Northridge Will Not Join Big Sky This Season : Expansion: Conference tables plan to add 2 schools; CSUN officials agree that link would not be ideal for Matador teams.

Cal State Northridge will not join an expanded Big Sky Conference, at least not in the near future.

Concerned about the financial state of California universities and their sports programs, the Big Sky on Thursday tabled plans to expand to 10 teams by offering invitations to two California schools to join for the 1992-93 season.

Big Sky Commissioner Ron Stephenson said Thursday the conference’s Presidents Council accepted a report from a five-member expansion committee, which explored the possibility of adding Northridge and Cal State Sacramento.

Stephenson said the council accepted the report from the expansion committee and decided not to make any changes.

“They want to wait and see what happens in California with regard to their budget,” Stephenson said. “There was also some concern expressed over the compatibility of their facilities with the rest of the Big Sky schools.”

Nevada officially left the Big Sky on Wednesday, joining the Big West Conference. The Big Sky hoped to add two schools to fill schedule byes created by Nevada’s departure and to give the conference an even number of schools. The remaining schools are Boise State, Idaho State, Idaho, Weber State, Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona.

Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert said he was not surprised by the decision after he and other school officials met with the expansion committee on campus in February.

Northridge was lukewarm about joining the Big Sky anyway.

“The Big Sky Conference served our desire to join a conference,” Hiegert said. “But to say the Big Sky Conference would fulfill our needs from a financial and competitive standpoint and help build rivalries would be stretching it.”

One of the major stumbling blocks was that the Big Sky Conference plays football at the Division I-AA level while Northridge competes as a Division II independent. The Matadors have already gained admittance to a newly formed cost-containment Division I-AA football conference beginning 1993. CSUN’s Division II football program currently offers 31 scholarships--20 from the athletic budget. The Division I-AA maximum is 65.

Northridge prefers to place its 18-sport athletic program under the jurisdiction of one conference. The Big Sky conference does not field men’s teams offered by Northridge in baseball, golf, soccer, swimming and volleyball. The conference also does not have softball and women’s swimming programs.

Hiegert envisioned the Big Sky becoming a 12- or 14-team alliance divided evenly into an East-West or North-South configuration. A geographical distribution of teams, Hiegert reasoned, would cut traveling costs and establish regional rivalries. “Unless the Big Sky truly expands and divides and becomes a mega-conference, we aren’t interested,” Hiegert said. “We don’t want to join a conference just to be a traveling partner (with Sacramento). It would be too cost prohibitive.”

Hiegert said the school will continue to explore opportunities to join the Western Athletic Conference, the Big West Conference or form a new conference.

“I think the current state budget deficit will put pressure on schools to run smaller, less expensive sports programs,” Hiegert said. “I don’t want to wish financial hardship on anyone, but I think you will see more schools wanting to reduce their traveling costs and look for more regionalized competition.”