(03-22-2015 08:11 AM)Blazer85 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-22-2015 07:45 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-22-2015 07:14 AM)Blazer85 Wrote: [ -> ]I am curious about the TV deal for the MVC. While they are a solid and stable conference, their footprint is small and they aren't in many large markets.
It's called the Missouri Valley for a reason 85. The conference has teams in five states.
I'm aware of both of those facts. But that does not answer the question.
Well you didn't ask a question. Being curious and asking a question are not one of the same.
Peoria-Bloomington is the
116th largest television market in the United States (Bradley and Illinois St.).
Chicago, Illinois - Chicago has the
3rd largest media market in North America, after New York City and Los Angeles (Loyola University).
Carbondale, Illinois -
81st largest tv market (Southern Illinois).
Terre Haute, Indiana -
152nd largest tv market (Indiana St).
Evansville, Indiana -
103rd-largest television market in the United States (Evansville University).
Des Moines, Iowa -
71st largest television market (Drake Univ.)
Cedar Falls, Iowa -
88th largest tv market (Northern Iowa).
Wichita, Kansas -
69th largest tv market (Wichita St.).
Springfield, Missouri -
74th largest tv market (Mizzou St.).
http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets
Ok. Discuss further then AOS.
How would the MVC be great for fan interest in basketball?
I believe that if we move to another conference that football is dead for quite a while.
With football dead, I think the attendance you saw for games this year would be begged for in future yeara.
I believe that a lot of people would jump ship once and for all with no hope of a somewhat immediate return of football.
(03-22-2015 09:45 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]How would the MVC be great for fan interest in basketball? Better basketball programs.
I believe that if we move to another conference that football is dead for quite a while. Which is why your first question would be a moot point in regards to basketball interest. Because frankly, football supporters don't want to see UAB Basketball in a better basketball conference.
It goes against what many of you have been saying couldn't or wouldn't happen. According to many of you, it's a pipe dream that UAB Basketball could possibly end up in a better conference than CUSA.
If UAB Basketball starts winning again and going to the NCAA tournament, the interest will be there. That just the nature of the climate we live in today. You win, people come support it; you don't win and you get very little support.
Like I have said before, basketball was here long before football and will be here long afterwards. That said, I want UAB Football back for the students, city, and fans like yourself.
You do realize that with football & without BOT hindering that we would be in a conference with Louisville, Cincy, & Memphis right now don't you?
Would love to be in the MVC or A10. I think attendance would be about the same or better if we were there. Cusa sucks for bball pretty much, its not like we have actual rivalries with memphis now gone.
(03-22-2015 09:45 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]I believe that a lot of people would jump ship once and for all with no hope of a somewhat immediate return of football.
That may be true, and it reflects the immense amount of work we still have to do to educate our people, including those who do not yet realize that they are our people, as to the stakes involved here.
This is not about football or basketball. It wasn't our choosing, but we've been placed at the forefront of one of the most crucial societal battles of the 21st Century: What is a University? Does it exist to make profit in and of itself? Does it exist to create excellent worker drones for our corporate overlords? Or does it exist to study the entire universe of knowledge and provide the tools for all of us to understand the world around us?
The attempt to create the Corporate University is a very real coming thing. When FN or I use the term "fascist," we're not flinging a casual insult. The actions of the Trustees and Ray Watts reflect the very essence of fascism. They are converting UAB into a profit-oriented institution devoid of anything related to societal improvement. They don't want "knowledge that will change your world"; they're seeking a better, faster, cheaper and best of all disposable bio-robot.
You don't know what you don't know because you have absolutely no need to know what you don't know. Sit down and be an obedient little mushroom or I will shake my blue water bottle at you again.
In the dark world they seek to create, there is no place for that which does not either directly create profit, or indirectly contribute to the interests of the corporate elite. There is no place in that world for football (other than profitable SEC-branded football), for Irish literature, for interpretative dance, for mathematical theory, or for the collected films of Aleksandr Dovzhenko. It's a dystopia straight out of
1984 or Terry Gilliam's
Brazil. It is not a world in which I wish to live.
This is not an unstoppable wave. It's a cruel and selfish effort by small but very wealthy elites to twist the American Dream into a self-congratulatory wet dream for themselves and horrific nightmare for the rest of us.
The mushrooms are tired of being kept in the dark and fed with ****. We fight.
(03-22-2015 09:58 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-22-2015 09:45 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]How would the MVC be great for fan interest in basketball? Better basketball programs.
I believe that if we move to another conference that football is dead for quite a while. Which is why your first question would be a moot point in regards to basketball interest. Because frankly, football supporters don't want to see UAB Basketball in a better basketball conference.
It goes against what many of you have been saying couldn't or wouldn't happen. According to many of you, it's a pipe dream that UAB Basketball could possibly end up in a better conference than CUSA.
If UAB Basketball starts winning again and going to the NCAA tournament, the interest will be there. That just the nature of the climate we live in today. You win, people come support it; you don't win and you get very little support.
Like I have said before, basketball was here long before football and will be here long afterwards. That said, I want UAB Football back for the students, city, and fans like yourself.
basketball started in 1978
Football started in 1991
That's only 13 years. Basketball wasn't here "long" before football. It's that basketball was here first. But your right, basketball will be here after football. Hopefully not 13 yrs before football comes back and with true support and foundation.
In the grand scheme of time, By the time a kid started kindergarten and finished high school, UAB started a football program. So Basketball was first, but not ancient.
& in today's world you aren't going to get too many people interested in a university with just basketball in this state.
You could get away with it back in the 80's because we didn't know any better.
Now we do.
(03-22-2015 10:14 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]You do realize that with football & without BOT hindering that we would be in a conference with Louisville, Cincy, & Memphis right now don't you?
And you do realize that isn't the reality of our situation now don't you?
(03-22-2015 10:23 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]& in today's world you aren't going to get too many people interested in a university with just basketball in this state.
You could get away with it back in the 80's because we didn't know any better.
Now we do.
Well this qualifies for the most ignorant post of the year.
(03-22-2015 10:21 AM)rook360 Wrote: [ -> ]That's only 13 years. Basketball wasn't here "long" before football. It's that basketball was here first. But your right, basketball will be here after football. Hopefully not 13 yrs before football comes back and with true support and foundation.
In the grand scheme of time, By the time a kid started kindergarten and finished high school, UAB started a football program. So Basketball was first, but not ancient.
Who said anything about ancient but in my book, thirteen years is a long time. But note, that's just my opinion.
And the start to kindergarten to graduating high school is a long time. Hell, freshman think 4 years of school is a long time....lol. Ijs.....
How is that? Yes, I realize that we just have basketball now, but don't overlook the really bad attendance figures for the year.
What the team was able to accomplish this year was in spite of what Watts has done.
Within 2 years if nothing changes the program could for all purposes be considered done.
Haase will be gone & interest will be over.
In fact, it will be difficult for us to get back to the dance next year as it is.
Unless we have a really good RPI (which is possible) the only way for us to go back is to win the conference tournament.
Look towards ODU for an example of being great but not getting invited.
The conference RPI just isn't there.
(03-21-2015 10:18 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote: [ -> ] (03-21-2015 09:44 PM)FNblazer Wrote: [ -> ] (03-21-2015 08:52 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote: [ -> ] (03-21-2015 08:50 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote: [ -> ]Why build the soccer stadium to host MO State, SIUE, and Central Arkansas? A10 may not be an option but it would be much better for UAB Soccer.
As much as I like soccer, they are not considering soccer in this decision.
Right. And CUSA is still probably an option if we must leave and go to another conference that doesn't have soccer, such as A-Sun.
The A-Sun has men's soccer. So does the SoCon, MVC, AAC, and A10. The OVC does not.
OVC basketball is also 12 or 13 spots lower than MVC. That would have to be weighed against geography and other concerns.
We are in a struggle as it is just to even maintain the attendance as it was this year.
If Watts pulls a couple of more strings before next year, this year's attendance will look great.
He has no plans on building anything in regards to the university.
He is chipping away at the foundation & just waiting for it to crumble.
And just to bring it up the BOT could end all of athletics before the fall if they so desired without too much push back.
If they decide to not allow us to add another men's sport, then we aren't considered a Div 1 program anymore.
So while you are all circle jerking to future basketball conference membership somewhere else, Rome is burning.
(03-22-2015 09:45 AM)the_blazerman Wrote: [ -> ]Ok. Discuss further then AOS.
How would the MVC be great for fan interest in basketball?
I believe that if we move to another conference that football is dead for quite a while.
With football dead, I think the attendance you saw for games this year would be begged for in future yeara.
I believe that a lot of people would jump ship once and for all with no hope of a somewhat immediate return of football.
I believe all those things will happen because I have pretty much lost faith in UAB,s fanbase. It appears that they are in denial about football being deAd, at least for now. They seem all to willing to drop their support at the first obstacle they meet instead of continuing the fight long term for football. They are willing to sacrifice basketball at the altar of football.
These are undeniable likelihoods
1) football is not coming back in the short term.
2) Ray Watts is not leaving in the short term
3) CUSA is not keeping UAB long term without football.
People have to realize this and move to the next phase. Move to the best basketball conference you can (and if the MVC is interested,that'a the best viable option) and continue the fight to return football from that conference.
While moving to the Atlantic Sun allows everyone to say "I told you this would happen", how does it help UAB. BUt I guess if these fans no longer care once football is gone, then that is a moot question. They just seem to want everything in shambles before they leave so they can justify their abandonment.
(03-22-2015 10:38 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote: [ -> ]People have to realize this and move to the next phase. Move to the best basketball conference you can (and if the MVC is interested,that'a the best viable option) and continue the fight to return football from that conference.
While I sincerely doubt that Ray Watts and his tiny band of paid friends have done anything regarding conference affiliation, we have no say in any conference move, no way to influence it.
We
do have the means to fight on many other fronts. Arguing amongst ourselves about what our non-existent athletic director should be doing regarding conference ties only lends comfort to the enemy. And Ray Watts is, without doubt, the enemy of UAB and all it stands for.
And while fans can express their outrage over the loss of football, they also have little say about bringing it back.
This is a message board. This conversation is better than arguing about whether the refs screwed us yesterday.
First off, I don't think for a single damned minute that Watts gives a **** about UAB Athletics. Athletics spends money he could use to cure cancer. Athletics is the rallying point for those who oppose his rule of UAB. And what would please his BoT masters more than killing UAB football? Killing Gene's basketball program and pissing on its grave. That may sound paranoid and extreme, but so did "They're going to close down our football program!" back in November. They'd like nothing better than watching our hoops program wither.
I don't have a real problem with the MVC, I just think that it's a bad choice. What I see is the Wattzies using it to divide us, as a further stall while things are in free fall, and as a way to separate us further from any chance of bringing back football and from what traditional rivalries we have left. I don't believe that the administration is really working hard with C-USA. Where is the news coverage of our efforts on that front? I don't doubt that Shannon Ealey is doing everything he can to save that relationship, but how long do you think Watts would have to be in a room with the other presidents or Banowsky to undermine weeks of his work? C-USA is willing to work with us, to give us time, as long as we get our act together and bring back our football program. Instead of urgency to get the ATF report out in early April, it has been pushed back to June. There were three big reservations regarding the ATF - Wes Smith and Clay Ryan's roles, that it might be a stall tactic, and that the ATF would do their work in good faith and that Watts would then ignore the report's recommendation. Thusfar we've seen the "at war" letter come out with Ryan on it, Watts waiting weeks to reject OSKR and set the committee report back timewise, and Watts' rejection of the ATF's "independence". Events continue to indicate that this is a stall tactic. If Don Hire or Frank Messina quit that committee over what is happening, we're dead in the water and the plot is revealed, but the time is lost. If they do, if the ATF fails, we have two choices - sigh, say "oh well, we tried", and negotiate with another conference, or take things up a notch and fight the bastardes. I say we fight, not cave in.
I have not gone digging for the numbers yet, but I'll bet my back teeth that the payout from C-USA is significantly better than the MVC's. The football TV contract all but guarantees it. As to ticket sales, other than Wichita State, is there anyone in that conference that would put more butts in seats at the Bart than C-USA does? You know damn well that MTSU, LaTech, SoMiss, EKU are going to travel better and be more reachable for our fans than Loyola, Drake, and Illinois State. You think that the Birmingham fans who you complain don't know the smaller schools well enough to show up for good small teams will do better with teams that they've never even heard of? Wichita State is their marquee team - and the first target for a bigger conference to snap up come the next expansion. More than that, Middle Tennessee, EKU, Charlotte and Southern Miss are our best rivalries left to us since the migration to the AAC. Add in that the MVC has no fan base in Birmingham. How many Bradley and Northern Iowa fans live nearby? How many will make the drive, particularly for weekday games?
I think that the MVC has a slightly better quality of basketball, but the downside of such a move is enormous. I think that the UAB fans will turn out for Middle and EKU far better than the MVC teams. I think we'd take a big financial hit, probably millions, at a time when we've already lost the money that football brings in. I mean, do you really believe that Watts is going to better fund our remaining programs? He's promised shares of that money to every constituency he has met with. The one thing we know for sure is that Watts lies his ass off to further his agenda. That, more than football, is why he took a No Confidence vote in the faculty senate. Have we forgotten who we're dealing with here?
Don't take the bait. Don't turn this into Football vs Basketball UAB fans. If you do, you're playing into their hands, and you'll look back later and know what a bad choice it was. The pressure and effort needs to remain on passing the Montgomery bills, forcing Watts out of office, and getting our Athletic Department back under the control of people who care about it and want the best for UAB.