(06-21-2017 06:32 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(06-21-2017 06:15 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(06-21-2017 05:56 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  https://twitter.com/TonyPaul1984/status/...8728443904

Tony Paul‏ @TonyPaul1984

Per @FatherHarry1, SIU-Edwardsville didn't get a Horizon League invite. That would seem to leave Fort Wayne and Grand Canyon.
3:18 PM - 21 Jun 2017

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It's really looking even more strongly like Grand Canyon. The rumors the last month point to this. They have everything ready to go at the drop of a hat.

Not so when you look at Purdue-Fort Wayne. Consider the hurdles Murray State went through to set up the money to be able to exit the OVC and compete in the MVC. Murray has considerably larger fan base and donations than Fort Wayne. None of the mechanics to set up accepting an invite have happened at fort Wayne, no money has been set aside for funding the first two years, no student fee increase either.

Grand Canyon could pay the exit fee now. The future PU-FW would need to consider how it pays for the Summit exit fee. Fort Wayne wants and needs to mbb team in their new city arena. The Summit hardly does anything to interest fans in FW, so the Horizon is a big upgrade locally. Think IPFW needs to carefully plan their financial affairs even running it by Purdue now, so it's PUFW that gets the call if they don't reject it. GCU can accept on the spot and don't need time. Thought I heard it's an extra half million the Summit adds in fees with a quick, under a year, move. A move at this late date would cause a lot of scheduling issues.

Not discounting GCU for later, but the Horizon needs ten core schools. GCU would be understood to be temporary and could fly away at the drop of a hat.

But isn't the Horizon basically what the Summit used to be minus a few teams?

Almost the whole Summit jumped to the Horizon when the Horizon lost its key Catholic based schools. The Summit survived by taking the most desperate teams available, like Southern Utah, Troy, Centenary, Chicago St, Youngstown St, Central Connecticut etc. IPFW and the Dakotas were Division II then.