I think what makes most sense is for the BE/MWC FB schools form up a new 12-16 team cross country confernce. Add in BYU, ECU and maybe one or two other outsiders. Make it geographically sensible divisions. Let the BE Catholics keep the BE name and do their own thing.
This might take a few more months to form up: new conference will have to wait out the Big 5 money grabs.
It makes sense, Mark. But as long as the major conferences are going to do their realignment shuffle a little at a time, the lesser conferences are screwed. They have to do something to remain stable, and each time they do, another move is made which destabilizes everything...
Kind of agree, but would suggest taking CUSA, BE, and MWC and forming 2 good conferences. Basically a western conference, and an eastern conference.
Here is the New Big East as I would like to see it.. assuming UConn is gone and ACC stands pat at 14
West
SMU
Houston
Boise St
San Diego St.
BYU
Fresno
UNLV
East
Temple
UCF
USF
Cincinnati
Louisville
ECU
Memphis
Basketball only schools can schedule within.
(11-26-2012 10:28 AM)rodtheman Wrote: [ -> ]Kind of agree, but would suggest taking CUSA, BE, and MWC and forming 2 good conferences. Basically a western conference, and an eastern conference.
This is really the best option. Just have two large conferences in the east and the west. Work our a scheduling agreement so you have some good OOC games between the conferences.
Many of us having been trying to say this on here for awhile. The problem is the nBE now needs to get the market infatuation out of its brain and focus on fielding the most competitive teams remaining. IMHO, success on the field will breed interest and interest breeds viewers which in turn breeds markets.................not just the fact that a school is located in a Top 50 DMA.
The second piece is to axe the hybrid once and for all and stop relying on the assumption that the BB schools need the FB or All Sports schools and vice versa. An All Sports conference offers the opportunity to build rivalries across the board in every sport which again IMHO, breeds cohesion and stability.
The nBE wants to say its on par with the other 5 or at a minimum the ACC / B1G, when maybe it ought to look at as building a conference from scratch and then playing itself into the Top 3 or 4 and better media deals.
JMO.
This is the only logical step, a best of the rest conference
(11-26-2012 11:06 AM)NBPirate Wrote: [ -> ]This is the only logical step, a best of the rest conference
If the ACC takes UL, UConn and Cincy then a nationwide best of the rest really does not make sense. There will just not be enough money for it to make financial sense. The remaining schools, if they don't go back to their original conferences, should create the best regional leagues they can.
(11-26-2012 11:13 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote: [ -> ] (11-26-2012 11:06 AM)NBPirate Wrote: [ -> ]This is the only logical step, a best of the rest conference
If the ACC takes UL, UConn and Cincy then a nationwide best of the rest really does not make sense. There will just not be enough money for it to make financial sense. The remaining schools, if they don't go back to their original conferences, should create the best regional leagues they can.
Yep. Nobody would be willing to pay enough to support a national best of the rest conference.
For the new members coming in, they need to either make the best of the nBE, which may not be enough for BSU and SDSU to stick around if we don't pick up another couple western schools.
As of last Friday I ceased to have interest in the nBE. I honestly couldn't care less what happens to the nBE since I know it will only be a temporary station. I'm more interested in the "post-realignment" world for Houston. Thankfully I know where Iowa will be for the rest of my lifetime.
I disagree with this "coast to coast" conference of the "best of the rest." There is this thing called geography. BCS conferences make enough money they can afford the travel expenses. NonAQ teams cannot. This national "coast to coast" conference can only be a fb conference. All-sports make travel costs prohibitive. Then, too, one does not know who the best of the rest will always be. Look at what has happened to Southern Miss. Or how Colorado State has declined. There are other examples.
Regarding CUSA-14, I want it to stand as a conference and, eventually, maybe add 2 or 4 teams when the realignment shuffle of B1G, SEC, and B12 comes to closure.
(11-26-2012 11:37 AM)Tallgrass Wrote: [ -> ]I disagree with this "coast to coast" conference of the "best of the rest." There is this thing called geography. BCS conferences make enough money they can afford the travel expenses. NonAQ teams cannot. This national "coast to coast" conference can only be a fb conference. All-sports make travel costs prohibitive. Then, too, one does not know who the best of the rest will always be. Look at what has happened to Southern Miss. Or how Colorado State has declined. There are other examples.
Regarding CUSA-14, I want it to stand as a conference and, eventually, maybe add 2 or 4 teams when the realignment shuffle of B1G, SEC, and B12 comes to closure.
I would be happy with C-USA growing to 18 by taking back the defecting 4 if there was a solid contract that created an atmosphere of stability. Without that and if the BE stops functioning as a FB conference, the C-USA 14 should invite USF and Temple to go to 16 and stop there.
It also wouldn't be a bad option going forward to make tv and bowl agreements with the MWC and I can see Houston and SMU ending up in that conference.
Best of the Rest makes since with the "Play In Slot" set aside for the Gang of 5.
A Best of the Rest becomes the shadow 6th Contract Conference as it will get that slot 9 times out of 10.
Since no conference will last more than a couple of weeks, I think everyone caught between the Big 5 and the regional conferences should just go independent in football and schedules games with each other as independents until the Big 5 have decided which television markets they need more access to.
Just kidding.
Not really.
Zero percent chance any of the people who left CUSA will rejoin it in any fashion. Zero.
these cross coutry realignments are doomed to any long termed stability because there isn't enough money to keep them together. if you're not big 5 (or is it big 4 now? hard to keep up.), there isn't enough tv interest/money or sos to make it a reasonable proposition.
the western big east schools are better off if they just circle the wagons and make the best western conference that they can make. the eastern big east schools started (ok maybe they were already started) looking for the exit as soon as the expansions to the sw and west were announced.
in the end:
big adds 2 from acc (looks like most of the rumors mention virginia, then either north carolina or georgia tech)
sec adds 2 from acc (looks like most of the rumors mention virginia tech and nc state)
big 12 may add 2 or 4 from acc (most of the rumors start with florida state and clemson -and occasionally add miami, georgia tech or unc)
acc adds enough (at least 3 - maybe as many as 7) worthy, regionally sane, all-sports schools from the big east to fill the conference line-up back up. connecticut, louisville, cincinnati, temple, memphis, usf, ucf: that's the list, roughly in order of expected preference - at least the way i assume the reference list will shake out. i can't see any others being considered for the acc.
mwc adds byu, then re-adds sdsu and boise state, then takes utep to get to 14 schools
navy goes back to being an independent
houston and smu (and possibly the 2 florida schools, and maybe memphis and temple too) add schools desperate to get out of cusa (ecu, southern miss, tulsa, rice, tulane, marshall), to a yet-to-be-named new all-sports conference that looks shiockingly similar to this year's cusa line-up.
new conference:
east: temple, marshall, ecu, ucf, usf, memphis, uab
west: southern miss, tulane, la tech, houston, smu, rice, tulsa
- slighly modified if temple and memphis make the acc, largely shifted if ucf and usf make the acc too.
sunbelt absorbs the rest of the current cusa
Giving up the money and basketball shares makes no sense... that conference needs the basketball as much as the football. 30% of the conference's tv potential money is basketball, compared to 18% of the ACC... they NEED the basketball in addition to the football.
I think the whole cross country conference thing is over, unless the PAC ends up having to do it if the ACC is picked clean. Even then they will only offer football only to four east coast schools.
For the mid majors I think they need to go back to regional. Let the MWC and CUSA form that level.
I really think at some point the Big East basketball schools are going to say enough is enough. They are going to block anymore football expansion from happening and that could cause the rest of football schools to bolt. The basketball schools will keep the NCAA tourney money and credits. They would then get to expand with more basketball schools.
I think many folks overlook the key attribute of the "Merlliance" that Thompson, Banowsky, and Neinas drew up. Remember that they never revealed publicly 100% of how it would function, but what they did allow was that it would leverage both the savings from having a regional conference schedule (with rare mid-season matchups between East and West) and the inventory of a coast-to-coast membership as regards TV rights (greatly increasing the appeal of one combined arrangement since odds are much higher that at least one school - and likely 2 to 4 - will be nationally relevant (i.e., Top 10 kind of season...that is a huge factor in suppressing contracts for leagues outside the Cartel). It is intended to be a new paradigm...a model not attempted before. And it has not been dead, just set aside in current circumstances.
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(11-26-2012 08:21 PM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]I think many folks overlook the key attribute of the "Merlliance" that Thompson, Banowsky, and Neinas drew up. Remember that they never revealed publicly 100% of how it would function, but what they did allow was that it would leverage both the savings from having a regional conference schedule (with rare mid-season matchups between East and West) and the inventory of a coast-to-coast membership as regards TV rights (greatly increasing the appeal of one combined arrangement since odds are much higher that at least one school - and likely 2 to 4 - will be nationally relevant (i.e., Top 10 kind of season...that is a huge factor in suppressing contracts for leagues outside the Cartel). It is intended to be a new paradigm...a model not attempted before. And it has not been dead, just set aside in current circumstances.
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I'd say if the Mountain West gets SDSU and Boise back, the Alliance plan probably dies.
After schools like Cincinnati and Louisville have gotten a taste of big boy success, they aren't going to be so favorable to going back to C-USA.