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Christmas Bowl meeting with Mountain West athletic directors, possible partnership announcement

The Christmas Bowl could be making an announcement which includes the Mountain West.

By Jeremy Mauss
Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

The Christmas Bowl has not been shy in wanting to get their bowl game off the ground, and one half of the bowl matchup is looking like it will include the Mountain West as its anchor conference.

According to our Boise State writer Hank Corless, he received word from the Christmas Bowl that Friday was to be a "Big day for X-Mas Bowl with MW AD's!"

As for what that information will entail is still up in the air, but it clearly points to the two sides getting close to an agreement to take up one half of the bowl game.

Plus, the Christmas Bowl sent out a tweet Thursday afternoon teasing some news:

The Los Angeles-based bowl game would like to rotate among the Pac-12, AAC, Conference USA and maybe even BYU, here is what their CEO Derek Dearwater said about future potential matchups:

As far as conference alignments go, The Christmas Bowl has plans to secure the Mountain West as it's ‘anchor' conference. Hopefully featuring the MWC's one, two, or three selection. The Christmas Bowl is now negotiating to secure the 2nd or 3rd selection from the American Athletic Conference and the 7th selection from the PAC 12 Conference, to play the Mountain West in an alternating schedule (3 years each conference) in the Christmas Bowl 2014-2019. The bowl is also working with CUSA to utilize its #1 selection, in a potential 3 year arrangement, to play the MWC representative, in the event the PAC 12 #7 is not available.

So where does BYU fit into all of this? The Christmas Bowl is currently seeking a one or two-year agreement between the Cougars and the bowl game.

Playing a possible rotation of leagues is a good idea to keep the bowl fresh, and help Mountain West fans keep coming to the game with so many different opponents. The idea of playing the second or third team from the American Athletic Conference, or the Conference USA champ is a great idea to get a solid opponent for the Mountain West. Plus, playing BYU is always a draw and the Cougars are typically going to be an above average team most years.

If the Christmas Bowl does partner up with the Mountain West it will give the league six bowl tie-ins.

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