If last month you sat down to think over WVU’s crusade to bid out its Tier 3 rights and you came up with the list of names you’d want to see involved on your school’s behalf, surely you would have penned IMG College and Learfield Sports, the Rolls Royce and Cadillac of the business.

With a little more thought and time given to not only the bidder’s side of the business, but also WVU’s, and you may have mentioned Nelligan Sports and CBS Collegiate Sports Properties and gotten a little ambitious and added the NBC/Comcast conglomerate.

Well, bully for you. Right now, they’re all on the line and, at the very least, interested in the process and considering whether they’ll make a bid.

The Charleston Daily Mail has learned IMG College, Learfield Sports, Comcast/NBC, Nelligan Sports Marketing, CBS Collegiate Sports Properties, Legend Sales & Marketing, The Hub Companies, XOS Digital, West Virginia Radio Corporation and West Virginia Media Holdings are involved early in the process.

It’s an important list with recognizable and successful names as WVU seeks to join virtually the rest of the world of intercollegiate athletics. WVU and Michigan State are the only major colleges that handle their own Tier 3 rights.

IMG and Learfield are industry leaders with the experience and the ability to handle WVU’s needs. IMG works with 80 colleges, including Big 12 schools Texas, Kansas, Baylor and TCU. Learfield works with 50 schools including Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Iowa State in the Big 12, plus the Big Ten, Western Athletic and Missouri Valley conferences.

Nelligan, CBS and the Comcast/NBC pairing are smaller, though knowledgeable, while Legends, The Hub and XOS are diverse and count a number of professional and collegiate clients.

The two state companies have experience working with WVU. West Virginia Radio has broadcast WVU games for decades. West Virginia Media televised the Gold-Blue Game in April and handles shows for football Coach Dana Holgorsen and men’s basketball Coach Bob Huggins.

It occurs to me the names I mentioned up in the introduction are the first ones that pop into the minds of many who actually have an interest in this — and sorry if this continues to be laborious to the other part of the audience that just doesn’t care, but this interests me very much. I think even the common and disconnected spectator would at least recognize most of those names and figure WVU might be so lucky as to get in with one.

Again and again, though, I hear from people that WVU’s RFP goes a little deeper and the elements that include advertising and sponsorship, event marketing, ticketing, hospitality and print rights stand out. They’re not necessarily as big or as significant as the audio and video content. Surely the radio rights and fringe television rights move the needle more. But they’re not alone in this and, truth be told, there’s a difference between making some money off of this and making some more money off of this.

At the very least, what WVU has done is sparked a curiosity within the industry and forced the potential bidders — who, in all fairness to them, and not to overplay WVU’s work thus far, are fairly used to this — to step back, look at the RFP and figure out the most creative and thus impressive ways to make their pitches.

I don’t know, but imagine WVU wants a party planned for July 1, when it enters the Big 12. IMG and Learfield may have the best chefs or caterers on speed dial. CBS and Nelligan may have worked with some nice restaurants in the past. NBC/Comcast may have ambition to spend some money and buy the best food for the recipes it has planned.

But maybe Legends and XOS and The Hub are looking and listening too because they have ideas. Legends has a sundae bar. XOS knows some sick ice sculpture people. The Hub can get a freaking bounce house. This one knows all the great bands. That one will offer massages. The other one will drive you to and from the party.

Oh, they know some ways to feed the people, too. What, you were hung up on that? It’s but a small part of the experience!

See where we’re going? WVU is inviting everyone to the party, but wants more than a meal.The food matters, but at the end of the day WVU has to feel like everyone had a great time.

Let’s put it this way: Take a peek at the websites for IMG College and for Learfield Sports. You can get a pretty good idea for who they are and what they do and why they have such a long and impressive list of clients. But give some time to XOS Digital (“…the leading provider of digital asset management solutions, facility design and integration services) and Legends Sports & Marketing (“…committed to creating and implementing innovative and effective solutions in the areas of venue hospitality and sales and marketing for team owners, stadium operators, athletic departments and municipalities.”)

There are a bunch of different ways to do this and easily as many people to use to do this. A company like Legends might not sound as prominent, but it does the work in the same arena.

For now, the companies — by the way, the 10 mentioned may still grow or shrink — will decide if they’re interested and/or able. Interested doesn’t mean able, though. Right now, they must submit their pre-qualification statements by next Monday. WVU will then have until July 17 to tell the applicants if they’re qualified to continue.