TCU has finally made the long anticipated move and will join the Big East in 2012. It puts them in a automatic qualifying conference for BCS Bowl games and gives them more money. The move will help open new television markets while escaping the grim MWC television deal. This will only add to their recruiting, culling athletes from the talent rich east coast.
Will this move be the final nail in the WAC Conference coffin? I tend to think it will. The minimum amount of teams a conference must have for division 1 football is six. Right now that is where the WAC is sitting after the defections of Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada. All three teams are moving to the Mountain West Conference. Boise next season and Nevada and Fresno in the 2012 season.
A couple of weeks ago Hawaii announced they had a good faith verbal agreement to be invited to the MWC. The move by TCU all but assures that the invite to Hawaii is soon to be forth coming and the Warriors will accept. This will bring the WAC football teams down to five.
The problems this creates is many. First they have lost their premier teams to another conference. The teams that ESPN showed most on television. The loss of the most marketable teams could cause ESPN to renegotiate the current contract. The worse case scenario is to drop the WAC from the 2012 line up even if the conference is alive.
Adding insult to injury, the WAC is having trouble finding replacement schools for the current teams that have departed. so far Montana, a Big Sky power house and North Texas have declined WAC invites. Should Hawaii leave, the big 4 will have left and leave slim pickings in the conference, making it harder to attract teams.
Sadly they wont be able to attract teams that can come in and electrify audiences with offense or defense like Boise, Fresno, Hawaii or Nevada have.
The MWC will be the new WAC and I fear the days of the WAC are numbered.
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