Mountain West Conference secures extra guaranteed bowl berth in 2020

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HENDERSON, Nev. >> Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson acknowledged the difficulty in notifying Wyoming that it was the odd football team out last year.

The Cowboys were the league’s only bowl-eligible team not to receive a postseason berth. Six other members, including Hawaii, landed bowl spots. The league had been guaranteed only five spots in 2018 but managed to finagle a sixth berth.

But in an agreement beginning with the 2020 season, the 12-team Mountain West has secured guaranteed spots in six bowls with the potential for three more.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for our league, a new era for the Mountain West,” Thompson told reporters Wednesday at the league’s Media Days in the Green Valley Resort.

For the next six-year cycle, the Mountain West has secured berths in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl, Potato Bowl (Boise, Idaho), New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, N.M.), NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl (Tucson, Ariz.) and an ESPN Events-operated bowl that is expected to be held in Dallas. The Mountain West also has partnered with a new bowl to be played in the stadium being built for the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams. The league also has backup arrangements with the Cheeze-It Bowl (Phoenix) and a yet-to-be-announced bowl.

Thompson said the new Los Angeles bowl will have first choice of a Mountain West team, and is not required to pick the champion. A New Year’s Day bowl can supersede the Los Angeles bowl’s choice.

MWC deputy commissioner Bret Gilliland confirmed the new cycle will ensure that Hawaii will receive a berth in the Hawaii Bowl if it is .500 or better during the regular season. It had been widely assumed the Warriors had such a guarantee, but league officials said that provision was lifted a couple of years ago. Now the guarantee will be reinstated.

“That’s the way things are going to be set up,” Gilliland told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It makes sense for everybody. It makes sense for Hawaii. It makes sense for the Mountain West. It makes sense for ESPN (Events, the game’s owner) and the community.”

Thompson said a “pecking order” has not been decided after the Los Angeles bowl’s selection. He also said it has not been finalized which other league to be represented in the L.A. game. Thompson said he could not announce the payout for that bowl, but that it would be the most “lucrative bowl game other than a CFB or BCS game that we’ve played in.”