Big West Likely to Add Members

The Big West Conference board of directors is expected to vote Wednesday to add Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside, a conference source said.

The board, made up of the conference schools’ presidents and chancellors, will meet via a conference call to complete the long anticipated move to bolster its membership, which has been hit by defections in the last year.

Nevada moves to the Western Athletic Conference next fall. New Mexico State and North Texas jump to the Sun Belt Conference after the 2000 football season. Boise State joins the WAC in 2001-2002. Adding Northridge and Riverside will make the Big West a 10-team conference.

The expansion also moves the Big West closer to becoming an all-California conference, which its members hope will reduce travel and increase interest. Utah State and Idaho are the only remaining non-California schools. Both schools are seeking membership in other conferences.

Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Pacific are currently the conference’s California schools.

Northridge and Riverside will join the conference in 2001-2002. Conference bylaws require a three-fourths approval to add new schools, but the vote is expected to be unanimous.

By adding the two schools, conference officials feel travel costs will be cut drastically. It could also lead to a regional television contract for men’s basketball.

Northridge, which currently plays in the Big Sky Conference, now must decide what to do with its football program. The Big West will cease as a football conference after next fall. Northridge officials will either drop the program, play as an independent or join another conference as a football-only member.

Riverside is currently a Division II school, but a student referendum has been passed to fully fund its athletic programs when it jumps to Division I.

With the addition of Riverside and Northridge, the Big West will also form a men’s soccer conference. Its men’s teams, except for football and basketball, currently play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.