Tech recommits to Conference USA

Louisiana Tech is sticking with Conference USA for the time being.

Amidst a rush of conference realignment and instability, every C-USA member school has pledged to remain intact after signing a new, five- year media rights deal, Tech Athletic Director Eric Wood confirmed to the Leader Wednesday.

The Athletic first reported the news Tuesday.

After being poached by the Sun Belt and the American Athletic Conference in recent years, C-USA has now locked in a sense of stability, something no other league at its level can say. In fact, C-USA is now the first Group of 5 conference to have a grant of rights.

Each C-USA school will now receive between $700,000 to 750,000 per institution, an increase from the previous arrangement.

“As I mentioned previously, the ‘S’ word is a dirty word these days and that’s stability,” Wood said Wednesday. “But amidst chaos that is all this realignment, it does feel good we got all 10 schools committed to staying together over the next five years. That does provide a little relief, but you’re stable until you’re not stable. We want to use this time to grow together and get stronger so we can position ourselves once all of this sorts out around us.”

The new grant of rights runs along the conference’s new TV deal with ESPN and CBS that became official in November of 2022, putting C- USA games across linear national broadcast platforms.

Tech football will have five games, including Saturday’s season opener against FIU, broadcast on CBS Sports Network – available in over 90 million households.

But for as much excitement as the new grant of rights brings to administrators, Wood addressed potential questions from fans about why the Bulldogs would lock themselves in to a conference that has been defined by uncertainty and purging for three years.

He knows that watching schools make moves and seemingly become better positioned may seem like Tech is falling behind, but Wood said the new grant of rights doesn’t keep the department from keeping its ears to the ground.

“I understand it seems like you’ve locked yourself in and kept yourself from other opportunities, but at the same time I think people forget that you’re not guaranteed that invitation,” Wood said. “ You don’t just apply to be a part of another conference and so it may appear we’ve locked ourselves away to other opportunities, but like I said, we want this to be a time where we stay together and get stronger and be able to add if necessary. Because it’s so uncertain you get an innovation, there is some sense of stability.”