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Mountain West to host a football championship game in 2013

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports is reporting that the Mountain West will have a title game for the 2013 season.

Thearon W. Henderson

When it was announced that San Diego State was to remain in the Mountain West there was speculation that a title game would happen since there would be 12 teams. However, commissioner Craig Thompson said that a title game would need to be discussed among the school presidents.

Looks like the league made a quick move because a title game is going to happen, because Thompson spoke to Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com about a title game:

"Everybody has been talking about that," Thompson told CBSSports.com. "Boise State wants to do it. San Diego State wants to do it. We've got to cross our ‘Ts' and dot our ‘Is,' but it is our full intention to have a conference championship game the first week of December."

The title game is a no brainer as it will add a few million bucks to the league, and Thompson has the right idea with the championship game being played on-campus. He also added that the highest rated team in the BCS of the division winners will host the game, not sure about after the 2013 season for the criteria, probably just best conference record.

The title game will be played on the same weekend that the other championship games, and odds are that the game would be on Saturday. Friday night is already crowded with the Pac-12 and MAC title game, Saturday provides some more flexibility of when to host the game.

It also would make sense for CBS to retain the rights to this game and broadcast on their over-the-air channel in conjunction with the SEC title game. The Mountain West game could have a 4:30 p.m. ET kick off with the SEC game going to 8 p.m. ET in Atlanta. The Mountain West would miss the window of going up against the Big Ten and ACC title game for the entire game. Another option would be to have the Mountain West begin at 3 p.m. ET, unless it is in Hawai'i, because the game can not start much earlier than that to avoid a morning kick off.

Another tidbit from that Dodd article states that the Mountain West will not assist San Diego State in any exit fees that they must pay to the Big West or Big East.