The Big West Conference will be a little bigger and a little less western in 1993.
Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois and Southwestern Louisiana will compete with the conference's seven other schools in football in 1993.The league's council voted Thursday to extend football memberships to those universities and all four accepted, making the anticipated expansion official.
The expansion does not affect any other Big West sports.
"The addition of these four institutions, in combination with the new Las Vegas Bowl, has us very excited about our football future," Big West commissioner Jim Haney said.
The four new Big West football schools will join Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Nevada, UNLV, Pacific and Utah State in the conference.
The conference likely will split into two divisions, with a playoff game to determine the Big West champion. Last August, the league announced its intentions to expand to a minimum of 12 football teams.
"The addition of these four fine universities will bring added prestige to the Big West Conference, not to mention some badly needed exposure in different parts of the country," said Bill Shumard, Cal State Fullerton athletic director.
Northern Illinois athletic director Gerald O'Dell said: "This is a significant step not only for Northern Illinois University and our football program but also for all the participants of the Big West Football Conference. This is particularly positive since intercollegiate athletics now transcends traditional geographic boundaries."