Colorado State pops a bottle of champagne while the Mountain West receives an unpleasant 25th anniversary gift.
Financial gain and the promise of the Power Five lie at the forefront of the Rams’ departure from the MW. The glamour the conference once held lost its shine since its formation a quarter-century ago.
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In 1999, CSU chased money and status into the formation of the MW. A vision shared by a handful of university leaders in the crowded Western Athletic Conference sought to extract eight schools from the WAC. With those schools, a new dominant conference emerged. CSU headed the move, backed by three WAC football championships under coach Sonny Lubick in 1994, 1995 and 1997.
“Twenty-five years ago, CSU signed the marriage papers that gave Rams football the MW. Now, CSU serves it a divorce.”
Air Force, BYU, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and, later, San Diego State and UNLV followed. On Jan. 4, 1999, the vision became a reality, and the conference began its operation.
Now a group of university leaders’ reasons for joining the MW are the same for departing.
Playing in the WAC provided little opportunity for expansion. The market was stale; viewership was low. Too many teams resulted in too small a piece of the pie. After a $48 million agreement in February 1999, the MWC earned a seven-year TV deal with ESPN.
The new vision begins July 1, 2026, when CSU, Boise State, Fresno State and SDSU will officially join the Pac-12 conference.
There are not enough teams in the Pac-12 for an official Football Bowl Subdivision conference. The four join Oregon State and Washington State. Needing eight teams total, the schools the PAC-12 should reach out to are no strangers to the conference.
California and Stanford‘s football teams have traveled farther than any other program in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season. Because of the Pac-12 split, the 20,660 miles traveled from Cal and 14,018 miles from Stanford in the ACC may entice the teams to come home.
The best-case scenario is these eight teams comprise the new Pac-12, meaning the conference lands a big streaming deal and profit falls onto a small group of teams. Think pre-PAC-12 implosion, before Apple TV balked at offering every school in the conference $23 million a year. Currently, each team in the MWC earns $4 million a year from media deals.
Again, hypothetically, national attention turns to CSU. The Pac-12 earns its seat back at the Power Five table, resulting in the best team slotting into the College Football Playoff.
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If the conference cannot secure California or Stanford, the next best option is UNLV: a dominant team with professional facilities and a vast viewership market. If they were to join, the MW could potentially become an illegitimate conference with only seven remaining teams and have to seek Big Sky Conference schools for replacement. If not UNLV, another school that brings a strong market is North Dakota State.
Colorado loses any reason for complaint that it plays a low-hanging MW team in the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Thus, the in-state rivalry consistently plays each season.
As for the Border War with Wyoming, it seems both sides are adamant in keeping the tradition alive.
CSU Athletic Director John Weber envisioned taking CSU to the Power Five. After spearheading the Green and Gold Guard collective and replacing former AD Joe Parker, his vision is coming one step closer to reality. The challenge is proving CSU can perform against teams like California and Stanford or any big-name team that stumbles into the Pac-12.
With a cash flow from a media deal, the Rams will have more opportunities to invest in good players, facilities, coaching and everything that comes with profit. It is reflective of the same events 26 years ago when the MWC was only spoken word. Overlooking the initial financial downside, leaving the MW is CSU’s best decision since joining.
Each team leaving the MW is required to pay $17 million in buyout fees with a multiyear notice, and the Pac-12 faces a $43 million poaching fee. In total, the venture to the PAC-12 costs $111 million.
Twenty-five years ago, CSU signed the marriage papers that gave Rams football the MW. Now, CSU serves it a divorce.
Happy anniversary.
Reach Adam Gross at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @agrose_22.