268 fans per game — a school record — last year.
Games against TCU and Air Force this year could help Boise State break that record, but TCU leaves the Mountain West after this season and Air Force likely won’t return to Boise until 2015.
That leaves the Broncos with conference home games against former WAC foes Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada and Mountain West staples Wyoming, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV — not exactly a marquee slate.
“We were able to fill the stadium when we were in the WAC. First and foremost, people are coming to see us,” athletic director Gene Bleymaier said. “The Mountain West schools are very good schools and they’re going to be able to attract the fans that we need.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
This is Boise State’s third conference move in 15 years and looks like a comfortable, long-term fit. But as the major conferences continue to expand the revenue gap between the haves and have-nots, the Broncos have to keep an eye out for another opportunity. But where would that be? The Pac-12 seems too elite, the Big 12 too shaky and the Big East too far away. Then again, the Mountain West didn’t exist 15 years ago — that’s how unpredictable the college landscape has become.
