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The Mountain West Conference (or '''MWC'''), the youngest of the College Athletic Conference s affiliated with the NCAA ’s Division I FBS (I-A), officially began operations in July 1999 . Geographically, the MWC covers a broad expanse of the western United States , with member institutions located in California , Colorado , Nevada , New Mexico , Texas , Utah , and Wyoming . Craig Thompson has served as Commissioner of the MWC since it was founded in 1999. Charter members included Air Force, Brigham Young University, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah, and Wyoming. Prior to banding together to form the Mountain West Conference, all of the charter members had been aligned with the Western Athletic Conference . Texas Christian University joined the Mountain West in 2005 from Conference USA . A former conference also known as the "Mountain West Conference" existed from 1982 - 88 , sponsoring championships for women’s sports at the same institutions with which Big Sky Conference had men’s programs. The Big Sky merged with the former Mountain West in 1988 , forming one league (the present Big Sky Conference) for both men and women. MEMBERS SPORTS The MWC sponsors championships in Baseball , men's and women's Basketball , men's and women's Golf , Skiing , women's Soccer , Swimming and Diving , men's and women's Tennis , women's Volleyball , Football , Softball , outdoor Track and Cross Country . Many of its member schools participate in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for sports not sponsored by the Mountain West Conference (interestingly, for men's soccer, BYU fields a Semi-professional team {see BYU Cougars Soccer }, and San Diego State competes as a member of the Pacific Ten Conference ). TELEVISION NETWORK :''See main article at MountainWest Sports Network History Launched on September 1, 2006 by the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and College Sports TV (CSTV), The Mtn. – the MountainWest Sports Network – (pronounced “The Mountain”) is the first network dedicated solely to a college athletic conference. In 2006, the MWC elected to discontinue affiliation with ESPN , due to a poor contract offer. ESPN wanted the MWC to play games on unfavorable nights/times (Tuesdays and Wednesdays), and with an offer for less money. Instead, most MWC athletics are televised on The Mtn., owned jointly by CSTV and Comcast, and operated by Comcast SportsNet. The Mtn. is the first network devoted to a specific college conference. The Mtn. has carriage agreements with numerous cable companies and is on its way to being thoroughly distributed. Many MWC games are also carried on nationally distributed sports networks CSTV , owned by CBS , and Versus, owned by Comcast. To date, satellite companies have opted not to carry The Mtn., leading to consumer frustration, but carriage negotiations between satellite companies and the Mtn. are ongoing. On June 1, BYU and the University of Utah Presidents issued a joint press release that they "retained a sports broadcasting attorney to explore all possible options in improving the distribution of athletic broadcasts to their fans". 1 On June 5, the MWC Board "reaffirmed its unanimous support of the league's television model and its commitment to working collectively as a unified group", and its Directors unanimously voted to join BYU and Utah to retain the attorney they had hired.2 In an interview with KUTV, President Michael K. Young of Utah stated that "Every member knows...President Samuelson and I have been clear about this for the last year and a half that it is absolutely essential that we get on satellite to make our games available to our fans. Anything short of that is unacceptable." He then added that "We are passionately committed to our having our football games being on TV this year."3 Programming The Mtn. provides coverage of MWC athletics across multiple sports including football, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's Olympic sports. In its first school year of coverage, The Mtn. broadcast 30 football games, 75 men’s basketball games, and 25 women’s basketball games. In addition to live game coverage, fans get an array of news, features, and analysis about their favorite MWC teams and players. The Mtn.'s anchors and reporters provide viewers with pre-game, halftime, and post-game coverage, and weekly and seasonal analysis and wrap-ups. The Mtn. also takes fans behind the scenes with coverage of the latest stats, press conferences, coaching developments and more. Distribution The Mtn. is currently available in eight of the nine MWC markets, and the following 17 providers offer The Mtn:
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS Men's Championship Winners Source: Mountain West Conference Championships Women's Championship Winners Source: FOOTBALL RIVALRIES Conference Non-Conference POSTSEASON RECORDS CONFERENCE FACILITIES REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINK
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