The Mountain West Conference's TV contract for football "has failed miserably for many schools, particularly UNLV," according to Ed Graney of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. In the first two years of the league’s deal with CBS and ESPN, Boise State "will have made a conference-high" $3.7M from the Mountain West's bonus system, which "pays schools a specific amount for appearing on certain channels." Nine other schools "will have made anywhere from" $300,000 to $2.4M, while UNLV "will have made zero." Had the bonus money "been evenly distributed for two years," UNLV would have received $1.2M. UNLV AD Tina Kunzer-Murphy said, "It’s horrible. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. We’re no different. I’m concerned. Others are getting millions of dollars in this bonus system and we get nothing? It’s obviously a red flag." She added, "We have to get it changed, because it's not acceptable." But Graney wrote it "might be impossible for now." The Mountain West's TV contract runs through the '19-20 season, and the conference "pays its teams a bonus of $300,000 for appearing on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox as part of a Mountain West-controlled telecast on a weekday." Teams "receive $500,000 for such games on a Saturday." Boise State is "guaranteed a minimum of $900,000 in bonuses annually, a predetermined windfall each year no matter how good or bad Boise State proves in a previous season." Graney: "Don’t blame Boise State. It made a great deal for itself. Blame those Mountain West presidents and athletic directors who negotiated it." A good TV contract "should produce three factors -- significant revenue, exposure and control of programming." The Mountain West "falls short on all three, given its annual payout to teams is 17 times less" than that of the ACC (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/27).
