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1. Forget reports that the WAC and ESPN have a new TV deal.
A deal was all but done two weeks ago, but no more. Negotiations hit a snag when Texas-El Paso announced its departure Friday, two sources said.
ESPN apparently wants to pay less because the Miners' football team and new coach Mike Price leave for Conference USA in 2005. One athletic director described talks as "a little contentious."
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said it's a matter of time before a deal is done.
"ESPN will eventually make the announcement that we have received an offer," Benson said. He declined to reveal figures.
WAC athletic directors voted in April to accept a multiyear, $1 million deal that doubled its number of televised football and men's basketball games.
The soon-to-expire contract was worth $400,000 for a minimum of four football and two men's basketball games per year.
Once the new proposal is signed, expect to see Fresno State play nationally televised football games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ESPN is offering those nontraditional nights to give the WAC the added exposure it craves.
A related argument has developed over revenue sharing.
Schools with more television appearances -- Fresno State is leading the charge -- want a bigger payout. Not all agree.
Returning members don't want to share appearance money with the four departing schools, all of whom might have to donate their television time during the lame-duck 2004 season.
2. The WAC is not the most unstable conference around.
Just when you feel sorry for the oft-raided WAC, consider: every time it is depleted by Conference USA, it does the same to the Sun Belt Conference, putting the Sun Belt at the bottom of the conference realignment food chain.
In October, the WAC grabbed New Mexico State and Utah State to replace Tulsa, Rice and Southern Methodist.
With UTEP going, the WAC will turn to Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette or North Texas of the Sun Belt Conference.
The WAC could choose two for a 10-school format, but a nine-school format is most likely. Consider Idaho the early favorite because of geography, though talks have just begun and a decision isn't expected until June.
"You know how much it costs us to fly to Louisiana?" one athletic director said. "I'm not sure adding another team out there makes economic sense."
3. San Jose State expects to stick around.
Spartans athletic director Chuck Bell bristled at the school's recent Academic Senate vote to drop out of Division I-A competition. Same goes for NCAA guidelines that mandate an attendance average of 15,000 to play Division I-A football, starting this season.
The senate passed the same measure in 1993 to no avail. San Jose State interim president Joseph Crowley has said football's 110-year tradition is safe, according to Bell. But, Crowley will be replaced by new president Paul Yu on July 15.
"It means nothing," Bell said of the April 20 vote.
Bell doesn't think the attendance rule will pass legal muster. The Spartans averaged 15,080 last season.
"The NCAA will have to address that to avoid massive lawsuits," Bell said. "We made it last year ... so what? That rule won't stand."
Eleven Division I-A teams did not meet the proposed standard last season, including five from the Mid-American Conference.
4. Rice, on the other hand, could be in hot water.
Although the school's board of trustees announced Tuesday that "Rice should continue to compete at the Division I level," the small private school discussed other options, including dropping football or moving to a lower division.
The concern was big enough to keep Owls athletic director Bobby May in Houston during the WAC meetings.
"It's been awful for football because they've been on the road trying to recruit," said associate athletic director Cristy McKinney, who coaches the women's basketball team. "I had a local girl I signed early and her dad called, and they were very concerned."
5. Louisiana Tech won't face a recall election.
Some athletic directors came to the meetings willing to evict Louisiana Tech, which sits almost 1,000 miles east of its nearest competitor.
Oakes obviously made a compelling case because his peers now sternly reject the possibility.
That keeps the WAC at six baseball teams, the minimum needed to sponsor a sport.
If the number had dipped to five with a Louisiana Tech departure, it would have opened the door for Fresno State baseball to possibly rejoin the Big West Conference -- considered one of the top four baseball conferences in Division I-A.
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