Boise State would not be eligible for the lucrative Bowl Championship Series after the 2010 regular season if WAC and Mountain West presidents decide not to sign a new deal by Thursday afternoon.

The 18 presidents must decide whether to join all Division I-A football leagues in the powerful postseason bowl coalition, or risk millions and more in hopes of changing the system to improve access and payouts for their schools.

The WAC has a conference call set for 8 a.m. MDT Wednesday, one day after a Senate subcommittee held hearings on whether the BCS violates antitrust laws. Mountain West presidents will meet separately. After the hearing, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah called for the Justice Department to investigate the BCS.

There is a 3 p.m. Thursday deadline for the WAC and Mountain West to sign a new agreement between the BCS and television partner ESPN.

The WAC and the Mountain West are the only two Division I-A football leagues that have not agreed to the new deal, which takes effect for the 2010 regular season.

"It's not in the best interest of the non-automatic qualifying conferences," Boise State president Bob Kustra said of the potential deal, which would extend the current qualifying standards for teams to play in BCS bowl games. "... There's considerable pressure to sign it. But it could be that Hatch's call will influence the majority of presidents to not sign it."

Not signing the deal is considered a long-shot.

The WAC and Mountain West - which each have nine members and have crashed the BCS twice each in the last four years - will act in concert, Kustra said.

"It would be more powerful if whatever we did, we did together," Kustra said.

The WAC, along with nine other major college football conferences and Notre Dame, signed an original agreement in December. Some minor changes, such as bowls asking for additional signage, were made to the deal.

The Mountain West, which is leading the charge for BCS changes, has not signed either agreement.

The WAC must sign the addition for its signature on the original agreement to remain valid.

"There are really two choices: not signing it at all or signing it with a statement saying we're signing it under duress," Kustra said.

Not signing the agreement would be a considerable risk, not only because the leagues would lose their share of millions of BCS and ESPN dollars, but because their teams would be shut out of the biggest bowls - an outcome that would have trickle down effects into recruiting, coach retention, athletic budgets and overall prestige.

WAC presidents have been made aware of the ramifications of not signing it, Kustra said.

But, he said, "it may be a risk worth taking" for the WAC and Mountain West.

The thinking is that with 18 universities - spread from Louisiana to Hawaii and from Idaho to Texas - taking a stand on the issue of access, Congress or the Justice Department would be forced to act.

Or it might even prompt the BCS to do something.

Currently, the conference champions in six leagues are guaranteed access to the BCS, regardless of ranking or record. The champions of the other five leagues, including the WAC and Mountain West, are not guaranteed access. Boise State went 12-0 and was ranked No. 9 in the nation last year, yet the Broncos did not earn a spot in one of the five BCS bowl games.

"You have to give the access," Kustra said. "Break down the limited access and put everybody on equal ground."

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said previous changes to the BCS have helped Boise State and Hawaii, which played in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

"The WAC board has been on the record saying that we support greater access and we support greater revenue distribution and we support the governance piece," said Benson, who does not get to vote on the matter.

Brian Murphy: 377-6444