The Mountain West and Conference USA should have their amalgamation plans announced in the next three months, although what form it takes remains to be seen.

"I think we’d like to see it by early June," C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said Monday.

Whether it will be a full-on merger or a form of association remains to be decided, but consideration of a start-from-scratch dissolution might be fading if NCAA men’s basketball tournament payouts come into the equation.

Last month the two conferences announced plans to join forces as one yet-to-be named 16- to 24-member conference, including Hawaii, for the 2013 football season.

"Obviously there are a lot of different structural options when you are talking about something of this size and score, (and) they are trying to figure out what the best structure is to maximize the potential," Banowsky said. "None of those decisions have been made yet."

There has been concern, as reported by the San Jose Mercury-News and CBSSports.com, that dissolving both conferences and beginning anew could put NCAA men’s basketball tournament payouts at risk. Conferences receive approximately $250,000 for each team that makes and advances in the NCAA Tournament, up to a maximum of five per year for each team. The "units" stay with the conference on a six-year rolling basis.

For the MWC and C-USA, that can amount to upwards of $1 million per year.

UH would not share in the new league’s NCAA Tournament revenues, since the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine basketball teams will compete in the Big West.

But Banowsky said no determination has been rendered by the NCAA.