Five questions for MW football season
Addressing conference issues to start 20th year
As the Mountain West enters its 20th football season, the conference has a lot of issues on the horizon. The league’s media days are Tuesday and Wednesday at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and commissioner Craig Thompson’s roundtable discussion Tuesday morning will address some of these questions:
1. Will Boise State make a New Year’s Six game?
The defending conference champion Broncos are the favorites to win the Mountain West, which automatically puts them in the conversation for one of the top six bowl games. Boise State doesn’t play a difficult schedule, but does face Oklahoma State on the road Sept. 15. Should the Broncos pull off a victory there, they would be in great position for such a game. Even a loss, at least a close one, wouldn’t be a killer.
Making such games is enormously important for a Group of Five conference. Central Florida’s appearance in last season’s Peach Bowl resulted in $4 million for the American Athletic Conference.
2. How will the bowl situation shake out?
The Las Vegas Bowl has received the first choice from the Mountain West since 2006, but new bowl contracts soon will be announced. With the Las Vegas Bowl moving into the new Raiders’ stadium in 2020, that has put its future with the Mountain West in question.
The local bowl has a number of options, including whether to play one or two games. A matchup between two Power Five programs would be attractive for the bowl, but there are questions about finances and logistics that could make such a pairing difficult to secure while keeping the Mountain West in the picture as a bowl partner.
3. What is going on with the TV deals?
Contracts with ESPN, CBS Sports and AT&T Sportsnet each have two years remaining, so there isn’t enormous urgency, but it’s a topic that is looming because the