+3
The University of Utah Board of Regents will meet on Thursday to approve a move to the Pac-10 conference, per the Salt Lake Tribune.
With the way expansion rumors were flying last week it has seemed as if an eternity has passed since Texas decided to save the Big XII to now with the next expected domino to fall which is Utah to the Pac-10. So far, there has been little to no news on that front as Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said he has not been contacted by the Pac-10 about their intentions to take Utah:
Thompson added that he has not heard from Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott since Texas declined the invitation to join the expanding conference Monday. Thompson was attending a meeting of conference commissioners in Northern California on Tuesday; Scott was not in attendance.
The key phrase from that quote is 'since Texas declined the invitation to join the expanding conference' which likely means that the Pac-10 has had contact with the Mountain West and/or Utah about joining their league prior to Texas declining their invitation.
The reason the Pac-10 is not in any hurry to add Utah is because according to the Mountain West bylaws a team only needs to give notice by September 1st to begin play the following year in a new league.
Make sure to check in with SB Nation's Utah blog BlockU for further developments.
This works a lot like math at this point: now that the Big 12 has survived in one form or another, the Pac-10 can now move to Plan B, the acquisition of the Utah Utes in its expansion to 12 teams. Order of operations is important here: with the Big Expansion scuttled, the Little Expansion is now underway.
That appears to be the case, if Rivals’ Utah site is to be believed. They are reporting that Utah has informed the Mountain West that they are leaving the conference and accepting a membership bid from the Pac-10.
With the Texas and Oklahoma schools deciding to stay in the Big 12 rather than jump to the Pac-10, many folks are taking it as a sign that the Great Conference Armageddon Of 2010 is reaching its conclusion. That might be the case but if no major revelations remain, there is still one issue that needs to be resolved.
The Pac-10 didn't take on Colorado just so it could expand to eleven teams. It wants to get to at least twelve to reach the magic number that qualifies them for a conference championship game. That means there's at least one more team that's going to switch conferences and the smart money seems to be on Utah.
According to Tom Cella at UteZone.com, the University has already notified the MWC of its intentions to leave the conference. Now, it's just up to the Pac-10 to officially invite them and complete the deal.
For the Mountain West, the news would basically just reset them. They will have swapped outgoing Utah for incoming Boise State. All things considered, their situation could have ended much worse.
As for the Pac-10, the coveted conference championship game and the revenue it generates should help Larry Scott get over the loss of his grand Pac-16 experiment that fell apart. Colorado and Utah also provide some semblance of a regional duality that matches the rest of the conference.
Keep an eye on Utah blog Block U for more details and developments.
Utah Announces Meeting On Pac-10 Expansion, Expected To Leave MWC
Utah will hold a meeting of its Board of Trustees at 2:30 p.m. EDT to discuss and most likely approve their invitation to the Pac-10, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
This marks the final step in this phase of conference expansion now that the Big 12 has stabilized at ten teams and the Pac-10 has shown no signs of expanding any further. Utah will leave the Mountain West Conference and join Colorado as the rookies in the division, and if they follow CU’s lead will attempt to push the timetable to play in conference in 2011.
Jun 16 3:55p by Spencer Hall - 1 comment