Rob Spear was on KIDO yesterday and he said this about the recent meetings.
1 - The WAC 5 don't want to add more SW schools (no to Lamar & Sam Houston State) unless there are Western / NW additions too.
2 - There are more than 3 FCS schools in the SW that want to move up and that would jump at the opportunity.
3 - The WAC has until the 2014 season to add more football schools. The WAC is looking for NW /Western members 1st.
4 -
Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Cal Poly have an open invitation to join the WAC until 2014. All of those schools are still in play. There were other schools that would fit ( those are the ones that were mentioned). Montana and MSU will be a package deal if/when they jump. They both need to find money to move up. One immediate benefit of being FBS vs FCS is that money games become much larger at FBS level ie - Montana is playing Tennessee this year and is receiving $350K. If UM was FBS that number would jump to $900 - $1 million.
5 - The best case for the future WAC is to have North - South or East - West Divisions. If that happened and if there were enough schools the 2 divisions could eventually become 2 seperate conferences.
New Revenue for the Non-AC conferences:
6 - The +1 BCS model (after all of the BCS Bowls have been played ) would add another $100 Million to the BCS and a significant amount of that money should be distributed to the non-AC conferences. Right now the BCS gets $125 million under the current system.
7 - The Non-AC conferences may band together for a TV package that would increase revenue to the member schools (MAC, WAC, Sunbelt). The MWC has a decent package right now.
8 - The WAC may look at other TV packages and needs to be creative. ESPN provides exposure but doesn't do much on the revenue side. Playing games on Friday and Sunday would be something the WAC may look at doing during negotiations. I believe he said that CBS and Comcast may be better alternatives than ESPN monetarily.
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