UMass's challenge concerning football is that the school has to grow their fan base quickly. UMass is not competing for the AAC (American). UMass is competing against other programs like Old Dominion (Norfolk), Charlotte, Georgia State (Atlanta), UTSA (San Antonio), etc... IF the American expands or is forced to expand.

Connecticut started Div 1A (give me some slack-what do we call this group?) late and benefited with the Big East needing the school to join quickly. UMass started later and fell on the other side.

(08-06-2014 02:04 PM)chess Wrote:  UMass's challenge concerning football is that have to grow their fan base quickly. UMass is not competing for the AAC (American). UMass is competing against other programs like Old Dominion (Norfolk), Charlotte, Georgia State (Atlanta), UTSA (San Antonio), etc... IF the American expands or is forced to expand.

Connecticut started Div 1A (give me some slack-what do we call this group?) late and benefited with the Big East needing the school to join quickly. UMass started later and fell on the other side.

Take it easy chess, you barely squeaked out a win the last time we met.

(08-06-2014 02:43 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 02:04 PM)chess Wrote:  UMass's challenge concerning football is that the school has to grow their fan base quickly. UMass is not competing for the AAC (American). UMass is competing against other programs like Old Dominion (Norfolk), Charlotte, Georgia State (Atlanta), UTSA (San Antonio), etc... IF the American expands or is forced to expand.

Connecticut started Div 1A (give me some slack-what do we call this group?) late and benefited with the Big East needing the school to join quickly. UMass started later and fell on the other side.

Take it easy chess, you barely squeaked out a win the last time we met.

Code:

Season    Date            Bowl Game       Opponent         Result     Location
1964    December 12    Tangerine Bowl    East Carolina    L 13–14    Orlando, FL

Football was different in the 1960's. When teams were choosing whether to play Division 1-A or Division 1-AA, Massachusetts chose Division 1-AA along with William & Mary, Richmond, Villanova, Connecticut, James Madison, etc...

every conf in country could use a flagship school in a state with 7 million people
I don't think UMASS options are that limited

(08-07-2014 09:29 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  every conf in country could use a flagship school in a state with 7 million people
I don't think UMASS options are that limited

Until they fix that on campus stadium, win some games, and get their attendance up---their options are incredibly limited. If that flagship was so desirable the MAC would not have booted them (and did so in the midst of TV negotiations btw).

(08-07-2014 11:24 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  If that flagship was so desirable the MAC would not have booted them (and did so in the midst of TV negotiations btw).

The MAC added Temple and UMass FB because they wanted to increase MAC visibility in large northeastern media markets and hoped Temple and UMass would later join as full members. Obviously Temple was snapped up by the American and UMass never warmed to the idea of joining the MAC as a full member. The MAC forced the issue because they were unhappy that UMass had zero interest in full membership.

(08-07-2014 11:32 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(08-07-2014 11:24 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  If that flagship was so desirable the MAC would not have booted them (and did so in the midst of TV negotiations btw).

The MAC added Temple and UMass FB because they wanted to increase MAC visibility in large northeastern media markets and hoped Temple and UMass would later join as full members. Obviously Temple was snapped up by the American and UMass never warmed to the idea of joining the MAC as a full member. The MAC forced the issue because they were unhappy that UMass had zero interest in full membership.

In Temple's case, it was pretty obvious that it was sitting on decent recruiting grounds in PA-NJ and was a former member of a BCS conference in the Big East. Stepping down to the MAC level of competition was eventually going to produce more wins for Temple and it did.

I think it would be an interesting idea if the MAC got really proactive and tried to entice some other northeastern programs to move up to FBS. Their only real play is to try to expand their footprint and having UMass as a full member could have helped get some northeastern visibility. A school like Delaware could probably get up to a MAC level pretty quickly. I think they already have a pretty good stadium. That would also get them back into the mid-atlantic since they no longer have Temple.

(08-06-2014 02:04 PM)chess Wrote:  UMass's challenge concerning football is that the school has to grow their fan base quickly. UMass is not competing for the AAC (American). UMass is competing against other programs like Old Dominion (Norfolk), Charlotte, Georgia State (Atlanta), UTSA (San Antonio), etc... IF the American expands or is forced to expand.

Connecticut started Div 1A (give me some slack-what do we call this group?) late and benefited with the Big East needing the school to join quickly. UMass started later and fell on the other side.

This. You're going to see a facilities arms race amongst those schools to not get left behind again.

(08-08-2014 10:05 AM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  I think it would be an interesting idea if the MAC got really proactive and tried to entice some other northeastern programs to move up to FBS. Their only real play is to try to expand their footprint and having UMass as a full member could have helped get some northeastern visibility. A school like Delaware could probably get up to a MAC level pretty quickly. I think they already have a pretty good stadium. That would also get them back into the mid-atlantic since they no longer have Temple.

With the MAC, the word on the street is that a new TV contract will be in place by the start of the season.

With the bowls, CFP payouts and pending TV contract for the MAC now is not the time to expand. Now let's say 2020 comes around the and the MAC wants to start a new bowl game in Virginia Beach with CUSA.....adding Delaware and James Madison to the membership would be a good way of doing that.

The CFP per school limit is currently set at 1 million per school up to 12 schools. Its entirely possible the formula changes to 1 million per school up to 14 schools in 2020 if the AAC expands to 14. If it was a 14 million/14 school split I'm sure the MAC would feel compelled to add 2 more schools.

12 million cap is easily made up with 14 schools, that comes out to 150,000 per school.
home game vs Army would make up difference in ticket sales alone

(08-09-2014 12:03 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  12 million cap is easily made up with 14 schools, that comes out to 150,000 per school.
home game vs Army would make up difference in ticket sales alone

Yes but if expanding is costing ANY additional money without a return how is it going to get a vote by MAC presidents?

If there are some other reasons to expand like helping the MAC with a new bowl game or enhancing the TV package then its worth considering. One idea is bringing a bowl game back to Philly (MAC-AAC). The MAC in that case could look at a Stony Brook/Delaware combination if they wanted.

With the new autonomy rules hitting plus changes to P5 scheduling ect. Why not wait a few years for things to settle down? It doesn't seem like any immediate incentive to add schools. Last time the MAC said they would try 12 schools for a while. They didn't. They went right back out to go get Temple. They should have offered a FB Only to Old Dominion at the time but weren't thinking that far ahead.