Mountain West Conference

Nevada is leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the Mountain West Conference within the next two years, a move that will reunite the Wolf Pack with rival UNLV in the same league for the first time since 1995.

The Mountain West Conference extended an invitation Wednesday morning and Nevada officials accepted just before calling a news conference on the Reno campus, school president Milton Glick said.

"This is a momentous day for the University of Nevada," he told reporters.
"I think it has long been the goal of our athletic department at the university, this community and the Board of Regents to have the traditional rivalry between UNLV and Nevada be enhanced and that we should be in the same conference," Glick said.

"I think people have been waiting a long time for this day. We think it is really a game changer for us."
Nevada and UNLV played together in the Big West Conference before UNLV went to the WAC in 1996, then became a founding member of the Mountain West in 1999. Nevada left the Big West for the WAC in 2000.

Glick said the move also will keep intact a growing rivalry between the Wolf Pack and Boise State, which announced in June it was leaving next year for the Mountain West. He said it has yet to be determined whether Nevada will join the Mountain West in 2011 or 2012.

Also to be resolved is an "exit fee" that could cost Nevada as much as $5 million under a contract with the WAC, Glick said.Nevada is leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the Mountain West Conference within the next two years, a move that will reunite the Wolf Pack with rival UNLV in the same league for the first time since 1995.

The Mountain West Conference extended an invitation Wednesday morning and Nevada officials accepted just before calling a news conference on the Reno campus, school president Milton Glick said.

"This is a momentous day for the University of Nevada," he told reporters.
"I think it has long been the goal of our athletic department at the university, this community and the Board of Regents to have the traditional rivalry between UNLV and Nevada be enhanced and that we should be in the same conference," Glick said.

"I think people have been waiting a long time for this day. We think it is really a game changer for us."

Nevada and UNLV played together in the Big West Conference before UNLV went to the WAC in 1996, then became a founding member of the Mountain West in 1999. Nevada left the Big West for the WAC in 2000.

Glick said the move also will keep intact a growing rivalry between the Wolf Pack and Boise State, which announced in June it was leaving next year for the Mountain West. He said it has yet to be determined whether Nevada will join the Mountain West in 2011 or 2012.

Also to be resolved is an "exit fee" that could cost Nevada as much as $5 million under a contract with the WAC, Glick said.

"That would be a high," he told reporters. "We begin those negotiations tomorrow."
Regardless of the fee, Glick said the school estimates it will be better off financially in terms of revenue and expenses within five years of making the move to the Mountain West.

Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said the switch to the MWC especially will help save on travel costs compared to a WAC schedule that saw the Wolf Pack regularly play at Hawaii as well as far east as Louisiana Tech.
With Boise State already committed, the MWC will inherit three of the WAC's top teams over the past several years.
"I think Nevada and Fresno State bring strength to the football program," Groth said.

Nevada basketball coach David Carter said before the deal was struck Wednesday he thought both major sports would benefit from the move.
"It's a great basketball conference," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
"You have San Diego State, Vegas, Fresno State and TCU and Colorado State all on the rise," he said. "We'd have better name recognition on the West Coast, and it would help us in recruiting as well."
Carter said the kicker is the rivalry with the Rebels.

"I think it's a long time coming," he said. "We already play them once in a season, but to be able to play them home-and-home every year will be great."