Name for new conference being tested with public

The eight schools that are leaving the Western Athletic Conference to form their own league are going to have a name. You may or may not like it, but sometime soon, there's going to be an identity for the departing eight.

However, that name may be made public later than sooner.

Despite reports the new league would have a name to announce by the end of next week, it's more likely to occur in the middle of September, maybe even later.

R&R Advertising, the Las Vegas firm which is helping test market one of three possible names -- American West Conference, Great West Conference or Mountain West Conference -- began its market research Thursday. The process will likely take a couple of weeks.

Over 100 people with ties to the eight schools, including students, season ticket holders, administrators and the media, will be contacted by phone.

Once the analysis in the eight markets has been completed, the results will go to the transition committee, which will then forward its recommendation to the president's council consisting of Colorado State's Al Yates, UNLV's Carol Harter and Brigham Young's Merrill Bateman.

After consulting with their other presidential colleagues, the decision will be made and announced.

"There's no doubt the conference will make the final decision," Rob Dondero, who is heading up the project for R&R, said. "But we started with a list of 85 names and eventually got it down to those three.

"The reality is most of the conference names around the country have a tie-in to a geographic area and the size of the conference -- two of the criteria the league wants in its name."

Dondero said he and his staff have been working on a name for the new league for nearly a month. The logos for the three prototype names still are in development.

In addition to calling those who will take part in the focus group testing, R&R will monitor Saturday's telecast of the Colorado State-Michigan State football game to see what the announcers say about the new league.

"It'll be interesting to hear what their perspective is," Dondero said.

As for the proposed names, several of the athletic directors didn't have a preference.

"All three are interesting," Utah's Chris Hill said. "I think 'Great West' sounds the best but 'Mountain West' best reflects the location and time zone for the majority of the teams. 'American West' is interesting because it puts us at the top of the (wire service) standings.

"Personally, I didn't want something that's too commercial. I'd like to see something more traditional."

Colorado State's Tim Weiser said any of the three would be acceptable.

"I think they're all good choices," he said. "But if one came out of thin air that everyone seemed to like, that would be fine with me, too."

Meanwhile, progress is being made on other fronts. A meeting has been set up with the Holiday Bowl to discuss the possibility of the new league being the Pacific 10 Conference's permanent opponent in the San Diego-based game.

Holiday Bowl executive director John Reid has said strong consideration would be given to any league which has San Diego State as a member, which the new league does.

Also, there are plans to meet with the Las Vegas Bowl in the next couple of weeks, to secure a spot in the 1999 game and beyond. And the company which owns the now-defunct Freedom Bowl is having discussions with the NCAA about starting a bowl game in San Francisco in 1999. The company has had preliminary discussions with the new league.

The league has said it hopes to have a commissioner named by Oct. 1. Like the name for the conference, that too may be a bit ambitious. But Hill said the search shouldn't be too difficult.

"We know the kind of person we're looking for so it shouldn't take too long," Hill said.

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