Conference USA-Mountain West Conference Merger Reportedly in Danger of Collapse

A possible merger between Conference USA and the Mountain West for the 2013-14 season "probably won't happen," sources told CBS Sports.

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The leagues had hoped to dissolve and form a new league or merge into one league for the 2013-14 season, but that is now “unlikely” at least for the immediate future, sources said. Even though the leagues would remain separate, they are still working together to figure out a way to share television, marketing and scheduling resources.

“There is not much talk about a formal merger of the conferences into one conference entity in the near term, but that is still a future consideration,” a source said.

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With this merger looking like it won't happen, there are immediate consequences for the Mountain West, which needs to add schools with the impending departure of TCU, Boise State and San Diego State in 2013.

Each FBS conference has to have at least eight women's sports and six men's sports, with at least six schools competing in every sport the conferences offers.

The Mountain West should immediately look into teams interested in joining the FBS, Appalachian State being a prime example. 

With no automatic BCS bowl qualification spot to play for, it's unlikely that the Mountain West will be able to attract a top-tier program or even one on the rise. However, there probably will be a number of FCS schools that would love to join the FBS and build their programs up as much as possible to generate even more revenue.

With the SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten all adding or losing teams in the last few seasons, we could see more conference realignment occur as a result of this failed merger.

Since there is so much money and shares of television markets at stake, any decisions regarding mergers or schools changing conferences will have to be well thought-out.

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