Quote:BY PATRICK MAGEE
pmagee@sunherald.com Twitter: Patrick_Magee

Bigger is not always better, but the next path for Conference USA may be to get as big as possible.

When I sat down to sketch out last week's column discussing the current struggles of C-USA and what its future might look like, I bounced around a few ideas about lineups for a newly expanded conference and what could happen if it fell part.

There were a few schools left out of the final version of my column and I received an email Thursday afternoon from an athletic director of one of the programs not included in my idea of a merger of Conference USA and the Sun Belt. It was a 24-team league that consisted of four different regions broken up geographically.

I responded to the athletic director's polite suggestion that I keep his school in mind, telling him that his program was included in my first lineup for an expanded Conference USA and that I actually liked it better than the 24-team conference that ended up in the column.

The first version I put together included 28 teams and I think it does a better job of cutting down on travel distances for the schools included:

SOUTHWEST: Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Texas State, UTEP, Sam Houston State, New Mexico State.

MID-SOUTH: Southern Miss, UAB, Louisiana Tech, WKU, Middle Tennessee, La.-Lafayette, Arkansas State.

SOUTHEAST: South Alabama, Troy, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Coastal Carolina.

NORTHEAST: Marshall, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Appalachian State, UMass, Eastern Kentucky, James Madison.

In this 28-team league, two schools that have battled geographic isolation in C-USA will have conference mates within a short driving distance. UTEP and New Mexico State are separated by about 40 miles. It's only a two-hour drive from Marshall to Eastern Kentucky. NMSU is without a conference home for its football program and EKU tried hard to get in the Sun Belt a year ago before being passed over for Coastal Carolina.

Each team would have an eight-game conference slate, including a six-game divisional schedule, one locked-in crossover contest (such as Southern Miss-South Alabama) and one conference contest that would rotate.

You could have East and West representatives in the title game with divisional champs decided on the basis of conference records and the College Football Playoff rankings serving as a tie-breaker. The inclusion of the CFP rankings as a tie-breaker would encourage teams to put together tough non-conference slates. (I'm looking at you, Marshall)

This isn't that that different from the 24-team conference I first suggested, but I believe this model is actually more workable. If you're going to go big, might as well go huge.

A 28-team conference could amount to what many would consider a second division within FBS, but it would face the same issues that the MAC, American Athletic Conference and the Mountain West face on the field.

The biggest problem for the 28-team conference would be that TV revenue shared among the member programs would be watered down badly. But again, if you're currently only getting $200,000 per school like C-USA or $100,000 like the Sun Belt, it doesn't matter that much. The schools included in this conference would benefit from a significant decrease in travel costs for all sports.

Sports like softball, baseball and volleyball could feature conference schedules that rely heavily on home-and-home series with the closest league mates. Other games could stay within the East and West divisions.

The one school that continues to be left out in the cold in this 28-team concept is Louisiana-Monroe, which has the smallest athletic budget in all of FBS at approximately $12.95 million. It's hard to see a long-term future in FBS for ULM even if it may fit squarely in the footprint of a 28-team league. The promotion of Sam Houston State, James Madison and Eastern Kentucky to FBS, three schools that already have larger athletic budgets than ULM, makes more sense for the conference. You also have to consider that Louisiana Tech and ULM already share the same market.

The best thing that could happen to ULM is that C-USA simply dissolves and it could be included in a more regional conference.

The 28 teams included in my hypothetical C-USA could also be divided into three separate nine-to-10 team conferences. This may be the best situation for all involved and each conference would have an opportunity to negotiate their own TV deals.

Conference USA will have a chance to negotiate a new TV contract in two years with plans of improving on its recent deal that nets each school $200,000, according to The Virginian-Pilot. If it doesn't receive a significant bump in revenue, it's likely time for members to dream up new options.

Whether it's a conference of 20-plus teams or three regional conferences, C-USA and Sun Belt officials should start thinking outside the box.

Quote:BY PATRICK MAGEE
pmagee@sunherald.com Twitter: Patrick_Magee



SOUTHWEST: Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Texas State, UTEP, Sam Houston State, New Mexico State.

MID-SOUTH: Southern Miss, UAB, Louisiana Tech, WKU, Middle Tennessee, La.-Lafayette, Arkansas State.

SOUTHEAST: South Alabama, Troy, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Coastal Carolina.

NORTHEAST: Marshall, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Appalachian State, UMass, Eastern Kentucky, James Madison.

(06-18-2016 08:09 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  Is "Patrick Magee" the same person as "DavidSt"???

Because there is a lot of similarity in thinking.

(06-18-2016 06:38 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Southern Miss, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and UAB should all meet at an Airport and form a new conference. Invite AState, Louisiana, LaTech, WKU to join them.

(06-18-2016 06:38 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Southern Miss, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and UAB should all meet at an Airport and form a new conference. Invite AState, Louisiana, LaTech, WKU to join them.

(06-18-2016 06:38 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Southern Miss, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and UAB should all meet at an Airport and form a new conference. Invite AState, Louisiana, LaTech, WKU to join them.

(06-19-2016 01:03 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 06:38 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Southern Miss, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and UAB should all meet at an Airport and form a new conference. Invite AState, Louisiana, LaTech, WKU to join them.

They'd need a waiver from the NCAA to allow a new FBS conference to be created from scratch. There'd be lots of opposition from many conferences, who would see their share of playoff money fall as a result, from at least 3 of the G5 conferences, and from conferences that know that this plan would result in more FCS to FBS moveups as the rump SBC and the rump CUSA added teams to replace departures.

They'd need a waiver from the NCAA to maintain an auto bid to the NCAA tournament. They likely won't get one. So five years with no auto bid. And last year, the champion of that conference wouldn't have come close to an at large.

They'd have to pay exit fees and would probably get sued by the rump CUSA and the rump Sun Belt.

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And for WHAT? Would this conference be better for the teams? Marginally. There's no evidence that ESPN is waiting to pay this combination any more money than pay them as members of CUSA and the Sun Belt. Remember that the networks already get their pick of whatever games of those teams right now. There'd probably be little, if any, more money.

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There isn't going to be a new conference created. Just not going to happen.

(06-19-2016 03:56 PM)Jayesseagle Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 06:38 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Southern Miss, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and UAB should all meet at an Airport and form a new conference. Invite AState, Louisiana, LaTech, WKU to join them.

I agree! The members mentioned above should get together and form a new league:

CUSA (8)

Southern Miss
Marshall
Midd Tenn
UAB
Western Kentucky
La Tech
Rice
UTEP

Then add: (6)

Arkansas St
La Lafayette
Troy
La Monroe
South Alabama
App State

This would be a lot more interesting and more competitive than the CUSA that we are already in now...and plus it would be more regional. Less travel cost and I'm betting more attendance for each school. (14 team league)

Or another scenario would be if the AAC keeps getting raided by the big 12, we could by chance talk with some of the remaining members to help form another conference all together with the 1st 6 mentioned:

From CUSA: (8)

Southern Miss
Marshall
Midd Tenn
UAB
Western Kentucky
La Tech
Rice
UTEP

From AAC: (6 of the any remaining)

Memphis (if remaining)
Houston (if remaining)
ECU
UCF (if remaining)
USF
Tulane
Tulsa
Cincy (if remaining)

I would prefer option #2 (another 14 team league), but that is probably a very long shot of happening but either option is by far greater than this conference we are all in now.

(06-18-2016 09:08 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  

(06-18-2016 08:09 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  Is "Patrick Magee" the same person as "DavidSt"???

Because there is a lot of similarity in thinking.

Well we already know that David Krysakowski and David St
are the same person.

As for "Patrick Magee" who knows ?