The Mountain West and San Diego State University resolved their off-the-field athletic drama – for the time being – earlier this week with the Aztecs remaining in the conference.
The MW had previously contended the Aztecs were out following what it called an official notice to leave after the conclusion of this season’s sports calendar.
In a statement, the university insisted it had not given that notice. The Aztecs have been pursuing more lucrative membership in a Power 5 conference widely assumed to be the Pac-12.
Instead, after a year of speculation, they remain a member of the MW, a Group of Five consortium of schools.
The MW-SDSU bureaucratic rhubarb was a principal topic of San Diego interest at the conference’s annual Football Media Days in Las Vegas, which began Wednesday.
Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez addressed the issue during an opening state of the conference speech, but declined to address what she described as “machinations” that led to the public affirmation.
The process required a special board meeting of MW presidents and Nevarez, but not SDSU President Adela de la Torre, who the conference had excluded based on the reasoning that the university’s correspondence was a resignation.
San Diego State is receiving its conference payment, reported at $6.6 Million. The payout represents its share of receipts related to how MW teams performed in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Payouts were boosted significantly under a complex formula due to the Aztecs’ historic March Madness run, which ended with a loss in the title game.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the Aztecs would also cover legal expenses and agree not to use a flurry of letters exchanged between the parties in order to reduce any exit fee to the conference in 2024-25.
An invitation to the Pac-12 conference has to this date failed to materialize for SDSU. It’s been anticipated by Aztec alumni in the wake of last summer’s stunning move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten by USC and UCLA.
The Pac-12 has held off expansion talks while it negotiates a new TV rights deal amid a shifting media landscape beset by trends such as cable-TV “cord cutting” by consumers in favor of cheaper streaming options and diminished ratings. Both reduce the revenue networks have available.
The Pac-12, also holding football media events in Las Vegas beginning Friday, has shown no indication it intends to announce any news related to media rights. It appears such a deal remains the subject of negotiations with various media entities, which may include streaming options.
Nevarez praised the Aztecs from the podium, asserting that the MW was “better” with the university in the fold, despite the conference’s earlier tough stance.
“Conference realignment is a shifting landscape,” she said in an interview with the Aztecs All in podcast. “I think it’s the job of the schools and athletics directors to look out for their best interests.”
Nevarez, however, noted it was her job to look out for the best interest of the MW.
“Many times, those jobs align. Sometimes they don’t,” she said. “And I think that’s what our (conference) polices were enacted to do and I think we worked through the process as it was intended to work out — protect the conference, but also in this situation, fortunately for us, allowed the school to come back to us when they didn’t have an invite.”
In its statement, SDSU said any legal fees will come from funds distributed from TV and conference revenues, not state funds, tuition or student fees.
The university reiterated it had “never formally exited” the MW and was not paying an exit or entry fee.
“The total owed to SDSU continues to be the largest allocation to date as a direct result of its national Final Four run. There is no net loss or cost after the legal expense is paid,” the statement said.
