NOCO5 – News, Weather, and Sports for Northern ColoradoCSU to be a part of new conference for 2013-14 season

DALLAS (AP) — Members of Conference USA and the Mountain West have announced that the 16 schools are working to form a new conference that would begin competing in the 2013-14 season.

UNLV President Neal Smatresk and Tulane President Scott Cowen released a joint statement Monday.

The statement says the new conference will likely include 18-24 schools, be split into divisions and not only have a football championship game, but also semifinal games.

School leaders plan to have more meetings over the next six months to complete work on the new conference.

Statement from CSU's Athletic Director Jack Graham:

We are very excited about this new era for Colorado State athletics and the Mountain West. This merger creates a bigger, more competitive conference and will allow us increased exposure for all Ram athletic programs. The new conference preserves traditional rivalries that are important to CSU, such as those with Air Force and Wyoming. At the same time, it gives us the opportunity to create new rivalries with some tremendously competitive programs in different parts of the country. In the end, this is great news for Colorado State, and we look forward to seeing where this new partnership takes us.

Click here for the release from the Mountain West Conference.