(03-06-2016 02:39 PM)airtroop Wrote:  I think people are way overthinking just why the NMSU/Idaho contract was allowed to expire. It's like almost anything else in the world - money, and money alone (as GoAppGo alluded) that drove this decision. I would be surprised if there was a single school president who was against making more money for their school without having to lift a single finger. I'd be shocked if this decision wasn't either unanimous or at least very close to it.

Yep. Once CCG deregulation occurred and the playoff base shares dropped from $12 million per conference to $10 million I'm sure this wasn't a difficult decision to push through.

A lot of my arguments over the past few months were based on Idaho not costing the conference any money. This was true last year based on travel and performance, but the fact is that under the new system a 12-team conference just costs more than a 10-team conference and Idaho and NMSU were the easiest schools to kick out.

I could make all kinds of arguments on Idaho's upward trajectory and potential to help the conference in performance money, but based on recent history I can certainly see why Sun Belt presidents didn't want to bet on Idaho & NMSU lighting it up on the field going forward.