The proposed amalgamation of the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA remains "on course," the chairman of the MWC Board of Directors said today.

A CBS Sportsline report had earlier labeled the impending merger as "unlikely" and quoted an "industry source" as saying it "probably will not happen."

But Nevada-Las Vegas president Neal Smatresk, who heads the MWC board, told the Star-Advertiser in an email, "We are on course and proceeding as planned."

Last month officials of both leagues said they expected a resolution in early June.

The University of Hawaii will join the MWC as a football-only member July 1st after 33 years in the Western Athletic Conference.

In February, the two conferences had declared their intention of dissolving their leagues to form a new 16-to-24 member conference but acknowledged in March that obstacles made a merger more likely.