Is NMSU prepared to pay $750,000 a year in travel subsidies to play CSUB, CSUN, Cal State Fullerton, Hawaii (no travel refund) UC Riverside and UC Davis in Basketball? This is a worse RPI conference, and you will have to raise the better part of an additional $1m to fund the schools in the Big West (adding the costs of sending not just Basketball and Baseball, but also women's volleyball, soccer, tennis teams and softball to the Islands annually). The only comparably bad move in terms of RPI hit would be the Southland, but it would likely not come with a travel fee requirement.

As it is NMSU seems to be less prepared for NCAA bids when they get them. They need a more competitive conference, not a less competitive one. It makes more sense if you are going to travel to head to a Great Lakes conference with better Olympics like the MVC or Horizon, and that is where GCU makes sense as a partner.

They same desire to move up and not sideways or down will compell GCU to look elsewhere than the Big West