Fresno St., Nevada join MWC

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Fresno State and Nevada ended a day of fast-paced change by accepting invitations to join the Mountain West Conference, which has added three prominent members of the Western Athletic Conference in the last two months.

Boise State is already bound for the MWC next year and now the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack are following as well, leaving the WAC's future in question and the Mountain West preparing for life after Utah — and possibly without BYU, too.

Comcast and CBS officials, say they want the league and its television network — The Mtn. — to reach more markets. The league started the network a few years ago, giving up national exposure on ESPN for more scheduling freedom.

Fresno State president John D. Welty said the Bulldogs will join the MWC in 2011-12, although the Bulldogs later amended that to sometime in the next two years.

The Mountain West lured Boise State in early June, but learned less than a week later that Utah was leaping west to a higher-profile spot in the Pac-10 along with Colorado.

So the Pac-10 becomes 12 and the Big 12, which also lost Nebraska to the Big Ten, settled at 10 members when Texas agreed to stay and keep the remaining parts of the league intact.