What commissioner Gloria Nevarez said at Mountain West football media days

Mountain West football media days are underway at Circa Las Vegas.

Commissioner Gloria Nevarez kicked off the two-day event with a Wednesday morning press conference.

Nevarez spoke about many topics, including the upcoming departures of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12. 

“One of the things I think about when preparing for this upcoming season, and one of the themes we’ve latched onto, has been staying in the moment,” Nevarez said. “There are 12 football-playing institutions competing under the Mountain West banner this year, and thousands of student-athletes — many of whom started their career with the Mountain West — will conclude their careers in the Mountain West. We are committed to celebrating them and honoring them excellently and equitably all year long.” 

Here are the highlights from Nevarez’s press conference in Las Vegas. 

On potential College Football Playoff format changes

“When these playoffs were first built, a couple of the pillars were honoring the conference champions and ensuring access for all teams. (This) year’s CFP will look a lot like last year’s. We did support the straight seeding in the bracket. We realize there are still a lot of conversations about format and what that would look like in the future.

“If there is expansion, or change to the format, the Mountain West is adamantly against multiple (automatic qualifiers). We believe all teams should have access. You should honor the conference champions — so we support the top five (champions receiving an automatic bid) — but allow for those teams catching lightning in a bottle to have a chance to compete in the national championship.”

On legal battle with Pac-12

“We are really confident in our legal position, and we are committed to resolving these things as quickly as possible because I think it’s best for everyone — student-athletes, schools, leagues — to move on.”

On Grand Canyon’s early admission to MWC

“We believe this really will increase the competitiveness across all of our sports, and this early entrance allows GCU to immediately compete for conference championships and NCAA postseason, and we’re thrilled about the impact they’re going to have on the Mountain West.

“The Mountain West is covering the cost of (conference) change expenses (for Grand Canyon).”

On potential MWC expansion

“We’re going to pause right now as far as additional membership. Never say never, but we really want to get through our media rights negotiation, take a deep breath, and then we’ll re-address the issue.”

On MWC’s media rights deal

“We have a lot of momentum around our media rights. We are still in active negotiations and hope to be announcing our media package soon. But we’re very optimistic we will be including current partners and adding new ones.”