Boise State joins Mountain West Conference
NCAA Football Betting Lines
06/11/2010 -
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mountain West Conference announced
Friday that Boise State has accepted an invitation to join the conference
beginning July 1, 2011.
Boise State moves on from the Western Athletic Conference and becomes the 10th
member of the MWC. It's the first addition to the league since TCU joined in
2005.
"We are pleased and excited to welcome Boise State University to the Mountain
West Conference," said commissioner Craig Thompson. "Since our inception just
11 short years ago, the Mountain West has experienced tremendous success, and
the addition of Boise State will further enhance that strength. The MWC
continues to strategize regarding potential membership scenarios and bringing
Boise State into the conference is an important part of that evolution."
On Monday, the Mountain West announced it had decided to put expansion plans
on hold, citing uncertainty in the shifting landscape of college sports with
changes already in the works for some of the elite conferences such as the Big
Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10.
Boise State joins current MWC members Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New
Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming.
"It will be a privilege to compete and partner with such a successful group of
member institutions. This move is in the best interests of Boise State's
future, and the university is excited to be part of one of the nation's most
outstanding conferences," said Boise State president Bob Kustra.
It's the second conference shift in as many days following Colorado's move
from the Big 12 to the Pac-10. Another Big 12 member, Nebraska, has decided to
apply for membership in the Big Ten.
The spotlight on Friday's marriage of Boise State and the Mountain West will
surely shine brightest on the gridiron with the two longtime thorns in the
Bowl Championship Series' collective side. The Broncos have put together two
undefeated seasons in the last four years under head coach Chris Petersen,
garnering the label of "BCS Buster."
However, the WAC, like the MWC, does not hold an automatic bid under the
current BCS system, making it nearly impossible to gain a shot at playing for
a national championship. That's something the Mountain West has gone as far as
the courts to try and change, albeit unsuccessfully, after similar on-field
successes by Utah and TCU over the last few years.
There are 11 Division I conferences within football and under the current BCS
format, only six of those -- the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, and
Pac-10 -- receive automatic bids to the lucrative BCS bowls.
Other potential conference realignments on the horizon, including a palpable
complete dissolution of the Big 12, would bring about a shakeup in the system,
and proponents of change will certainly point to the new-look Mountain West as
a candidate for inclusion.
The Big 12 had given a deadline of Friday for both Nebraska and Missouri to
make decisions on whether to remain in the conference. Meanwhile, the Pac-10
is rumored to be crafting a mega-expansion to 16 teams with invitations to a
handful of Big 12 schools, including marquee members Texas and Oklahoma.
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NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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