The Mountain West put out a press release with media shares adding to 117 percent

There’s a lot of strangeness afoot in conference realignment these days. Sometimes, you can’t even trust official conference press releases. That was the case with what the Mountain West released on Thursday night on an agreement to keep their seven remaining members (including football-only member Hawaii) with a new grant of rights from 2026-2032. That included a percentage breakdown, with Air Force and UNLV (reported Pac-12 targets) getting the most and Hawaii getting the least:

Mountain West announces membership agreements from the seven schools and the distribution formula for signing bonuses (from P12 exit fees): Air Force/UNLV to get 24.5%; Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Wyoming 15.8% & Hawaii (partial member) 5%. pic.twitter.com/2COvFPOWMJ

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 26, 2024

But, as many including @RedditCFB quickly noted, that math doesn’t math:

Of some note, these percentages announced by the Mountain West add up to 117.32%. https://t.co/nIn1gP8Ou5

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 26, 2024

Yes, the conference later corrected this to 11.5 percent shares (rather than 15 percent) for middle schools Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, and Wyoming. And that change does get this down to a proper 100 percent.

Mountain West corrects the formula to 11.5% for Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Wyoming (basically half of what UNLV and Air Force receive).

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 26, 2024

But it remains rather amusing that the conference couldn’t get the most essential part of this press release right. Sure, they took the time to make sure there were proper and lengthy quotes from commissioner Gloria Nevarez and board chair Dr. Keith E. Whitfield, and there weren’t any errors in those. And mistakes do happen. But it’s remarkable that no one bothered to make sure that the percentages, the actually tangible part of this, not only were correct, but added to 100.

The realignment saga seems far from over. This Mountain West agreement is dependent on exit fees from the schools departing for the Pac-12 (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State), around $18 million each, and around $55 million in poaching fees under their scheduling agreement with the Pac-12, but the Pac-12 is suing to challenge the latter.

Both conferences also still need to find more members to get up to the FBS mandate of eight full members. The Mountain West is reportedly reaching out to Texas State (all sports) and Northern Illinois and Toledo (football only), and there may be other moves to come. But, if and when those moves do happen, perhaps someone can pull out a calculator to check the numbers before issuing the press release. “It goes to 11” is much cooler if you’re Spinal Tap than “It goes to 117.32 percent” is for a FBS conference.

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