Report: Texas State, UTA Headed to Sun Belt

It looks like the Sun Belt Conference will add another football member, and at the same time, add a school to balance non-football playing Arkansas-Little Rock.

CBSSports.com is reporting Texas State and Texas-Arlington will be the newest Sun Belt members, beginning in the fall of 2013.

Currently, the Sun Belt has ten football playing members and eleven overall.  The addition of Texas State, along with Georgia State, which has already accepted membership, would offset the anticipated losses of FIU and North Texas, who are expected to receive an invitation to Conference USA.

And, the addition of UTA would give the Sun Belt twelve members for men's and women's basketball, along with baseball and other olympic sports.

The Sun Belt currently does not use the "travel partner" concept for basketball, but could go to that format with the geographic partners (2 in Texas, 2 in Louisiana, 2 in Arkansas, 2 in Alabama, WKU/Middle Tennessee and Georgia State/Florida Atlantic.

Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson has said he would like to get to twelve football schools and have a championship game, but if Texas-San Antonio, FIU, North Texas and Louisiana Tech get invitations to CUSA as expected, the only current FBS programs that would be available would possibly be New Mexico State and Idaho, neither of which is in the Sun Belt geographic footprint.