The Front Row with MARK NELKE Feb. 13, 2011

On the one hand, the University of Idaho is looking forward to being part of the rebuilt Western Athletic Conference.

On the other hand, if a better offer comes along ...

"That's the way the landscape is right now," Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said the other day, prior to a booster function in Coeur d'Alene. "You want to be very supportive and loyal to the conference you're in, but in all reality, you need to watch out for yourself too."

That's why, even as the WAC loses four of its top programs over the next two years, Idaho is involved in talks to expand the new WAC to as many as 14 teams - but the Vandals have also been mentioned, along with Utah State and San Jose State, as WAC teams interested in joining the Mountain West Conference.

Boise State joins the Mountain West this fall, and Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii (in football only) will join the Mountain West in 2012.

"We were doing what's in the best interest of the University of Idaho, so we're exploring all options, and those options did include the Mountain West," Spear said.

But the Mountain West recently said it was not planning to expand again - at least for now - leaving Idaho and the others to figure out how to make a better WAC.

Texas State and Texas San Antonio are scheduled to join the WAC in 2012, as is the University of Denver, though in football only.

That would give the WAC eight football-playing members in 2012. The WAC has already discussed the possibility of an eight-team league, 10-team league, 12-team league, even a 14-team league. A 12- or 14-team league in football would open up the possibility of a conference championship game, as well as North and South or East and West divisions which could help teams stay relatively close to home and save on travel costs.

TWO RECENT pieces of NCAA legislation have helped the WAC, Spear said.

One pertains to what constitutes a Division I conference. The legislation was changed to say as long as you have seven Division I members, you are a Division I conference. The old legislation said you had to have six teams together for five years, which would make things dicey for the new WAC because in 2012 they will only have five teams — Idaho, Utah State, San Jose State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech — that will have been together that long.

The other legislation says a school must be invited by an existing Football Bowl Subdivision conference if it wishes to move up. And Spear says the WAC is the only conference in the West in position to do that. Some Football Championship Subdivision schools under consideration by the WAC, Spear said, include Montana, Montana State, Portland State, Cal Davis, Cal Poly ... even North Dakota and North Dakota State. Earlier this year, Montana turned down an offer to leave the Big Sky Conference in favor of the WAC.

Spear said the WAC can survive all this conference roulette, but “we need to balance it out with enough of a western flavor to make it interesting for Idaho and Utah State and San Jose State,” he said.

Spear said a merger between the WAC and Mountain West “makes a lot of sense” but “I don’t ever see the two conferences partnering to make that happen. It would have to happen among the presidents of the schools.”

The WAC’s TV deal will likely take a hit in the next couple of years because with the teams leaving, ESPN has the right to renegotiate its contract with the league.

This year, the nine WAC teams would split $3.5 million — minus an “inconvenience fee” the WAC pays each team for moving a football game from a Saturday. Last fall, Idaho got a $75,000 check from the WAC for moving its football game with Boise State to Friday night.

Next year, the ESPN deal was scheduled to increase to $4 million, and move up to $5.5 million in four years. Especially with Boise State no longer in the conference, ESPN’s payout will likely go down now. The WAC’s options to recover some of that revenue are to add enough teams to create a conference championship game in football, and/or look elsewhere for a TV deal.

BY THE time the Vandals open their football season at home Sept. 1 vs. Bowling Green, the Kibbie Dome will look much different from this past season.

The Vandals are in the process of demolishing the east end wall, where translucent panels will go up on the wall — just like last fall on the west end wall — allowing natural light through.

A new press box will be built across the field from the old one, on the north side. On the south side, eight mini-suites which will seat 8-12 people will be built, 232 club seats will go in, and the current press box will be remodeled into a club room for those who have club seats.

After that, the Vandals have the option of lowering the field some 14 feet if they wish to increase seating. The combination of that, as well as the possibility of putting in seating on the East and West ends of the field, could increase the capacity from 16,000 to more than 22,000.

“But I have to have help from our fans,” Spear said. “We need to sell it out, and once we start selling it out then I can go to the president (Duane Nellis) and he’s going to be very supportive.”

That would be nice, but we’ll see. Idaho only sells out now when Boise State visits, and with the Broncos no longer in the WAC, who knows when or if they’ll ever return to Moscow.

If they did lower the field, which would eliminate the current track in the dome, Spear said Idaho would purchase a portable 200-meter indoor track — the same kind the Vandals compete on at the NCAAs.

“But before that, I think our No. 1 goal is, we need to get basketball out of the Dome,” Spear said.

Among the ideas the Vandals are kicking around are building an events center on the north side of the Dome, or renovating an existing building, such as Memorial Gym, where the volleyball team plays and the men’s basketball team sometimes plays.

“Ideally, we would love to build a new facility for basketball,” Spear said. “I think an event center on campus would be absolutely huge for our campus. I think we’re the only land-grand school that doesn’t have an event center or pavilion on campus. But as the president tells me, one step at a time.”

So whenever this conference roulette finishes ...

“At the end of the day I think the University of Idaho finds a great conference, and a great conference for us — and I think that conference can be the WAC, if we get some western influence,” Spear said.

And as for the notion that Idaho has to “keep up” with Boise State ...

“What we need to do is control what we can do,” Spear said. “I respect what they’ve been able to do down there, but our future doesn’t depend on them. Our future depends on us.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].