If UNLV Defeats San Jose State Saturday To Host Mountain West Championship Game Dec. 2, Allegiant Stadium Will Host Pac-12, MWC Title Games In Less Than 24 Hours Dec 1 And Dec 2
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The Mountain West Conference basketball tourney is already in Las Vegas, so it seemed logical to ask why not stage a permanent Mountain West championship football game in Las Vegas every year, too, at Allegiant Stadium?
Well, the problem was a schedule conflict at the stadium. The Pac-12 championship game is typically on the first Friday after the regular season at Allegiant Stadium and the Mountain West title game is normally on the Saturday after the regular season.
But this college football season, the upstart UNLV Rebels might change all that.
If UNLV defeats San Jose State at Allegiant Stadium Saturday at 12 noon, the Rebels win the MWC regular season and will host the Mountain West championship game a week later on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 12 noon at Allegiant Stadium — a mere 19 hours after the start of the Pac-12 championship game on Friday, Dec. 1 at 5 PM. If UNLV defeats San Jose State, the Rebs will play the winner of Saturday’s Boise- State vs Air Force game. The Rebs just beat Air Force Saturday in a come-from-behind 31-27 win at the military academy’s stadium outside Colorado Springs.
If UNLV loses to San Jose State, there is still an outside slim chance that the Rebels could host the Mountain West championship game at Allegiant Stadium.
If UNLV does host the Mountain West title game Dec. 2, Allegiant Stadium would face a challenging, but doable, conversion from the Pac-12 championship game that could end around 9 PM the night before a UNLV-hosted conference championship game is played at noon the very next day.
“That could be a very busy day for Allegiant Stadium and all of us,” Mountain West Conference marketing chief Javan Hedlund told LVSportsBiz.com Monday. “As soon as the Pac-12 game is over from nine to eleven pm (Dec. 1), the Mountain West logos would have to be put on. (If UNLV is in the Mountain West title game in Las Vegas), it’s a great story and an exciting story for UNLV.”
Hedlund said the logistics of converting the stadium from a Pac-12 title game to a MWC title game literally overnight would require a lot of hustle to accomplish some major requirements. Here’s a list of things that must be done:
^ Change logos at the center of the football field and in the end zones.
^ Change signage, equipment and uniforms in the locker rooms.
^ Set up an area on the field for a live pregame show.
^ Make sure the LED ribbon signage ringing the stadium is changed to include different sponsors.
^ Flip the press box from Pac-12 to MWC media.
^ Know where to place the postgame championship stage on the field to present the trophy to the winning team.
Hedlund said, if UNLV hosts the Mountain West title game, the stadium would use the UNLV artificial playing surface for both back-to-back Pac-12 and MWC games.
If UNLV is conference title game host, it would serve as a “modified home game” for the Rebels, Hedlund said.
Mountain West Conference officials will work with Allegiant Stadium and UNLV staff to pull off any Rebels-hosted league championship game. The Mountain West team that wins the regular season hosts the championship football game.
The Mountain West championship winner will likely play in the LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk at SoFi Stadium Dec. 16.
But if UNLV wins out, defeating San Jose State Saturday and the Boise State-Air Force winner in a MWC championship game in Las Vegas Dec. 2, there’s an outside chance the Rebels could play in a big bowl game like the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona outside Phoenix, Hedlund said.
He explained other teams like Toledo, Liberty and Tulane would have to lose in their respective conference championship games and UNLV would need to be ranked above those teams for the Rebels to get a crack at playing in a Fiesta Bowl or Peach Bowl, Hedlund said.
Hey, anything is possible for UNLV’s football team this season. Who predicted the Rebels would have nine wins heading into their last regular season game?
And a win Saturday for UNLV, and the Las Vegas-based university will need to plan on hosting one final game at Allegiant Stadium for Dec. 2.
