New UNM conference territory stretches coast-to-coast

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - From the Atlantic coast to half way across the Pacific Ocean - that's the territory covered by the new conference the University of New Mexico Lobos are joining.

The conference will replace both The Mountain West and Conference-USA and could lead to some good rivalries for UNM.

The goal is to create stability for current members of both conferences and build on it.

The new conference will reunite the Lobos with former conference members UTEP, the University of Tulsa and Rice University. So far 16 members are on board, stretching through five different time zones.

The conference is looking to actually have 18 to 24 members. Some of the other plans are to have a championship football game format that includes a semi final game, a championship basketball tournament and regular season battles across divisions.

UNM President David Schmidly was apart of the meeting to make the new conference in Dallas, TX over the weekend and calls it a good fit for New Mexico.

Lobo coach Bob Davie is excited about the possibilities and basketball coach Steve Alford is taking a wait and see approach, “18 to 24 that’s a huge difference. A 24 team league is enormous to me,” said Alford “I got to wait and see what that looks like, if there’s cross-over games - if there’s not cross-over games.” Alfred went on to say that the whole thing is about, if the changes will help you from an NCAA standpoint.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, like what the league will be called and a television package still needs to be worked out. University presidents and chancellors will have follow up meetings over the next six months to tie up all of the loose ends.