Cal Poly and UC Davis will join the Big Sky Conference today as football affiliates, two sources with knowledge of the situation said.
The Big Sky is expected to release a statement at 2 p.m. announcing the addition of the two California schools, which currently compete in the Great West Conference for football but will remain in the Big West Conference for all other sports.
Cal Poly has a live streaming press conference scheduled for 3 p.m. (MST) today. The Big Sky Conference will have a teleconference with commissioner Doug Fullerton at 5 p.m.
With the addition of the two schools, the Big Sky would have 11 teams in football. One source speculated that the conference is seeking to add another football affiliate to bring the conference to 12 teams, at which time it would be split up into two divisions.
The University of North Dakota, which also currently competes in the Great West Conference in football, expressed interest in joining the Big Sky this summer.
One source said that the addition of Cal Poly and UC Davis would not take place until 2012 at the earliest.
Both sources asked to remain anonymous, since the information has not yet been made public.
crlauer posted at 11:28 pm on Sat, Sep 11, 2010.
...and the University of Montana and Montana State University are going to join the Western Athletic Conference. Now Big Sky is back to 9.
goldstd posted at 6:59 pm on Tue, Sep 7, 2010.
this is a pure sham and travesty...come on people get real...NDSU and UND have tried for 30 years to enter the Big Sky...they are neighbors which would save on travel costs many thousands of dollars....but no its way down to California for football, basketball and all....so much for cost cutting...
we all know the real reason the cats and griz wont play in Fargo and Grand Forks...they would loose big time
what is just as sad ...the sports journalists refuse to address this obvious cowering...shame on the big sky...hypocrisy to the core