The decision in 2021 to significantly increase exit penalties to $17 million (or more) has helped keep the Mountain West together as other conferences add and subtract
The big news out of the Mountain West Board of Directors meeting in San Diego in 2011 was unveiling a new logo andafter departures of Utah and BYU. What didn’t get attention was a quiet proposal by longtime commissioner Craig Thompson.
Of the 10 conferences that play football at the FBS level, only one has not added or subtracted a member since 2014: the Mountain West. And for what? To join a new league with less stability that may fall apart in five years, with less linear television exposure, with a projected bump in media rights that might not cover the exit fees?
Then COVID-19 hit, and the Mountain West spent two-thirds of its $6 million reserves to test football players just so it could have an abbreviated season that didn’t completely wipe out its TV revenues that year. The other option is having members sign a Grant of Rights like the Pac-12 and other power conferences, binding them for the duration of the media rights contract. But that allows schools to leave for free when it expires and could bring legal challenges along the way. Thompson reasoned that steep exit fees, particularly in a conference with modest revenues, would serve as a more effective stabilizer.
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