BOISE - Boise State's highly successful football team is headed to the Big East, a conference that promises more money, a clearer path to Bowl Championship Series games and a platform perfect for promoting the Broncos brand to a much wider audience.

University President Bob Kustra announced the new league partnership Wednesday, calling the move an incredible opportunity for a football team and school committed to elevating its national profile. The Broncos are expected to join the Big East starting in July 2013 along with Houston, SMU, Central Florida and San Diego State.

"Today's announcement represents another significant step forward in the evolution of the Bronco football program and the incredible growth of Boise State University," Kustra said. "I look forward to bringing Boise State's brand of football to the other side of the Mississippi River."

Meanwhile, the rest of Broncos athletics programs, including men's and women's basketball, will be rejoining the Western Athletic Conference, the league that served as the home for all Boise State sports for a decade before this year's departure for the Mountain West Conference.

Kustra also applauded the move back to the WAC and praised league officials and presidents for agreeing to let Boise State rejoin its ranks. The WAC is also undergoing makeover in a bid to remain competitive in an ever-changing college sports landscape. Along with Boise State, the conference lineup starting in 2013 is expected to feature Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State, Denver, Seattle, Texas State, UT Arlington and UT San Antonio.

For fans, the return of at least of Boise State basketball to the WAC rejuvenates rivalries that developed over the last decade with schools like Idaho and Utah State, and paves the way for new ones to develop with regional schools like Seattle and Denver.

"I think the (WAC) presidents are excited to have us back," Kustra said. "It remains a quality conference with its share of new faces and destinations. So we look forward to resuming that alliance."

Still, Boise State remains a football school, a notion that was reinforced with the conference upgrade and the perks that will likely come with it.

Kustra said the decision to change leagues was simple considering the television revenue doled out annually to Big East members and its status as one of six conferences with a guaranteed spot in Bowl Championship Series games, something lacking in the WAC and MWC.

Despite their incredible success on the field, the Broncos, who have compiled a 72-6 record over the last five years, have often been snubbed by those big money games because some believed they played an inferior schedule compared to teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 or SEC.

"Growing our football program is something that we are always working on, and joining the Big East Conference will help us do just that," said Broncos coach Chris Petersen. "We'll be facing outstanding competition from around the country and it will expand our national brand into new regions."

Kustra said he expects a revamped Big East will be split into two divisions, with Boise State joining Louisville, Cincinnati, SMU, Houston and San Diego State aligned in the west.

Kustra said he also expects a new television contract the league will renegotiate in 2012 to generate an estimated $6 million per football team annually, four times the amount paid annually under the MWC television deal.

Even more critical, Kustra believes the reconstituted Big East - strengthened by the teams added Wednesday and others that may yet join - will retain its automatic qualifying status for BCS games when that deal is renegotiated with the other conferences.

"We certainly look forward to joining a conference with automatic qualifying status, that was one of the things that drove us," said Kustra. "There is no question we've been frustrated in recent years with how the BCS has handled those that aren't from conferences with automatic qualifiers."

The new Big East deal also contains no restrictions on Boise State's home uniform color combinations. Under the deal with the MWC, the Broncos were barred from wearing blue shirts and blue pants on the blue turf during conference games, a result of some coaches complaining about being able to see players clearly when watching game film.

Athletic officials also said membership to the Big East could bring some benefits to basketball teams. Although nothing has been finalized contractually, officials from the league's marquee basketball schools, such as Connecticut and Louisville, have agreed to negotiate in good faith to schedule home and away games with Boise State men's and women's teams.

Boise State could face an estimated $1.5 million penalty for leaving the MWC. The penalty essentially amounts to Boise State forfeiting conference revenues for the final year of membership.

For its non-football teams, Boise State officials said they considered other conferences, including the Big West. But those leagues didn't provide the benefits of returning to the WAC.