In 2013, the Boise State Broncos will be affiliated with the Big East Conference as a football member only with the schools remaining sports awaiting acceptance to the Big West Conference.
Boise State had been delaying while they explored every opportunity before taking their leave of the Mountain West and moving the football team into the Big East (source - ESPN). The Broncos had to send an authorized letter of resignation to the Mountain West by midnight of June 30th if they intended to depart the conference at the end of the 2012-13 school year. 2012 will mark only the second season Boise State has been a member of the Mountain West.
The Big West had declined to vote last week on the motion that would allow Boise State's remaining sports to play in the Big West beginning in 2013. The Broncos had originally planned on moving their non-football sports to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) however that conference has been devastated by defections over the past year or so, including the University of Hawaii, Fresno State and Nevada along with Boise State who left a year ago. Utah State and San Jose State will leave at the end of this coming school year. All the above listed teams have or will have moved to the Mountain West from the WAC.
The Broncos' move to the Big East will give that conference 12 teams entering the 2013 football schedule. They will join San Diego State Aztecs as two teams in the west moving quite a ways east. San Diego State also leaves the Mountain West at the conclusion of the 2012-13 school year. The Aztecs will also be sending their non-football sports to the Big West, as will Hawaii who will be a football-only member of the Mountain West.
If Boise State hadn't officially withdrawn from the Mountain West before July 1, they would have been fined $5 million. As it is, they will forgo approximately $2.5 million in revenue, so looking at the prospects of losing at least $7.5 million wouldn't have made the move to the Big East worthwhile. And here's the kicker: If the Broncos didn't officially resign from the conference in time and then should win the Mountain West, there's another large fine. And, if they should qualify for a BCS bowl, there would have been yet another large fine (source - KIVI).
There had been speculation that Boise State was having second thoughts and were in discussion with the Mountain West about staying put. Where the Broncos placed the non-football sports was a key ingredient in their wavering (source - NBC Sports).
The main reason for moving is simple: Dollars. The Big East has much larger television contracts than the Mountain West could ever generate. Being a part of a BCS conference was also a draw but with the BCS dissolving in 2014, that advantage had more or less vanished.
But as it now stands, Boise State Broncos will be moving east next season.
Sources - Mountain West Conference
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Through thick and thin, Daryle has been a huge fan of college football as well as Hawaii, visiting there as a second home for over 40 years. Go 'Bows!
