(10-11-2013 10:14 AM)BobL Wrote: Ken Mather @KenMather_MAC 5m
Boca Raton Bowl announcement is the start of a series of bowl announcements over the next several weeks. #MACtion
Steinbrecher says the Boca Raton announcement is a 1st in what is going to be 4 announcements for the conference.
I expect the other announcements will be Bahamas, Marlins and the two backup agreements.
MAC bowls for the next 6 seasons should be decided by the end of the month. Its an important milestone for the MAC's future to have 5 guaranteed bowl games.
Other items we still need to hear about:
1) Improved TV Deal: I agree locking down the bowl games comes first because that dictates your conference stature to outsiders. The MAC though really needs to get something locked down for more money and for more years than the 3 that are yet remaining. My sense is there could already be an agreement to stay with ESPN in principal and the MAC is waiting until the conclusion of the football season to announce something.
2) Future NCAA governance structure. The direction they want to go with an FBS divsion governing itself is pretty clear at this point. It will be a while yet until the new structure is formally approved, perhaps as late as April and its set to come into effect in August of next year. Voting on stipends may take an entire year beyond that time frame.
3) What to do about UMass? The outcome here may be tied to a new TV deal with ESPN paying out the 1 million per school estimate. The MAC could invoke an all sports or out ultimatum with UMass and if they want to be part of the new TV deal. There could be some movement in pushing things back to 12 however since the MAC now has 5 guaranteed bowl games the conference might feel more confident going to 14. James Madison from a facilities and budget perspective is the candidate most ready for MAC membership.
If the scenario plays out that the MAC ends up with a TV deal in the same value range of the AAC and that UMass flounders its very possible that UMass is around for the long haul. Also the future direction of the AAC may be completely southern like what happened with CUSA, increasingly making that conference an unattractive place to move. I kind of feel like the idea of UMass joining the AAC is still very hypothetical and requires UConn leaving and/or better performance out of UMass (neither of which may occur for a long time). Steinbrecher has probably pitched UMass to the TV partners of the ESPN owned bowl games so I doubt that league membership would cut them.
/
any idea about this tweet from ken mather
