On Thursday, the Idaho state board of education gave Boise State University permission to join the Big East Conference should an invitation be extended.
While the board’s decision was the first step in allowing the Broncos to leave the Mountain West Conference, the long term benefits may not help the school much.
From a financial standpoint, it would appear that Boise State stands to gain millions in revenue.
Big East football members currently receive $3.7 million annually compared to the $1.9 million projected as the top payout in the Mountain West.
However, if the Big East reshapes itself with the proposed new football members, Boise State would have increased transportation costs by playing several conference games against teams in the eastern time zone.
Even with a larger payout from the Big East, those added expenditures will eat into Boise State’s bottom line. Ultimately, what the Broncos can clear won’t be much different than what they get from the Mountain West.
In the aftermath of Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia leaving the Big East, the proposed additions of Boise State, Navy, Air Force, SMU, Houston and Central Florida as the league’s football members doesn’t exactly create a lot of excitement, particularly with television networks.
The Big East will begin renegotiating their contracts with the conference’s television partners in 2012, but the league can’t command the type of dollars that the other automatic qualifying BCS conference’s can get.
Those television deals could be impacted by the Big East’s ability to maintain its automatic qualifier status within the BCS.
With the exception of Boise State, the league’s proposed football members will be the weak sisters in comparison to the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
Even if the Big East maintains its automatic qualifier status, Boise State wouldn’t stand to gain ground within the BCS framework.
The Broncos have proven they’ve become consistently good enough to be ranked among the top eight teams in the BCS standings, meaning Boise State will receive an invitation to play in one of the BCS bowls.
Based on the logical assumption that Boise State will be perennial contenders to win the Big East football championship and receive the automatic bid to a BCS bowl that comes with it, the Broncos will be no better off than they are today.
Given the schedule they’ll have to play if the Big East forms as planned, the Broncos won’t do much better within the BCS standings than they do now.
Schools playing within the major BCS conferences will continue to be ranked higher because of the tougher competition they face every week.
Considering how weak the Big East will be, if Boise State doesn’t win the conference’s football championship they’ll be playing in a lower tier bowl.
And don’t forget that the Big East is only interested in Boise State joining the conference as a football member, so the school will have to find a home for its other sports.
In the interim, Boise State would actually be better off if they remained in the Mountain West or take the same route as BYU and become independent in football.
The Broncos can hold out for more lucrative offers from the Big 12 or Pac-12, especially once Missouri leaves the Big 12 to join the SEC.
The Big 12 will need to add more schools to create two divisions and play a football championship game. Name a school the Big 12 could invite that would be better than Boise State.
As the saying goes, the grass isn’t always greener. In Boise State’s case, the Big East’s grass isn’t as green as they might think.
