May 1, 2004

UTEP joins Conference USA

For years Texas El-Paso has been the quintessetial WAC team. My how the times change. UTEP has accepted an invitation to join Conference USA. The Miners will officially begin their tour of C-USA on July 1, 2005, along with other (former WAC) new C-USA members Tulsa, Rice and SMU, so at least a portion of the UTEP schedules should remain familiar to fans. Central Florida and Marshall also join C-USA on July 1, 2005.

UTEP will pay $1 million into a C-USA reserve account and $200,000 per year for the next five years out of its conference revenues as an entry fee. UTEP also will forfeit about $600,000 in WAC revenues for next year.

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