New Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson announced a new football television deal for the league Saturday that will run into the next century.
The WAC has reached a multi-year deal with ESPN and ABC-TV that will begin in 1996 and run five years. The deal calls for a minimum of 11 regular-season games to be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN II and live telecasts of 11 games on ABC over the term of the contract. Also, if the league adopts a championship playoff game, it will be televised live by one of the networks."This will provide more national exposure than at any time in the history of the WAC," said Benson, who declined to disclose financial terms of the agreement.
Benson, who took over for retiring Joe Kearney on July 1, met with members of the media, who are attending the annual WAC football meetings with players and coaches.
Even though the TV deal sounds great, Benson acknowledged that it still isn't as good as the one the WAC enjoyed as a member of the College Football Association, which recently disbanded.
"The WAC will take a significant financial reduction because of the demise of the CFA," he said. "While the difference between the new deal and the CFA's is significant, we feel it is fair and more then we first anticipated."
In other news, Benson revealed how the WAC football schedule will be restructured when the league expands in 1996 with the addition of six new teams.
He said teams in quadrants I and III will play each other and teams in quadrants II and IV will be paired off for the 1996 and 1997 seasons.
That means that Utah and BYU, which are in quadrant III with New Mexico and UTEP, will play against four of the new schools - Rice, SMU, Texas Christian and Tulsa, which comprise quadrant I.
"The quad concept is going forward as an innovative way to make sure the two divisions won't become separate leagues," said Benson. "This will promote inter-play among the teams."
Benson was asked about the recent news that UNLV was balking on paying a $600,000 entry fee into the league. He said the original numbers have changed and he doesn't see any problem for the six new teams entering the WAC.
"We are anticipating that the six new schools will be joining and we are planning to be a 16-team league," he said. "There will be an entry fee and some form of revenue sharing and we are working to devise a financial plan that will be clear and simple and easy to manage."
WAC NOTES: The WAC basketball tournament will be in Albuquerque in 1995, but beyond that, the WAC doesn't have plans. Benson mentioned Las Vegas as a possibility for the future, either at the Thomas and Mack Center or the new MGM complex . . . As for basketball scheduling, the quads may rotate every year rather than every two years, because more games are played in basketball than football . . . Last week, the WAC announced an agreement for the WAC No. 2 team to play in the Freedom Bowl for the next three years. That doesn't necessarily mean second-place team. The Freedom Bowl can choose anyone it wants other than the champion, which goes to the Holiday Bowl . . . The Copper and Aloha Bowls, which were beaten out by the Freedom Bowl for the No. 2 WAC team, could still make a deal for the WAC No. 3 team, according to Benson.