The University of North Texas' move to Conference USA appears to be all but official.
UNT has called a press conference Friday at Apogee Stadium. Multiple sources have told the Denton Record-Chronicle the school is accepting a bid to join C-USA in 2013.
UNT is currently a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which has no other schools in Texas. By joining C-USA, UNT would be competing with in-state rivals Rice and UT-El Paso, as well as a border rival in Tulsa.
UNT will likely gain another in-state rival as UT-San Antonio, which just completed its first season of football, is expected to join C-USA, along with Louisiana Tech, Charlotte and Florida International in a major expansion by the league.
C-USA will lose SMU, Houston, Memphis and Central Florida to the Big East Conference in 2013. C-USA, headquartered in Irving, Texas, has been in talks with the Mountain West Conference about a merger.
UNT has been in the Sun Belt since 2000. If the school notifies the Sun Belt of its intention to leave by June 30, UNT will forfeit one year of conference revenues.
However, the school will be moving into a league with higher national stature, even with the departures to the Big East, and one that should have greater television revenues and access to bowls.
Last season, Conference USA had bowl agreements with the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth), Ticket City Bowl (Dallas), BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.), Beef O'Brady's Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu).
Conference USA, in addition to being a springboard for SMU and Houston into the Big East, was a temporary home for TCU on its way to membership in the Mountain West and eventually the Big 12.
North Texas, no doubt, would like to follow a similar path with the opening of $78 million Apogee Stadium last fall. The Mean Green went 5-7 last season, its first under head coach Dan McCarney.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
