Texas will have two Sun Belt Conference teams beginning in 2013
News comes down that UT Arlington will accept an invitation to
join the Sun Belt Conference as soon as this week, pending approval of the move
by the University of Texas Board of Regents, which will take up the motion in a
meeting Thursday in Austin.
The board is expected to grant university officials the
authorization to accept the agreement and finalize terms for membership,
according to a memorandum outlining the meeting. UTA would begin play in the
12-team Sun Belt in the fall of 2013.
The school will not be assessed an exit fee by the WAC. UTA will
be required to pay a $300,000 entry fee to the Sun Belt, according to the
memorandum, a fee that “will be covered through a combination of athletic
department funds and conference revenues payable to UT Arlington pursuant to
the New Member Agreement with the SBC.”
“The SBC represents a more stable, equally competitive
conference composed of similar institutions with comparable academic quality to
UT Arlington,” the memorandum stated.
Rumors have been circulating that UTA, too, would leave for the
Sun Belt, Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson was calling those reports
“premature.”
Sun Belt officials, according to the memo, initially contacted
UTA about membership in April. That contact initiated a number of discussions
between the Sun Belt and UTA President James Spaniolo and athletic director Jim
Baker, according to the document. UTA is located within the Dallas – Forth
Worth media market, which would be a huge benefit for the Sun Belt Conference.
UTA would become the second non-football member of the Sun Belt,
joining Arkansas-Little Rock, and the third new member since April. Georgia
State, which re instituted its football program in 2010, and Texas State have
already accepted invitations.
“Had the opportunity to join the SBC been available a year ago,
UT Arlington would have moved in that direction,” the memorandum said.
If UT-Arlington joins this Sun Belt Conference on this week, in
2013 they will not be alone in the Long Star state as conference members. They
will indeed have an in state rivalry in all others sports be football in Texas
State.
