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+------- Thread: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? (/thread-621831.html)
Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - WesternBlazer - 03-03-2013 07:40 PM
If WKU is added as the replacement for Tulsa there is a real possibility that UAB gets moved to the West with SMiss. That would make UAB an outlier and could significantly affect our travel budgets, particularly for olympic sports. We would be in the same division as USM, LaTech, UTSA, UNT, UTEP, and Rice. Aside from SMiss and LaTech trips to Texas could be expensive. We would also lose our hoped for divisional games against Charlotte and ODU.
If we were in the East we would have divisional games against Marshal, MTSU, ODU, Charlotte, FAU, and FIU (& WKU?). Given the F_U, ODU, & Charlotte trips are almost as distant but we would lose our divisional games against SMiss.
The only way I see to avoid it would be to add two new teams to the western division. But that might spread the conference too thin with 16 members and it wouldn't solve the SMiss problem. But w/o SMIss in the west LaTech could dominate, but would they(SMiss) be okay w/being in the west? Are SMiss and UAB, then, tied at the hip in this?
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - Memphis Blazer - 03-03-2013 07:50 PM
I would vote WKU in, no matter where we end up.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - GreenMississippi - 03-03-2013 08:16 PM
The 4 Texas schools are easy flights. La Tech and USM are still easy drives.
MTSU is an easy drive, so is Charlotte and WKU, but the rest we'd have to fly to anyways (Marshall not being an easy place to to get to).
Not a huge difference either way.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - WesternBlazer - 03-03-2013 08:40 PM
The problem is the olympic sports(VB,SB,Baseball, M&W golf,etc) which do not fly. The hope was a more regional conference where olympic sports and fans could more easily(less expensively) travel to. Mackin even mentioned a lesser travel budget as a strong positive when this all began. Well, things have changed and that is no longer the case.
BTW I am not advocating not inviting WKU(thread title could be better). I just thought it an interesting conversation. I don't know that teams in Texas will create any real sense of conference rivalry. We have had no real interest by the average UAB fan when it comes to other western conference teams - UH, SMU, UTEP, Rice - but we only played them occasionally.
I looked forward to playing Charlotte, ODU, and MTSU twice/year in basketball and yearly in football rather than once a year and once every 4(?) years, respectively. Hate losing the Memphis visitors,too. Having to create new rivalries is tough.
I'll adapt either way...
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 12:04 AM
Britton Banowsky said it would be like this.
Britton Banowsky may be the worst enemy this conference has.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 12:31 AM
Birmingham is an average of 603 miles from every other school in the West. With El Paso skewing the average by 107 miles. Without UTEP it is 495 miles per trip average. Birmingham is an average of 436 miles from the schools in the East.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - bladhmadh - 03-04-2013 08:50 AM
(03-04-2013 12:04 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote: Britton Banowsky said it would be like this.
Britton Banowsky may be the worst enemy this conference has.
And just what would you have done
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - the_blazerman - 03-04-2013 08:51 AM
We'll burn that bridge when we get there.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - ATTALLABLAZE - 03-04-2013 09:36 AM
Im with MB.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 09:55 AM
(03-04-2013 08:50 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:(03-04-2013 12:04 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote: Britton Banowsky said it would be like this.
Britton Banowsky may be the worst enemy this conference has.
And just what would you have done
#1. Do a a better job marketing C-USA.
#2. Find a way to keep Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis & SMU.
#3. Move the conference out of South Florida.
#4. I would have brokered a swap of ECU & UTEP for La.Tech and MTSU, 8 years ago.
#5. Assign travel partners in the scheduling for all sports.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - Smaug - 03-04-2013 10:08 AM
I don't want to be in a conference with Bobby Petrino, but given that I don't believe he'll be here long, I'm pretty sanguine about it.
What I do know is, I want somebody on this side of the Mississippi River.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - Memphis Blazer - 03-04-2013 10:13 AM
I don't associate WKU with Petrino. WKU has a great basketball tradition and cares about the sport. That's why I want them.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - blazers9911 - 03-04-2013 10:16 AM
1. How do you market C-USA? I understand that sounds like simple solution, but how do you do it, and who do you market? We are a conference full of 2nd/3rd tier programs, and we will always have issues.
2. Tulsa hasn't gone anywhere yet. Just because the Big East comes calling, doesn't mean any team is going to accept the invite, especially with current exit/entry fees. The Big East today isn't what it was 2 years ago. Screw Tulane. They don't offer a ton to begin with, and I don't care where they are. I'd love to keep Houston and Memphis, but what's done is done.
3. I agree. Those additions were rash(especially FAU, if we would have just taken WKU, I would be okay with only having FIU), and neither program really offers much. South Florida is notorious for having fair weather fans in any sport, and neither program is known for having strong athletics in any sport.
4. I like UTEP. I hope they stay in the conference, even though they are a definite outlier. I couldn't care less about ECU, and I'm glad their gone. They would have sold their souls to the devil to get out of a conference full of teams they think they are above. Goodbye, and I hope we never have to play them again in anything.
5. This could still happen. I know it hasn't yet, but when the dust settles, I could see something like this happening.
I still think forming some sort of scheduling agreement with the MWC may happen. We could set up some sort of tournament format in basketball where the top 3 teams, next 3 teams, next 3, and next 3 meet in a rotating location each year. This way, you could get every team 3 games against similar competition and have it only count as only one game.(their recent success in basketball could make this tough to pull off I guess) Tie football/baseball/etc. series to this agreement if need be.
Time will tell as always, but I don't really know what some people have expected. The conference keeps getting raided, and he's doing what he can to keep it ahead of the pack behind us. If Cincy/UConn/USF get out of the Big East somehow, it is going to be interesting to see how close the 2 conferences are at that point.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - bladhmadh - 03-04-2013 10:49 AM
(03-04-2013 09:55 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:(03-04-2013 08:50 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:(03-04-2013 12:04 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote: Britton Banowsky said it would be like this.
Britton Banowsky may be the worst enemy this conference has.
And just what would you have done
#1. Do a a better job marketing C-USA.
#2. Find a way to keep Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis & SMU.
#3. Move the conference out of South Florida.
#4. I would have brokered a swap of ECU & UTEP for La.Tech and MTSU, 8 years ago.
#5. Assign travel partners in the scheduling for all sports.
Just how would you have kept those schools from leaving?
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 10:51 AM
#1. What I perceive to be the current level of C-USA marketing is that it is somewhat less than Crazy Bill's Used Cars 30 second commercial, during a break in an infomercial about acne, which is in the 2 a.m. week night time slot, and on the alternate broadcast band of the main HD signal.
I would be very curious to see the actual C-USA budget and expeditures for the past 5 years.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 10:53 AM
(03-04-2013 10:49 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:(03-04-2013 09:55 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:(03-04-2013 08:50 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:(03-04-2013 12:04 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote: Britton Banowsky said it would be like this.
Britton Banowsky may be the worst enemy this conference has.
And just what would you have done
#1. Do a a better job marketing C-USA.
#2. Find a way to keep Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis & SMU.
#3. Move the conference out of South Florida.
#4. I would have brokered a swap of ECU & UTEP for La.Tech and MTSU, 8 years ago.
#5. Assign travel partners in the scheduling for all sports.
Just how would you have kept those schools from leaving?
Why do you want them to go ?
Obviously what ever the Commish did, didn't work. So I would do the opposite of what he did.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - Blazer85 - 03-04-2013 10:55 AM
If WKU is brought in, send them to the west or send one of the newcomers to the west (even if it doesn't make geographical sense).
UAB is one of the original founding members. No way should we be put out in the west. I would like to be, ideally, in the same half of the league with ODU, Charlotte, Marshall, WKU, and Southern Miss.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 11:00 AM
(03-04-2013 10:55 AM)Blazer85 Wrote: If WKU is brought in, send them to the west or send one of the newcomers to the west (even if it doesn't make geographical sense).
UAB is one of the original founding members. No way should we be put out in the west. I would like to be, ideally, in the same half of the league with ODU, Charlotte, Marshall, WKU, and Southern Miss.
West or East, it doesn't really matter. Wes gives us 2 bus / van trips and East would give us 2, considering that if we don't go to the West, then either MTSU or WKU has to go. Hopefully the conference is pairing MTSU & WKU as an easy road trip.
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - BlazerPhil - 03-04-2013 11:37 AM
Is anyone enforcing the C-USA exit fees ? Is there an entrance fee ? It there are exit fees, who gets the money ? Aren't UAB & USM the last 2 original members still in the conference ?
RE: Should UAB vote for WKU inclusion if we end up in the West? - blazers9911 - 03-04-2013 11:46 AM
(03-04-2013 11:37 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote: Is anyone enforcing the C-USA exit fees ? Is there an entrance fee ? It there are exit fees, who gets the money ? Aren't UAB & USM the last 2 origional members still in the conference ?
There is an exit fee, and according to the main board that number is looking like it will be around $7 million for Memphis.
As far as who gets it, my understanding is the money will be split equally between USM, UAB, Marshall, Tulsa, UTEP, and Rice. The new programs won't receive basketball credits and such until they have earned them.
I'm guessing there is some sort of entrance fee, but I don't know how significant that number will be.