Feb. 22, 2005

Dennis Dodd
SportsLine.com

Give the Mountain West credit for having a huge set.

And we're not necessarily talking television.

Last year the Mountain West became the first I-A conference to leave ESPN. Mountain West TV (carrying league football and basketball games) kicks off in 2006 on new cable network CSTV.

Having to play midweek games and perceived second-class status became too much for the conference's presidential board. Commissioner Craig Thompson was charged with finding a new TV home. In what was a largely ignored, but significant, deal, he was able to sign a deal with fledgling CSTV in September.

"Us leaving ESPN was the chink in the armor," Thompson said. "They lost a client for the first time ever, so to speak. Not that we meant that much to them."

Time will tell whether the move to CSTV (College Sports Television) was progressive or ill-advised. ESPN is still the 800-pound gorilla but even it can't account for the increasingly fragmented college sports market. Conference USA followed the Mountain West to CSTV, although some of its inventory will remain on ESPN.

Sure, the Mountain West got a 71 percent rights fees increase but it also lost "reach," the pairs of eyeballs that could see its product. CSTV, which debuted in 2003, is on most major cable systems but lags far behind the Worldwide Leader in terms of viewers and clout.

"They realized they were not going to get the attention they deserved for the sports they deserved stuck as one tiny piece of ESPN's (empire)," said CSTV cofounder Brian Bedol.

One industry analyst says CSTV has a good chance to get into 60 million homes in the next year or so. Bedol says the goal is 40 million homes in the next two years.

"It's particularly a great move for a conference like the Mountain West," said the analyst, who did not want to be identified. "Without a large population base you struggle in competition against larger leagues. To create your own destiny is really a great move. There is risk associated with it, I think it's going to work."

Both sides are betting on the idea that they will get better together. The Mountain West is arguably the best non-BCS league. CSTV was founded by Bedol, Steve Greenberg and Chris Bevilacqua. Bedol and Greenberg co-founded Classic Sports Network, which they eventually sold to ESPN. It is now ESPN Classic.

Their financing includes Coca-Cola, JP Morgan and sports entrepreneur Dave Checketts.

Bottom line, college sports' television landscape is changing. Both Fox and ESPN are launching college networks. In the fragmented cable world, networks see a profit in televising Harvard crew, New Mexico State volleyball and Memphis football.

Bedol basically calls the others copycats: "It's like Dunkin' Donuts making cappuccino to respond to Starbucks."

"Ten years ago nobody ever heard of the Golf Channel," Thompson said. "Now 67 million get it. Some could care less except that it's free on their basic service. The Speed network has 73 million. Outdoor Life, 64 million. Hopefully, there is an insatiable appetite for college sports."

The change is worth it for the Mountain West, which has branded itself as the most proactive conference in the country. This week it became the first coalition (non-BCS) league to approve instant replay. It is lobbying hard for an automatic BCS berth, basically asking: What's the difference between us and the Big East?

The Big East has been crippled by the losses of Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech. It recently lost its anchor berth in the Orange Bowl.

"There is no difference between them and the Big East," said BCS guru Jerry Palm.

Palm's 2004 conference RPI had the Mountain West ranked as the best non-BCS league and sixth overall (ahead of the Big East). Its overall strength of schedule was behind only the Pac-10.

Utah's undefeated season didn't hurt. It became the first non-BCS school to get into a BCS bowl. The Utes completed their perfect season by beating Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.

"The success of Utah certainly more than whet everybody's appetite," Thompson said. "This has never been about who can play on the field, it's more driven by marketplace issues. But you have to really play before you can get involved in those conversations."

Existing mostly in television's no-man's land between the West Coast and the Rockies, the conference doesn't seem to have key demographics going for it.

But last year 89 percent of its football games were televised, which allowed the quick move to instant replay. The technology already is in place.

It was a stamp of credibility that rapidly growing CSTV first hooked up with the Mountain West. Mountain West TV debuts in 2006 with as many 40 football games and 120 basketball games. Not bad for a conference that was formed out of the rubble of the old 16-team WAC in 1999.

CSTV is also charged with selling six to eight Mountain West games to national networks (either cable or broadcast). Irony of ironies, some of those games could end up on ESPN.

The league's first televised game was Washington-BYU six years ago on a Thursday night. It was eventually asked to play more midweek games. League presidents finally had enough. The midweek games were starting either too early (5:30 p.m. in the Mountain and Pacific time zones) or too late (7:30 or 8).

"We were getting so far away from Saturday football," Thompson said. "Each year incrementally ... (they were) pushing us back to the edges. Our (presidents) said, 'Monday night at 10 o'clock (Eastern Time)? I'm losing thousands of fans.'"

Playing on actual Saturday afternoons should allow the league to get stronger. It had the best bowl winning percentage of any conference last season (2-1 .667). There are key non-conference games next season against Washington, Boston College, Notre Dame, Colorado, UCLA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Arizona and Florida.

TCU moves over from Conference USA as a ninth member, bringing at least a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth market with it.

"TCU is the equivalent of playing a BCS opponent," Thompson said. "They are a top 30 program."

CSTV is banking on it.

In or out?

So what are the Mountain West's chances of getting that automatic qualification to the BCS?

The commissioners are close to a formula. It wouldn't take effect until 2008 but conferences already are on the clock for their performances over a four-year period that ends after 2007.

Remember that there is one more BCS game (two extra berths) beginning after the 2006 season. At least one of those berths will be guaranteed to a current coalition team (from the Sun Belt, WAC, MAC, Mountain West and Conference USA).

How any conference qualifies, though, is going to be based on its overall performance. That performance will take into account some or all of the following:

a.. Number of teams in the top 25.
b.. Strength of schedule.
c.. Number of bowl teams.

The Big East seems to be the most vulnerable, having lost the three schools to the ACC. But it is getting Louisville from Conference USA a season after having exactly one ranked team (Pittsburgh, No. 25). Depending on scheduling, ranking and non-conference record, the number of AQ conferences could fluctuate from year to year.

The six major conferences created the BCS in 1998 (Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Notre Dame). But the threat of legal action by the remaining (or coalition) I-A conferences forced the BCS powers to allow more access.

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