Mountain West football championship remains unchanged

The Mountain West won't be changing the format of its football championship game.

Three after the idea was floated to match the conference's two best teams — no matter their division — in the title game to help improve chances of getting a Mountain West team into a New Year's Day bowl, league coaches and athletic directors were not in favor of the change Wednesday at the annual meetings in Phoenix.

The original format of the top teams from the Mountain and West divisions remains in tact, with the higher-ranked team in the College Football Playoff poll — or a composite of computer-generated rankings — hosting.

In addition, CBS declined its contract option and will not broadcast the 2015 Mountain West championship game like it has the previous two seasons, the conference confirmed. Last season, only 1.5 million people watched the game between Boise State and Fresno State, down 10 percent from 2013; it was the least-watched CBS college football telecast of the season, according to Sports Media Watch.

The Mountain West is in conversations with other networks regarding where the championship game will be aired. ESPN is the likely candidate as it's the conference's secondary TV partner.

CBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment to why it didn't pick up the contract option.

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.