Going independent is short-term solution for NMSU football

By: Anthony Esparza

Image Courtesy of NMStatesports.com

New Mexico State athletics director McKinley Boston confirmed Tuesday that NMSU football will operate as an independent program in 2013.

This came after Western Athletic Conference commissioner Jeff Hurd told the Denver Post the WAC would not be a football-playing conference next season. Boston said the athletics department had forecasted that outcome prior to Hurd’s comments.

“We all have been pretty certain that the WAC would not operate in the fall of 2013 as a football conference,” Boston said. “We’ve been looking at football scheduling for the fall of 2013 as a possible independent, so we’ve been operating under that assumption.”

Boston said being an independent football program will not have any negative economic implications for the 2013 season, but added that NMSU could not sustain being an independent for the long term.  

“As a long-term model, it is something that could have challenging repercussions because you would have to pay schools guaranteed money to come and play home games if they’re not home-and-away contractual agreements,” Boston said. “That could be a hurdle in fall of 2014, but it is not one that we’re having issues with in fall of 2013.”

Because of the long-term costs, being an independent football program would only be a short-team solution while the athletics department examined other conference membership options.

One option is a potential conference alliance between the WAC and Big Sky, which is being discussed by WAC administration. The NMSU athletics department will also consider any available options in joining the Mountain West, Conference USA or the Sun Belt after the conferences conclude their respective television deal discussions in late fall.

Boston said the ideal solution for NMSU would be to receive an invitation to join the Mountain West. However, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said neither NMSU nor Idaho will be invited to join the conference.

“In all fairness to New Mexico State and Idaho, we’ve informed them that they will not be members of the Mountain West,” Thompson said at Mountain West media day last month. “Go on with plan B, whatever plan B may be.”

Thompson also said NMSU’s market size would not “move the needle on a television package.”

Boston is well aware of the profound impact television revenue has in conference alignment discussions, and said the athletics department will continue exploring the various options that are on the table.  

“Most of this is driven by the economics of TV and the television revenue,” Boston said. “Unfortunately the `state of New Mexico brings zero television value into the discussion and that makes it a very complicated set of circumstances to manage.”

The other 15 NMSU sports will remain in the WAC next year, as Boston said the WAC will operate as a non-football conference in 2013.