This is the downside of Div 1 football - see San Diego State

[ABC]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7346708/san-diego-state-aztecs-move-14-sports-big-west-2013-14

The Mountain West is in the top 4 in basketball RPI and the Big West is a, um, a staggering 24!

[shox1989]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...g-west-2013-14

The Mountain West is in the top 4 in basketball RPI and the Big West is a, um, a staggering 24!

It will mean a financial windfall for them. They will save a lot on travel costs for the non-revenue sports (the Big West is a lot more compact than the MWC) and the football team will eventually reap about $20 million a year in TV and bowl revenue from the Big East. Not to mention the opportunity to play in a BCS bowl (just by winning the Big East).

Making the ncaa tourney may or may not be harder. If they can dominate the relatively easy Big West in B-ball they may be in the dance every year (their seeding might not be the best buy hey our lone conference rep was a#14 seed last year).

[ShockerEngr]

It will be interesting to see where this leaves their basketball team in 5 years...both in terms of scheduling and recruiting

[ABC]

There is little chance that this doesn't hurt their basketball program, in my view.

This might be a wash for their volleyball and baseball programs - or maybe not. It can't be good overall for their athletic program. It seems clear that athletic departments are being sacrificed for football. I suppose moves like this is the only way to make football viable. I wonder how many more like this will happen. BYU to the West Coast Conference already happened; Boise State to Big East etc.

It does provide an interesting counter to the superconferences; for example travel from Syracuse to Florida State for a golf match simply doesn't make a lot of sense. This move by SDSU does make more sense than that.

[RoyalShock]

It will be interesting to see how the Big West stacks up in the RPI in 4-5 years.

What I find very odd is how Big East basketball teams are going to schedule home-and-homes with SDSU (and Boise, I believe). We've heard a few rare instances of a basketball game getting scheduled as a result of a football game (was it Indiana and So. Illinois a few years back?). But for a conference to essentially mandate OOC scheduling with a certain team has to be a new concept.

[ShockTalk]

As @shox1989: said, they will reap a nice increase in budget to their athletic program which can help the men's basketball and other sports. Another side benefit is their football brothers helping them out for basketball: "San Diego State will play four games against Big East opponents each season starting in 2013, and the Aztecs have discussed a home-and-home series with Connecticut." That will take a lot of the sting out of leaving the MWC.

[DoubleJayAlum]

As @shox1989: said, they will reap a nice increase in budget to their athletic program which can help the men's basketball and other sports. Another side benefit is their football brothers helping them out for basketball: "San Diego State will play four games against Big East opponents each season starting in 2013, and the Aztecs have discussed a home-and-home series with Connecticut." That will take a lot of the sting out of leaving the MWC.

Maybe.

It sounds to me like they sold out their basketball program for the football program. According to SDSU message boards, many SDSU basketball fans feel the same way.

[ABC]

Rather than having a nice increase in their budget, this seems more like triage. There simply isn't anything good about going to the #24 RPI conference.

If this is such a great thing, we should wish for all of Kansas' Div II programs to move to Div 1 so we could have our own little Div 1 conference to save on travel.

This is clearly sacrificing the basketball program for football.

[Kung Wu]

If this is such a great thing, we should wish for all of Kansas' Div II programs to move to Div 1 so we could have our own little Div 1 conference to save on travel.

OMG!! Emporia, Washburn, and Pitt St would all have football ... and we wouldn't.

[tw805]

Maybe.

It sounds to me like they sold out their basketball program for the football program. According to SDSU message boards, many SDSU basketball fans feel the same way.

Those basketball fans are likely outnumbered 10 to 1 by football fans that think this is fantastic.

[60Shock]

$20 million will spread a lot of money around their entire sports program and it is very likely that all their programs will come out way ahead. Plus the increase in name recognition by their vastly increased exposure on ESPN will benifit all programs.

The trend the Big East conference is apparently evolving into (half their schools play football and half basketball) may certainly sometime down the line greatly benefit WSU if other conferences jump on the bandwagon as well.

It will be interesting to see how this fall out for S. Personally, I hope it works for SDSU.

[SubGod22]

And this could be a GREAT move for them if it means it could give them a shot at the PAC whenever the decide to expand again. Most believe they're not going to stay at 12. If SDSU has success in the BE, they could become a candidate for the PAC at some point. Then it would be HUGE for their basketball and other sports.

I think BYU and SDSU will be just fine in the BWC. Perhaps having two teams like that will get the others in conference to step up their game.

[shocker3]

I bet their baseball coach is very happy too. The Big West will actually be a step up in baseball.

Because of travel savings it will probably help all of the minor sports too. The only sport I see getting hurt by this move is basketball and that is being offset somewhat by the basketball team being able to play non-conference games against Big East teams. Only time will tell how much this could hurt the basketball program. With the MWC losing other teams to the Big 12 and the Big East, staying in the MWC wouldn't have been as good as it used to be either.

The $20 million football revenue is just the beginning. The money from the BCS TV contracts are growing like a weed. Each time they are renewed there is a HUGE increase. Also the money from the BCS bowls is also growing.

This will reap HUGE monetary benefits for the SDSU athletic programs.

What's interesting to me about this, is when I was a senior in high school SDSU was one of the schools I considered going to. At the time (1976), their athletics were way behind WSU. They were definitely minor league. They have really upgraded their athletic programs a lot since then.

[The Mad Hatter]

Another problem with this move, however, is that the future of the BCS is in a state of flux. The Big East is hardly the conference most secure in its ability to maintain guaranteed BCS money over the long term. That said, the Big East's desperation to throw money at football programs in an attempt to cling to BCS berths may make it worth it for those programs even if the auto bid is lost.

[ABC]

I do find it interesting that several posters here think this will be good for the other SDSU sports programs. It could be that this will enhance the other programs b/c of Big East bowl money.

This type of change, with Football-only conferences might make it easier for WSU to bring football back; we wouldn't have to find an entire new conference for all sports. We could join the Conf USA/Mountain West for football only.

But let me repeat that it is ironic that the stated move for this is partly to save on travel costs, while teams like West Virginia join the Big 12.

The current Big West line-up isn't exactly awe-inspiring:

Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, Pacific, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara.

I bet there was a good Occupy Wall Street on those campuses though.