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Cedar City • Christmas arrived early this year at Southern Utah University, which realized a decades-old dream Monday by accepting an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference.

The Thunderbirds will start play in the Big Sky in 2012, when they become members of a league that in recent months has evolved into one of the most high-powered in the Football Championship Subdivision.

"There are tectonic forces going on all over the United States as far as intercollegiate athletics are concerned," Southern Utah president Michael Benson said. "... This just happened to be the right moment for us and we couldn't be more pleased."

Through 2011, SUU will remain a member of the five-team Great West Conference in football and the far-flung Summit League in most other sports.

The Thunderbirds' move to the Big Sky will improve regional rivalries, cut travel costs and limit their athletes' time on the road and away from the classroom.

It will also make scheduling, especially in football, more manageable.

"... This makes my life much easier," athletic director Ken Beazer said.

Rivalries?

Southern Utah's move to the Big Sky means Weber State, Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Montana and Montana State become regulars on the schedule.

"These are names that resonate with our fans and our recruiting base," Beazer said.

Travel?

"Geographically, it's a good fit," Benson said. "... Our kids will no longer bus to Las Vegas, fly to Chicago and bus to Western Illinois for a basketball game. There will still be travel issues. But at least we'll be on this side of the Mississippi [River]."

Said Beazer: "Over one-third of my budget right now goes to travel costs, [and] being in the Big Sky minimizes travel. So, obviously, it helps me financially."

For the same reasons SUU wanted to join the Big Sky, Weber State athletic director Jerry Bovee is glad to have the Thunderbirds as a new member.

"I'm excited for Southern Utah and I'm excited for the conference because our recent expansion positions the Big Sky to be a powerful player at the FCS level," he said.

"I'm also excited for Weber State because it gives us a good rivalry with an in-state opponent. ... If Weber State is going to grow, we need rivalries like the one with Southern Utah can become."

Since September, a conference that Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton described as "stable and conservative" in recent years has added Cal Poly and UC Davis as football-only affiliates.

Along with Southern Utah, North Dakota also accepted conference membership Monday.

Meanwhile, South Dakota is considering an invitation and could become the Big Sky's 14th in football and 12th in all other sports.

Fullerton credits "a new vision" among the Big Sky school presidents for the expansion, which he says allows the league to become a "major player" in college football.

"This is an effort to be something different than we've been in the past," Fullerton said. "To be bigger."

If South Dakota ends up joining the Big Sky, the league will likely be split into seven-team divisions for football.

One model would put North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Colorado, Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Portland State in the north and Idaho State, Weber State, South Utah, Northern Arizona, Sacramento State, Cal Poly and Cal Davis in the south.

Fullerton doesn't see the Big Sky playing a championship game because of existing time constraints on FCS schedules.

But he envisions one team receiving the conference's automatic playoff berth — perhaps based on head-to-head play or results against common opponents — and two or three others in line for at-large bids. —

The Bigger Sky

The Big Sky Conference in football in 2012, including school locations and nicknames:

School Location Nickname

x-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Calif. Mustangs

Eastern Washington Cheney, Wash. Eagles

Idaho State Pocatello, Idaho Bengals

Montana Missoula, Mont. Grizzlies

Montana State Bozeman, Mont. Bobcats

North Dakota Grand Forks, N.D. Fighting Sioux

Northern Arizona Flagstaff, Ariz. Lumberjacks

Northern Colorado Greeley, Colo. Bears

Portland State Portland, Ore. Vikings

Sacramento State Sacramento, Calif. Hornets

Southern Utah Cedar City, Utah Thunderbirds

Weber State Ogden, Utah Wildcats

x-UC Davis Davis, Calif. Aggies

x - denotes football-only affiliates