Boise State just wanted to be drama queens. With minutes to spare last night, the Broncos finally withdrew from the Mountain West Conference, confirming they will leave for the Big East in 2013. By granting a year’s notice, the penalty for leaving is next year’s share of conference revenue, about $2.5 million. Not meeting that deadline could have forced them to pay an additional $5 million penalty.

The Big East won’t be what Boise anticipated. The conference will not have AQ status. The conference may only command half to a third what the big conferences get in television revenue. Getting a third is better than getting a tenth in the Mountain West, however, and the dramatically increased revenue outweighed uncertainty about the Olympic sports.

This addition will be a coup for the Big East, unless Chris Petersen leaves next winter…

[Photo via Presswire]