If saving $$$ on travel is a priority, just eliminate the cross-divisional games. They're not required by the NCAA.

(04-21-2017 07:57 AM)Cardiff Wrote:  If saving $$$ on travel is a priority, just eliminate the cross-divisional games. They're not required by the NCAA.

Exactly right. Especially as it relates to minor sports. No traveling form El Paso to Florida or from WV to Texas is necessary in minor sports.

(04-21-2017 07:57 AM)Cardiff Wrote:  If saving $$$ on travel is a priority, just eliminate the cross-divisional games. They're not required by the NCAA.

I believe this is what President Broderick of ODU was alluding to in the article. Sounds like a pretty simple and easy choice that should satiate all in the league.

(04-21-2017 07:57 AM)Cardiff Wrote:  If saving $$$ on travel is a priority, just eliminate the cross-divisional games. They're not required by the NCAA.

Which is basically what I suggested earlier.
If the AD's so inclined like the results, then they can address realignment or just call it a day.

Exactly, if travel costs are this big of an issue there are ways to address it internally without going to the nuclear option.

That's why I suggested going to 16 teams with 4 four team pods. Do NFL type scheduling and what little cost you lose it splitting it two more ways you save in greatly reduced travel. That's where all the leagues are headed any way in the future. No sense in a nuclear option.

Your east teams rarely go to the west and vice versa.

And why not have the men and women play the same schedule on the same days so they can all pile into one plane? Seems that would save almost half the flight costs.

(04-21-2017 09:43 AM)monarx Wrote:  And why not have the men and women play the same schedule on the same days so they can all pile into one plane? Seems that would save almost half the flight costs.

That's a big beef with me. I cant watch the Women because I'm at the men's game. If they were same day same location I'd do both. We are stupid for not doing this. Should be double headers every night.

(04-21-2017 09:45 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 09:43 AM)monarx Wrote:  And why not have the men and women play the same schedule on the same days so they can all pile into one plane? Seems that would save almost half the flight costs.

That's a big beef with me. I cant watch the Women because I'm at the men's game. If they were same day same location I'd do both. We are stupid for not doing this. Should be double headers every night.

Yes, right now the men play on the road and the women play the same schools but at home. The league does so many stupid things scheduling wise that it's no wonder some are griping. But the people that are griping are the ones making decisions on scheduling. What?

(04-21-2017 03:04 AM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 12:13 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:05 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 01:36 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 01:05 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  So you are a rice fan? If so do you really think it matters east or west? I can show you pictures of Rice playing Tech and Rice playing Western. Wont see much difference. Both will be awful. Hell I can show you picture of Rice hosting Baylor and there will not be over 1500 more Rice fans at that game than vs Western.

Western's attendance is not good. Especially for a back to back CUSA championships and a top 5 offensive team. But Rices actual attendance is flat out awful. We are talking FIU awful no matter what the numbers say.

For Western I don't think playing a west vs east team is that much of a difference as far as attendance goes. And to be honest I don't think there would be over 1,000 difference for any of our schools...

playing west or east team.

With one exception and that would be a rival. But in the overall pictures we all kind of suck as far as attendance goes. In the larger picture....

a extra 5k is not making that big of a difference. The most important part of attendance is paid. Then that's not as important as total dollars from those paid attendance. Some schools will discount a ticket to almost nothing.

In the SBC Ark St use to do this...

they averaged 26k (honestly I forgot the real number but it was close to that) and Western 18k. Yet Western took in $2,098,880 on tickets sold and $3,379,547 in donations to Ark st $1,398,414 on tickets sold and $403,388 in donations

If you are giving tickets away just to get butts in the seats. It will devalue your season tickets and the donation that goes with those tickets. We all can live with low butts in the seats. We can't if the dollars match those low butts. Any AD would choose the dollars over butts. Both would be better but if you had to choose....

Dollars will win out

Rice knows that it's attendance is awful. There are a lot of reasons why that is that are largely out of Rice's control, no matter how good or bad the product on the field.. The point I'm making is that playing schools within your region can only help attendance, not hurt it, even if those games are against Sun Belt schools. A home game against Texas State is going to reasonate with Houston sports fans much more so than a home game against Western Kentucky, even if y'all are undefeated. That will be the case any day of the week, time and time again. I have two Texas State alums in my family, and I see Texas State bumper stickers all over the bay area.They have a very large alumni base here, as does ULL. Someone please tell me a good reason why we are still playing WKU or FAU, when we could play the other two and attract 5,000 more fans to each game.

Because it's about more than just attendance. It's about playing better opponents in a better conference so that you can recruit better and if you can do well in said conference, you might be able to eventually move to an even better one.

If Rice wants to even dream of someday rejoining it's former SWC foes, playing TxSt and ULM isn't how you do it.

But playing Charlotte and Western Kentucky is?

Yes, actually. WKU more so than Charlotte, but the way you get there is by winning consistently in your current league to make yourself as attractive as possible for a better one so that if they come looking for new members you can move up. Then rinse and repeat. So for Rice, the path would be to win here and find a way into the AAC, then win there and find your way into the Big XII. Realigning with Sun Belt teams is taking a step backwards and is not what you should be interested in doing. You should only want to change who you're associated with if you're joining better programs than the ones you left.

The point I'm trying to make is that there's no competitive difference between schools like ULL and Texas State, and Charlotte and FIU right now. They're equals. I could even reasonably argue that ULL and Arkansas State are better than 2 or 3 CUSA East programs right now, at least in football. And the big boy's train left town a long time ago and isn't coming back. We're all in this g5 mess together and we need to make the best of it IMO.

Travel is a must. It gives the team exposure & it's a marketing tool. It's a big part of college athletics, plus they only travel 6 or 7 times a year.

Nothing against CUSA but at this point, I would rather just merge with the Sunbelt and make a division with the teams closest to UTEP.

(04-21-2017 09:45 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 09:43 AM)monarx Wrote:  And why not have the men and women play the same schedule on the same days so they can all pile into one plane? Seems that would save almost half the flight costs.

That's a big beef with me. I cant watch the Women because I'm at the men's game. If they were same day same location I'd do both. We are stupid for not doing this. Should be double headers every night.

Im the exact same way. Your forced to pick one to support and ignore the other. Doubleheaders would save travel money, especially on close games such as uab-southern miss, la tech-north texas etc. larger blocks of rooms can be gotten cheaper. Less support staff needed on a trip like this.

(04-21-2017 10:50 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 03:04 AM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 12:13 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:05 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 01:36 AM)Ourland Wrote:  Rice knows that it's attendance is awful. There are a lot of reasons why that is that are largely out of Rice's control, no matter how good or bad the product on the field.. The point I'm making is that playing schools within your region can only help attendance, not hurt it, even if those games are against Sun Belt schools. A home game against Texas State is going to reasonate with Houston sports fans much more so than a home game against Western Kentucky, even if y'all are undefeated. That will be the case any day of the week, time and time again. I have two Texas State alums in my family, and I see Texas State bumper stickers all over the bay area.They have a very large alumni base here, as does ULL. Someone please tell me a good reason why we are still playing WKU or FAU, when we could play the other two and attract 5,000 more fans to each game.

Because it's about more than just attendance. It's about playing better opponents in a better conference so that you can recruit better and if you can do well in said conference, you might be able to eventually move to an even better one.

If Rice wants to even dream of someday rejoining it's former SWC foes, playing TxSt and ULM isn't how you do it.

But playing Charlotte and Western Kentucky is?

Yes, actually. WKU more so than Charlotte, but the way you get there is by winning consistently in your current league to make yourself as attractive as possible for a better one so that if they come looking for new members you can move up. Then rinse and repeat. So for Rice, the path would be to win here and find a way into the AAC, then win there and find your way into the Big XII. Realigning with Sun Belt teams is taking a step backwards and is not what you should be interested in doing. You should only want to change who you're associated with if you're joining better programs than the ones you left.

The point I'm trying to make is that there's no competitive difference between schools like ULL and Texas State, and Charlotte and FIU right now. They're equals. I could even reasonably argue that ULL and Arkansas State are better than 2 or 3 CUSA East programs right now, at least in football. And the big boy's train left town a long time ago and isn't coming back. We're all in this g5 mess together and we need to make the best of it IMO.

Sure you could find a few SBC teams that are better than the bottom of C-USA, but I can just as easily point to SBC teams even worse than that. I don't have a problem being associated with A-State, App State, or Georgia Southern. It's Texas State, ULM, ULL, GSU, and USA I have a problem with.

And although making it to a P5 level some day is sort of a long shot, it's still possible. TCU did it. Utah did it. So could one of us.

(04-21-2017 02:30 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 10:50 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 03:04 AM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 12:13 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-20-2017 04:05 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  [/b]

Because it's about more than just attendance. It's about playing better opponents in a better conference so that you can recruit better and if you can do well in said conference, you might be able to eventually move to an even better one.

If Rice wants to even dream of someday rejoining it's former SWC foes, playing TxSt and ULM isn't how you do it.

But playing Charlotte and Western Kentucky is?

Yes, actually. WKU more so than Charlotte, but the way you get there is by winning consistently in your current league to make yourself as attractive as possible for a better one so that if they come looking for new members you can move up. Then rinse and repeat. So for Rice, the path would be to win here and find a way into the AAC, then win there and find your way into the Big XII. Realigning with Sun Belt teams is taking a step backwards and is not what you should be interested in doing. You should only want to change who you're associated with if you're joining better programs than the ones you left.

The point I'm trying to make is that there's no competitive difference between schools like ULL and Texas State, and Charlotte and FIU right now. They're equals. I could even reasonably argue that ULL and Arkansas State are better than 2 or 3 CUSA East programs right now, at least in football. And the big boy's train left town a long time ago and isn't coming back. We're all in this g5 mess together and we need to make the best of it IMO.

Sure you could find a few SBC teams that are better than the bottom of C-USA, but I can just as easily point to SBC teams even worse than that. I don't have a problem being associated with A-State, App State, or Georgia Southern. It's Texas State, ULM, ULL, GSU, and USA I have a problem with.

And although making it to a P5 level some day is sort of a long shot, it's still possible. TCU did it. Utah did it. So could one of us.

Honestly, i think La Tech probably has the best shot.

(04-21-2017 02:39 PM)Fitbud Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 02:30 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 10:50 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 03:04 AM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 12:13 AM)Ourland Wrote:  But playing Charlotte and Western Kentucky is?

Yes, actually. WKU more so than Charlotte, but the way you get there is by winning consistently in your current league to make yourself as attractive as possible for a better one so that if they come looking for new members you can move up. Then rinse and repeat. So for Rice, the path would be to win here and find a way into the AAC, then win there and find your way into the Big XII. Realigning with Sun Belt teams is taking a step backwards and is not what you should be interested in doing. You should only want to change who you're associated with if you're joining better programs than the ones you left.

The point I'm trying to make is that there's no competitive difference between schools like ULL and Texas State, and Charlotte and FIU right now. They're equals. I could even reasonably argue that ULL and Arkansas State are better than 2 or 3 CUSA East programs right now, at least in football. And the big boy's train left town a long time ago and isn't coming back. We're all in this g5 mess together and we need to make the best of it IMO.

Sure you could find a few SBC teams that are better than the bottom of C-USA, but I can just as easily point to SBC teams even worse than that. I don't have a problem being associated with A-State, App State, or Georgia Southern. It's Texas State, ULM, ULL, GSU, and USA I have a problem with.

And although making it to a P5 level some day is sort of a long shot, it's still possible. TCU did it. Utah did it. So could one of us.

Honestly, i think La Tech probably has the best shot.

I hope you're right lol

I agree with everyone in thinking the men and women's basketball teams should be double headers in same city instead of having opposite schedules and forcing fans to pick one or the other. And while chartering planes or booking larger blocks of hotel rooms would decrease costs. It would create a few potential problems.

Take Bowling Green for example. At the BG Convention Center which is also attached to the Holiday Inn University Plaza. Visiting teams always stay here. What I am getting at is problems may arise by having to have multiple separate team meals, meeting rooms, film sessions, practice times at arena's and convention centers. Especially if hotels have multiple events booked in the conference areas and such. Also having to give 4 teams (2 home teams, and 2 away teams) allocated practice time and shoot around time creates whole new headaches for administrators and coaches as well. Coaches would likely complain about the practice time slots they get and etc.

Not saying these issues could not be resolved. Just saying it isn't as easy as just saying let's do double headers all the time. There are logistics involved that would have to be worked out and agreed upon by both the men's and women's coaches.

(04-21-2017 10:50 AM)Ourland Wrote:  The point I'm trying to make is that there's no competitive difference between schools like ULL and Texas State, and Charlotte and FIU right now. They're equals. I could even reasonably argue that ULL and Arkansas State are better than 2 or 3 CUSA East programs right now, at least in football. And the big boy's train left town a long time ago and isn't coming back. We're all in this g5 mess together and we need to make the best of it IMO.

Not only has the big boy train left the station, another 5-8 years from now, they may unhook a few cars from the train. Quite plausible that folks like Iowa State may end up being G5.

(04-21-2017 03:00 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  I agree with everyone in thinking the men and women's basketball teams should be double headers in same city instead of having opposite schedules and forcing fans to pick one or the other. And while chartering planes or booking larger blocks of hotel rooms would decrease costs. It would create a few potential problems.

Take Bowling Green for example. At the BG Convention Center which is also attached to the Holiday Inn University Plaza. Visiting teams always stay here. What I am getting at is problems may arise by having to have multiple separate team meals, meeting rooms, film sessions, practice times at arena's and convention centers. Especially if hotels have multiple events booked in the conference areas and such. Also having to give 4 teams (2 home teams, and 2 away teams) allocated practice time and shoot around time creates whole new headaches for administrators and coaches as well. Coaches would likely complain about the practice time slots they get and etc.

Not saying these issues could not be resolved. Just saying it isn't as easy as just saying let's do double headers all the time. There are logistics involved that would have to be worked out and agreed upon by both the men's and women's coaches.

If you look at your early season schedule you may already do it. I know we do about 2 double headers a year. Heck after the tornado hit william carey we did a triple header. Your mens team was here that day.

(04-21-2017 05:03 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  

(04-21-2017 03:00 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  I agree with everyone in thinking the men and women's basketball teams should be double headers in same city instead of having opposite schedules and forcing fans to pick one or the other. And while chartering planes or booking larger blocks of hotel rooms would decrease costs. It would create a few potential problems.

Take Bowling Green for example. At the BG Convention Center which is also attached to the Holiday Inn University Plaza. Visiting teams always stay here. What I am getting at is problems may arise by having to have multiple separate team meals, meeting rooms, film sessions, practice times at arena's and convention centers. Especially if hotels have multiple events booked in the conference areas and such. Also having to give 4 teams (2 home teams, and 2 away teams) allocated practice time and shoot around time creates whole new headaches for administrators and coaches as well. Coaches would likely complain about the practice time slots they get and etc.

Not saying these issues could not be resolved. Just saying it isn't as easy as just saying let's do double headers all the time. There are logistics involved that would have to be worked out and agreed upon by both the men's and women's coaches.

If you look at your early season schedule you may already do it. I know we do about 2 double headers a year. Heck after the tornado hit william carey we did a triple header. Your mens team was here that day.

Oh I am aware we do it on occasion. We did in the Sun Belt as well. Just saying if that became the norm it would require more logistics to do it on a weekly basis.