UAB's tragedy will inevitably bring a new school to C-USA.

Banowsky is probably very busy right now, or should be. He'll have no less than 10 schools actively courting him intensely. Mostly Sunbelt schools, openly, however I wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

Arkansas State and Louisiana must be politicking like mad. They know they don't have the TV markets like some of the newbie FBS programs South Alabama or Georgia Southern, so they have to sell their tradition and recent successes. Louisiana-Monroe, NMSU, Troy, Georgia State, and Appalachian State are either too new, or have politics working against them.

Are any MAC schools even interested? NIU might be flattered with an overture, but leaving the MAC would be a bold step. UMass would want a football-only membership. That would let us keep UAB around in other sports I guess, which is good for publicity I guess. So a UAB/UMass combo could be another viable possibility.

Is anyone from the MWC interested? No, they have a good thing going now, that will only continue to strengthen. Will they poach from C-USA? Same answer.

Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

What's wrong with 13?

(12-20-2014 12:26 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  What's wrong with 13?

Same Song Second Verse! We stay at 13 until somebody else moves. Only if B-12 takes from AAC and AAC takes from CUSA; then we are at 12. WE STILL STAND PAT unless adding one or two from SBELT(or others) move the MONEY NEEDLE on the TV Package up for the remaining twelve!

No more!!!!


Dilution is not the answer. Wait for someone to leave.

How about adding Texas State?

Eastern Division
Charlotte
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky

Western Division
Louisiana Tech
North Texas
Rice
Southern Mississippi
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
Texas-San Antonio
Texas State

(12-20-2014 12:50 PM)RUNVSFD MINER Wrote:  No more!!!!


Dilution is not the answer. Wait for someone to leave.

Agreed

(12-20-2014 12:44 PM)BlueRaiderBoy Wrote:  

(12-20-2014 12:26 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  What's wrong with 13?

Same Song Second Verse! We stay at 13 until somebody else moves. Only if B-12 takes from AAC and AAC takes from CUSA; then we are at 12. WE STILL STAND PAT unless adding one or two from SBELT(or others) move the MONEY NEEDLE on the TV Package up for the remaining twelve!

See if uab can get this donkey out of office and get football back.

I want UAB to be here.

(12-20-2014 12:44 PM)BlueRaiderBoy Wrote:  

(12-20-2014 12:26 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  What's wrong with 13?

Same Song Second Verse! We stay at 13 until somebody else moves. Only if B-12 takes from AAC and AAC takes from CUSA; then we are at 12. WE STILL STAND PAT unless adding one or two from SBELT(or others) move the MONEY NEEDLE on the TV Package up for the remaining twelve!

It could be decades before there is any B12/AAC movement.

With another TV deal on the horizon for CUSA you've got to get back to 14.

(12-20-2014 12:12 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  UAB's tragedy will inevitably bring a new school to C-USA.

Banowsky is probably very busy right now, or should be. He'll have no less than 10 schools actively courting him intensely. Mostly Sunbelt schools, openly, however I wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

Arkansas State and Louisiana must be politicking like mad. They know they don't have the TV markets like some of the newbie FBS programs South Alabama or Georgia Southern, so they have to sell their tradition and recent successes. Louisiana-Monroe, NMSU, Troy, Georgia State, and Appalachian State are either too new, or have politics working against them.

Are any MAC schools even interested? NIU might be flattered with an overture, but leaving the MAC would be a bold step. UMass would want a football-only membership. That would let us keep UAB around in other sports I guess, which is good for publicity I guess. So a UAB/UMass combo could be another viable possibility.

Is anyone from the MWC interested? No, they have a good thing going now, that will only continue to strengthen. Will they poach from C-USA? Same answer.

Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

Likely no one from the MWC is interested but there is a post on their board discussing the dissatisfaction of some schools based on the lack of even distribution of conference income. That was created to entice Boise St to return from their BE (AAC) adventure. Air Force was mentioned as a possibility for the AAC for example, if they were unhappy with their share of conference income. If they see the opening now available in C-USA as a way to get fair distribution of money while assisting C-USA in securing a better tv deal, that could be interesting. I don't think that will happen but if I were BB I would be exploring all possibilities and talking to anyone that would help our conference.

(12-20-2014 12:55 PM)David Krysakowski Wrote:  How about adding Texas State?

Eastern Division
Charlotte
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky

Western Division
Louisiana Tech
North Texas
Rice
Southern Mississippi
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
Texas-San Antonio
Texas State

No more texas schools period.

Unless it's an AAC school, we should take our time and look east for the new addition.

(12-20-2014 12:12 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  UAB's tragedy will inevitably bring a new school to C-USA.

Banowsky is probably very busy right now, or should be. He'll have no less than 10 schools actively courting him intensely. Mostly Sunbelt schools, openly, however I wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

Arkansas State and Louisiana must be politicking like mad. They know they don't have the TV markets like some of the newbie FBS programs South Alabama or Georgia Southern, so they have to sell their tradition and recent successes. Louisiana-Monroe, NMSU, Troy, Georgia State, and Appalachian State are either too new, or have politics working against them.

Are any MAC schools even interested? NIU might be flattered with an overture, but leaving the MAC would be a bold step. UMass would want a football-only membership. That would let us keep UAB around in other sports I guess, which is good for publicity I guess. So a UAB/UMass combo could be another viable possibility.

Is anyone from the MWC interested? No, they have a good thing going now, that will only continue to strengthen. Will they poach from C-USA? Same answer.

Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

The AAC has the best TV deal, bowls and basketball of any of the eastern G5 leagues. I can't imagine a poach happening by CUSA. Remember to make a move a school will have to pay CUSA entrance fees.

However, with CUSA's TV contract being open in another year I can see more programs than usual being receptive to an invite.

UMass is in a football conference pickle. Toledo and Ohio are hurting attendance playing mid week. NIU could fit in the West and help CUSA football.

What would happen if each of these schools get selected as the 14th?

UMass- Good for the TV deal but bad for football SOS. Basketball would probably not recruit well in CUSA.

NIU- Good for the TV deal and good for football SOS. Basketball and basetball at NIU is poor. Could fit them in the West.

Ohio- Ok for the TV deal and football. Basketball is a strong suit and baseball has tradition. Good rival for Marshall.

Toledo- Ok for the TV deal and football. Basketball is okay but not at all really a baseball school. Good rival for Marshall.

My vote goes for Northern Illinois. They've got the best market and football out of the MAC schools. They can go in the West. They've got a plan to grow their stadium capacity to 42,000 seats. They won't cut into the recruiting of any existing schools.

West: NIU, La Tech, SoMiss, UNT, Rice, UTSA, UTEP
East: MTSU, WKU, Marshall, Charlotte, ODU, FAU, FIU

This is the way to go if CUSA wants to be considered on par with the MWC and AAC in football, IMO.

(12-20-2014 01:23 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(12-20-2014 12:12 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  UAB's tragedy will inevitably bring a new school to C-USA.

Banowsky is probably very busy right now, or should be. He'll have no less than 10 schools actively courting him intensely. Mostly Sunbelt schools, openly, however I wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

Arkansas State and Louisiana must be politicking like mad. They know they don't have the TV markets like some of the newbie FBS programs South Alabama or Georgia Southern, so they have to sell their tradition and recent successes. Louisiana-Monroe, NMSU, Troy, Georgia State, and Appalachian State are either too new, or have politics working against them.

Are any MAC schools even interested? NIU might be flattered with an overture, but leaving the MAC would be a bold step. UMass would want a football-only membership. That would let us keep UAB around in other sports I guess, which is good for publicity I guess. So a UAB/UMass combo could be another viable possibility.

Is anyone from the MWC interested? No, they have a good thing going now, that will only continue to strengthen. Will they poach from C-USA? Same answer.

Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

Likely no one from the MWC is interested but there is a post on their board discussing the dissatisfaction of some schools based on the lack of even distribution of conference income. That was created to entice Boise St to return from their BE (AAC) adventure. Air Force was mentioned as a possibility for the AAC for example, if they were unhappy with their share of conference income. If they see the opening now available in C-USA as a way to get fair distribution of money while assisting C-USA in securing a better tv deal, that could be interesting. I don't think that will happen but if I were BB I would be exploring all possibilities and talking to anyone that would help our conference.

Interesting about the income distribution issue in the MWC.

The AAC could offer both Colorado St and AFA to give AFA confidence they'll have rivals in a future AAC alignment.

(12-20-2014 12:12 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

Not intriguing at all. The answer is no. Worrying about visiting fans in any serious matter is the concern of the sunbelt profile school.
You're making the same mistake your president did 3 years ago. USM, at its essence, is a sunbelt school. But, it benefited from 30 years of association with academic schools, and urban high research schools in bigger markets. They were the different school in the Metro/C-USA. And they distinguished themselves from many smaller publics in the south.
But they (and others) threw it all way with an ill-fated vote 3 years ago by rejecting measured expansion (actually replacement), and the MWC alliance. Now they are indistinguishable from the rest.
USM (and the rest of the league) should start the first step toward creating its own identity by holding this league at 13.

I'm sure the conference leadership will listen to their tv partners closely. If they tell the presidents that the media income will stay the same or even go up a little by adding school(s) x, y and z, then that is what will likely happen.

If, on the other hand, the tv folks tell the presidents that the money is going down significantly no matter whether we expand or not, then other possibilities come in to play. For instance, we are going to be either 13 or more schools fighting for 1 ticket to the big dance most years. Not because we don't have several good basketball programs, we do, but because for the foreseeable future we have way too many at the bottom bringing rpi rankings down. Maybe at that point it would be prudent to turn this conference into 2 conferences, each eventually getting an auto bid. Basketball can be an important influence for a G5 conference.

(12-20-2014 02:34 PM)HamiltonJames Wrote:  

(12-20-2014 12:12 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  Is anyone from the AAC interested? This is the REALLY intriguing question of the affair. Houston was thrown about on this board as seemingly wild speculation, but I have had some time to think about it. It's viable, but improbable. UTSA, UTEP, UNT, and Rice would bring more fans EACH than Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, and Memphis COMBINED. Ok, I pulled that out of my butt, but that's mostly true. C-USA has some appeal.

Not intriguing at all. The answer is no. Worrying about visiting fans in any serious matter is the concern of the sunbelt profile school.
You're making the same mistake your president did 3 years ago. USM, at its essence, is a sunbelt school. But, it benefited from 30 years of association with academic schools, and urban high research schools in bigger markets. They were the different school in the Metro/C-USA. And they distinguished themselves from many smaller publics in the south.
But they (and others) threw it all way with an ill-fated vote 3 years ago by rejecting measured expansion (actually replacement), and the MWC alliance. Now they are indistinguishable from the rest.
USM (and the rest of the league) should start the first step toward creating its own identity by holding this league at 13.

You may be a little off base on how our administration voted. Our AD was publicly for the merger. Perhaps you confused us with east carolina who cried from day one.

If the big 12 isn't granted the waiver, they'll be forced to add two or risk having the same thing happen to them every year ( getting leapfrogged)

(12-20-2014 03:10 PM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  If the big 12 isn't granted the waiver, they'll be forced to add two or risk having the same thing happen to them every year ( getting leapfrogged)

They wont do anything until Texas tells them they can

(12-20-2014 12:55 PM)David Krysakowski Wrote:  How about adding Texas State?

Eastern Division
Charlotte
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky

Western Division
Louisiana Tech
North Texas
Rice
Southern Mississippi
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
Texas-San Antonio
Texas State

Please, no, not another Texas team. ULL, Ark State, USA, Mo State, whatever but not another Texan team. We've got 4 already, that's enough.