This week is what I generally call the Spring Restart as it pertains to local sports. The winter season closed down followed immediately by jamming in two weekends of events before Spring Break and now the kids and coaches are back for the six week sprint to the end of the school year.

This week is a great opportunity to come out and watch some soccer on Thursday as Star Valley hosts Evanston. Both programs could really use a win, both boys and girls, so at least on paper, they represent what could be the best opportunity to grab a victory. As the home squads, one should always hope that your chances improve a bit in contests such as those. Springtime weather has been very kind so far to the area, the track kids even got an event done in March which I can never remember happening before. So break out your vuvuzelas (are those still a soccer thing?) And your cowbells and hopefully help the local players pick up a victory.  Matches are at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the high school.

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This week was another milestone for the University of Wyoming in terms of finding money to help the athletic programs in the age of Name, Image and Likeness or NIL for short. This week, the company Tallgrass, has agreed to spend $4.5 million to have a small rectangular patch on the UW jerseys for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. As an old-school type purist, I’ve never liked these kinds of things, but after seeing it and what little real-estate it takes up on the uniform, it’s kind of a no-brainer. And it’s needed.

RELATED: UW ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH TALLGRASS –

It’s probably fair to say that UW was a little slow to start moving the NIL needle and are now trying to fill those coffers to help them compete in a new era of paid college athletes. In my opinion, the next major thing will be finding (or finalizing) a naming partner for the Arena-Auditorium. Look, I’ve been toting the water for UW since I took the campus orientation tour in 1995 and the A-A was always a hard sell as a name. Mainly because it’s not a name. It sounds like a placeholder name that was never replaced. Considering New Mexico just signed a rights deal to earn nearly $18 million for their arena, it’s only natural that UW sell off the name to help as well. It’s not like you still can’t call it the Dome of Doom if you want. And let’s be honest, nobody will miss the Double-A name.

And if talking about selling naming rights for the A-A makes you angry, just wait until the real discussions about War Memorial Stadium get going. Not saying that will happen, but money talks. I do think “The War” is just about the last thing people will tolerate getting a name, but there are ways around it. Much like Jonah Field and the Cheyenne law firm that spent almost a million dollars last season to have their logo on the field for a single game.

Also coming up really soon? The new Mountain West and PAC-STATE split becomes official on July 1. The “states” of Oregon, Washington, Boise, Colorado, Fresno, San Diego, Utah and Texas will fill their football schedule starting in September.

The Mountain West will be comprised of Wyoming, Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and UNLV will be joined by newcomers in UTEP, Northern Illinois and North Dakota State on the football field. Wyoming and csu will open up their schedules against each other, but now in different conferences. Some rivalries like this one will survive. The one with UW and Utah State? Nothing on the schedule for the foreseeable future. Who knows how long Bridger’s Rifle will be sitting in Logan. The lawsuits are still going so the money that may be spent and/or collected is still very much being negotiated but it will definitely be a change when those conference games from the MWC stop being played this fall. And in six years? Who knows, they may do it all again.