(12-19-2011 08:59 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(12-19-2011 08:24 AM)NoQuarter08 Wrote:  Nothing ECU does other than stay in top 25 will help our cause with the BE. We don't match their profile since our campus isn't in a large urban area. To us it's a really dumb reason to lock us out but it is their main reason. Attendance doesn't matter to them and there's nothing else we can say to explain our loyal following and interest in NC. The Big East doesn't get it, will not get it and I'm still amazed that VT was ever in that conference.

Yeah if VT was on the outside now they probably wouldn't get invited to a league either, because they don't have the "market." VT and WVU were always the exceptions in the BE, the teams that never really fit culturally in the league, and of course the only real supporters of us joining. I've always enjoyed our relationships with those 2 schools and hope they both remain fixtures on our schedule for many years to come.

Not true at all. Virginia Tech has a statewide presence in Virginia where it has the largest enrollment of any school. The entire state is their market.

They are also in a state where the only other competition they have to deal with is UVA. Their situation is more comparable to that of NC State in North Carolina than it is to ECU. In addition they don't have to deal with any competition from private schools regardless of how well or poorly those 2 private schools draw & regardless of how small their fanbases are. It still amounts to something & those are fans that ECU isn't going to get.

If nothing else, Duke is an enormous draw in basketball & an asset both competitively & financially to any conference in basketball alone. While this may be "all about football", in reality it isn't only about football. When a conference is considering adding new schools & new markets, it does look at the total package. With ECU that includes basketball as well as football & a market in which the private schools thrive in basketball & which sets a ceiling on ECU in that sport. Virginia Tech didn't have to deal with any of that.