If there is to be another round of conference realignment, it doesn’t appear it’ll be Boise State football that’ll trigger it. Maybe.
Last month, the Mountain West Conference announced a new six-year television deal that would significantly increase the annual revenue for league members. The only problem? MWC commissioner Craig Thompson stated around that time that Boise State’s sweetheart arrangement that allowed it to receive broadcast revenue above and beyond what other league members get — originally part of a deal to remain in the conference after briefly going to the Big East during realignment’s heyday — would be coming to an end when this new deal expired.
That was apparently news to Boise State, which subsequently confirmed that the university was “weighing our options to move forward.” One of those options was a legal one as Boise State filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the MWC.
Overnight, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the two sides have kissed and made up. From the Union-Tribune:The Mountain West Board of Directors has quietly voted to rescind a decision that would end Boise State’s additional slice of revenue from the conference’s TV contract, several sources told the Union-Tribune.
In exchange, Boise State will drop a legal complaint filed last month against the conference and agree to terms of the new TV contract that begins this summer.
Essentially, the two sides are back to square one.
Thus far, there’s been no official comment from either the university or the conference.
In the agreement that allowed Boise State to return to the MWC after its Big East flirtation, the university was to receive an additional $2 million in conference revenue annually.
After all of those reports emerged last month, a “joint statement” from Boise State and the Mountain West was released.