Could an unbeaten Boise State or San Diego State gain entry into the College Football Playoff?

Absolutely, said Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson on Tuesday at the first day of the Mountain West Media Summit. He’s also happy with the conference’s access to a New Year’s Eve bowl game and proud not only of the conference’s three first-round NFL draft picks (four in the top 33), but that Josh Allen, Leighton Vander Esch and Rashaad Penny were overlooked recruits developed by conference programs.

At his annual media address in Las Vegas, Thompson also touched on topics like bowl affiliations — Albuquerque, Arizona, Boise and Honolulu are locked in, others, including the Holiday Bowl, are still to be determined — and the advantages of having a runaway football team as opposed to an exciting conference race.

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What is the update of the broadcast rights negotiation as the current contract expires in two years?

It’s so fluid. It’s not quite daily, but it’s close. We’re waiting to see how some of these things develop. We were the first conference to play on Facebook. The first conference to do some things on Twitter. We’ve been very aggressive. It still gets down to exposure and relevancy, to recruitment to revenue, and then the control of kick times. That’s probably what I hear more than anything, why are we playing at 8:15 p.m.? Why is a basketball game tipping after 9 o’clock? We’re not the only league that does that, everybody plays late. We have been told directly by our television partners, the later you play the more value you bring to us. We did a survey of our member institutions, and the No. 1 issue was revenue. Next important was the kick time. Least important was medium.

As conference alignment is concerned, where do things now stand with the Mountain West? How might the Mountain West look five to 10 years down the road?

The pursuit of Gonzaga probably got a little more public than I would have cared to have it, but you know me, we don’t do a lot of our business front and center. We have 11 basketball schools. There is an opening for basketball. We have 12 football-playing members. A 13th football-playing school, while workable, is probably not the most desirable. So we’re either going to 14, or you’re staying at 12. It’s something we talk about at all our gatherings. It hasn’t been as hot and heavy, with the exception of Gonzaga this winter. I liken where we are in 2018 to where we were in 2003 or 2004. When we started the league in 1999, we knew it would take four or five years to mature and get our programs — football particularly — where we could compete for a BCS berth. And we did that. Utah played Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl first. I liken that to where it is now. … We’re at the point now where we can probably pause and catch our breath, because we’re on a steady course of where we want to be. Football, now, win the Mountain West championship and you’ll be in heavy consideration for a New Year’s Eve berth. In basketball, Nevada had a tremendous run and expectations are through the roof this year. Basketball seems to be on an uptick. I think the league now, with its current membership, is in a solid position.

Do you feel Gonzaga’s interest in the joining the Mountain West was legitimate, or did it seem they were leveraging those negotiations to improve their situation in their conference?

I thought it was legitimate. … I thought they were generally concerned with some of the issues they were facing with their current league. I think that’s a question for them, did they use it to leverage or was there legitimate interest? I thought there was legitimate interest.

What ultimately kept them from joining the league?

I don’t know all the exact details. They seem to have gotten many of their concerns addressed with the West Coast Conference. … I hope to continue to play them in the regular season a few times. I don’t know that the door is totally closed. We’ll leave it there.

Is there still any dialogue with BYU? Where does that relationship stand?

There hasn’t been any direct dialogue. There is nothing active with BYU at this juncture.

Do you sense they feel they made the right move in going independent?

I don’t know. There seems to be some things trickling out. (Salt Lake Tribune sports columnist) Gordon Monson had a thing the other day saying, ‘Come on, this thing didn’t work as an independent.’ I don’t know if he spoke for BYU or the church or anybody else.

Do you anticipate changes after the Supreme Court’s decision involving the legalization of sports gambling?

It’s going to be interesting. I think one of the best things and most admirable things is that (NCAA president) Mark Emmert has reached out to both UNLV and Nevada administrators to say, ‘How have you handled this?’ It’s been here. In the early days I think in sports books you could not place a wager on a Mountain West event. Then it was lifted and we didn’t notice any difference. … It’s not going away. The Supreme Court has made its decision. I don’t think it’s affected the way we play or participate in the state of Nevada at all, and we’ve been here for football or basketball for 20 years.