The Mountain West Conference and Conference USA have officially announced that the two leagues will dissolve in 2013 and create a new league starting in the 2013-2014 academic year. It will indeed be a 15-team sports league with the exception of a 16-team football conference (Hawaii is football-only in Hawaii).
This new football setup will include a semifinals round that leads up to a conference title game. The Mountain West did not have a conference title game while Conference USA did. The addition of a semifinals round will make this an interesting model for conferences to study in the years ahead.
Also, the new conference could potentially move to anywhere between 18 and 24 teams in the future. This could eventually mean raiding the WAC for more football schools.
Head to SB Nation College Football for more in-depth coverage of the 2012 NCAA college football season.