SAN JOSE­—College football expansion is in the news again, and this time San Jose State’s involved.
The Spartans are part of a proposed 32-team mega-conference that would be created by merging the Big East, Conference USA and the Mountain West.
SJSU and two other teams from the Western Athletic Conference, Utah State and Louisiana Tech, would be invited as football-only members.
And if invited, the Spartans almost assuredly would accept.
“We absolutely look favorably on the opportunity to be a part of the mega-conference,” athletic director Tom Bowen said Monday.
Bowen added that SJSU has been “forthright” with WAC commissioner Karl Benson about the school’s desire to join a conference with an automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series.
“The opportunity to play football in a conference that would have (a guaranteed BCS bid) is exciting for all participants,” Bowen said. “We couldn’t walk away from that.”
As football-only members of the mega-conference, the Spartans would need a home for their Olympics sports. (Hello, Big West!) The proposed 32-team league, first reported by The Boston Globe, is the brainchild of MWC and CUSA officials.
Their original plan to merge leagues gained little traction with television partners, according to sources. So instead of two conferences, they proposed merging three.
What’s in it for the Big East? The conference has lost Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast and may lose one or two more schools to the Big 12 (West Virginia and Louisville are the most likely targets). It’s also in danger of losing its status as an automatic qualifier to the BCS.
Joining forces with the MWC and CUSA may allow the Big East to retain its BCS berth.
The 32-team league would be split into four eight-team divisions. SJSU would be in the west with Hawaii, UNLV, Nevada, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State and Boise State.
There is also a 28-team proposal that would not include the Spartans, according to the Globe.
But in either form, the mega-conference is a long way from coming to fruition.
In fact, several sources expressed skepticism that the Big East would be interested in joining forces with the MWC and CUSA or that the television networks would offer up a rights fee large enough to make it worthwhile.
As with every aspect of college football expansion, the mega-conference is worth monitoring but hardly guaranteed.

-Courtesy of MCT