Remember just a few years ago when people were saying that G5 TV money was quickly drying up? So just in the last several years, we've seen the value of media rights increase significantly for all 5 G5 leagues. The Sun Belt's and AAC's in particular went up at least 5-fold.

Now don't get me wrong, here, there's no combination of SBC and CUSA schools that could get media rights close to what the AAC is getting, but I see no reason why there isn't a lineup of schools that could get 1-2 million a year per school.

That would be significantly more money than could be saved by making two new conferences based on geography, especially for the more western teams in SBC/CUSA and schools like WKU and Marshall who are on an island in the north.

Not going to put an exact list of schools together now, but here's a hint: take a look at which teams in the Sun Belt ESPN tends to pick more often for weekday football games and that should give you an idea. Those are the teams you want to put in a conference, not the ones in the largest cities. If ESPN could they'd probably have these teams on weekdays more often, but the contract limits how many weekday games each team can have a season, so it matters who is in the middle of a conference in terms of fan base size.

And for the "what about basketball" crowd, realize that a new league is going to be a one-bid league anyways and that MBB just won't create the same windfall that football will. And if it was, why is CUSA's TV contract worth slightly less than the Sun Belt's?

It's time to create the league that should've been created in 2013...

There's definitely a group of 10/12 schools that could warrant $1.5 million a year in coverage.

I'm not sure it's in ESPN's interests to encourage that.

You have to start somewhere. Create that conference and get paid $500k per school for 5 years, establish ratings and then you get 1.5 to 2 million next contract. That's how the AAC did it. Nobody is going to pay money for an uknown.

(03-20-2019 10:25 AM)otown Wrote:  You have to start somewhere. Create that conference and get paid $500k per school for 5 years, establish ratings and then you get 1.5 to 2 million next contract. That's how the AAC did it. Nobody is going to pay money for an uknown.

Any new conference would receive 0 CFP money and 0 NCAA basketball units. The basketball part with the NCAA could be challenged, but the CFP contract still has six years remaining on it. Any potential movement/change would come at that point, I’d imagine.

(03-20-2019 10:25 AM)otown Wrote:  You have to start somewhere. Create that conference and get paid $500k per school for 5 years, establish ratings and then you get 1.5 to 2 million next contract. That's how the AAC did it. Nobody is going to pay money for an uknown.

The Sun Belt already has that deal. Around $500k per school for an 8 year contract starting in 2020. FB CCG on ESPN. BBall CCG on ESPN2. FB, BB, Baseball, Softball all to air on ESPN+ unless scheduled for ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU. No team plays more than 2 week night games, while most only have 1 weeknight home game which would be on ESPN2/U.


Get to keep the $10mil CFP payout intact, bowl tie-ins intact, NCAA units intact.

SWC, WAC, Big West, Southern and MVC should be considered using FBS size conference. All 5 are known as major sports conferences at one time.
SWC, WAC and MVC(MVFC) should be able to handle FBS, and trade schools out of the Southern Conference with some top OVC schools and James Madison to join. In an another thread, I suggested that Southern Conference to grab Belmont, Murray State and Jacksonville State to get 2 or more bids away from OVC who got 2 teams into the dance this year. You could arrange something where you do not have to wait to get bids using conferences that are already approved to go post season. I do not think reviving old conferences that are already in the NCAA's books as approved conferences.

Didn't NCAA grant an at-large bid to a worthy mid-major school this year?

What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

I don’t know much Sun Belt basketball but C-USA has UTEP, UAB, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee. That’s a six hardcore group of basketball schools plus upcoming Louisiana Tech. There’s no excuse why it’s a one bid league. In football, we need a school or two to separate from the rest but we had that issue back in the 2.0 days.

(03-20-2019 02:20 PM)GSUALUM17 Wrote:  Didn't NCAA grant an at-large bid to a worthy mid-major school this year?

Yeh, the OVC got an at-large and the SoCon got robbed of an At-Large (UNCG)

(03-20-2019 02:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

Which is why I commented on the current agreed upon Sun Belt media deal.

It's already at 500k per school and no one has to pay exit fees, nor lose their CFP contract, bowl contracts and NCAA units.


Only a blind person could have missed the upswing that conference has had in Football. With the addition of Gills (from the A10) as commissioner I could see a path forward for better Bball as well (GaSt, UL, GS, UTA, and LR are all pretty decent at bouncy ball)

Sunbelt is definitely on the upward trajectory.

(03-20-2019 02:46 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(03-20-2019 02:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

Which is why I commented on the current agreed upon Sun Belt media deal.

It's already at 500k per school and no one has to pay exit fees, nor lose their CFP contract, bowl contracts and NCAA units.


Only a blind person could have missed the upswing that conference has had in Football. With the addition of Gills (from the A10) as commissioner I could see a path forward for better Bball as well (GaSt, UL, GS, UTA, and LR are all pretty decent at bouncy ball)

The Sun Belt has had tradition in basketball. Schools like UAB and WKU came from there and I like what Georgia State is doing. They’re right in the middle of a recruiting hotbed.

But with that being said, I’d take our core over your core anytime. I want C-USA to get better with the lineup we have. The potential is there. Now if I had my way, I’d rather have UTEP in the MWC where we belong and where our biggest rival (New Mexico) is.

It's not about which core group is some arbitrary levels of "better" it is what deals are in place and what can be worked out. The Sun Belt with 4 call ups (GS, GSU, CCU, App) was able to ink a deal with ESPN for 8 years for 500k each and didn't have to worry about losing anything. ESPN is investing long term on the Sun Belt content that will give the schools a base level to work with and not worry about falling to the Beins and CBSSNs out there while focusing on getting an access bid and more NCAA units.

(03-20-2019 02:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

I don’t know much Sun Belt basketball but C-USA has UTEP, UAB, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee. That’s a six hardcore group of basketball schools plus upcoming Louisiana Tech. There’s no excuse why it’s a one bid league. In football, we need a school or two to separate from the rest but we had that issue back in the 2.0 days.

I think I agree with this. Both CUSA and SBC have their foundations set. Both leagues have found a good balance between the two revenue generating sports with strong core group of schools carrying the torch for football and basketball respectively. Trying to min/max football and basketball potentials with brand new conferences is a silly idea. If Georgia State is only committed to basketball, we would've never left the CAA where we played with Drexel, Hofstra, George Mason, and other basketball schools.

(03-20-2019 02:43 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(03-20-2019 02:20 PM)GSUALUM17 Wrote:  Didn't NCAA grant an at-large bid to a worthy mid-major school this year?

Yeh, the OVC got an at-large and the SoCon got robbed of an At-Large (UNCG)

exactly. if OVC did it, so can we.

(03-20-2019 03:18 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  It's not about which core group is some arbitrary levels of "better" it is what deals are in place and what can be worked out. The Sun Belt with 4 call ups (GS, GSU, CCU, App) was able to ink a deal with ESPN for 8 years for 500k each and didn't have to worry about losing anything. ESPN is investing long term on the Sun Belt content that will give the schools a base level to work with and not worry about falling to the Beins and CBSSNs out there while focusing on getting an access bid and more NCAA units.

We shall see. But if history is any indication, the C-USA core has the edge, at least for now. UTEP alone which has been very mediocre in basketball would blow most of the SBC schools in tradition, fan support and facilities.

At a certain point it becomes a credibility factor.

The AAC has Houston, SMU, Memphis, Cincinnati, UConn, Temple, UCF, USF, Navy ect. You can maybe slip a Tulsa in there and at the 6th rated FB and BB league look credible.

If you tried to put a combo of ODU, App St, MTSU, WKU, Troy and So Miss on ABC Saturdays is it going to work? USM was able to be credible married to Houston, Memphis and Cincinnati of CUSA 1.0 but without that association they aren't credible.

In a lot of ways I think a SWC 2.0 would be easier on the credibility side since UTEP and Rice would be there, big Texas schools in UNT, UTSA and Texas St included. AState, LaTech, Louisiana can fit in. There are couple of fresh faces like Texas St and UTSA the public isn't too familiar with but they are latching on to veteran names.

(03-20-2019 03:22 PM)GSUALUM17 Wrote:  

(03-20-2019 02:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

I don’t know much Sun Belt basketball but C-USA has UTEP, UAB, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee. That’s a six hardcore group of basketball schools plus upcoming Louisiana Tech. There’s no excuse why it’s a one bid league. In football, we need a school or two to separate from the rest but we had that issue back in the 2.0 days.

I think I agree with this. Both CUSA and SBC have their foundations set. Both leagues have found a good balance between the two revenue generating sports with strong core group of schools carrying the torch for football and basketball respectively. Trying to min/max football and basketball potentials with brand new conferences is a silly idea. If Georgia State is only committed to basketball, we would've never left the CAA where we played with Drexel, Hofstra, George Mason, and other basketball schools.

Exactly. I wish ODU and Charlotte fans would think the same way. They left the CAA and A-10 respectively because of their football program otherwise they could’ve stayed in a stronger basketball league. Sometimes you have to compromise for the benefit of the entire athletic department.

The Sun Belt has grown constantly in this changing television deal and conference realignment. C-USA can do the same.

(03-20-2019 03:07 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  

(03-20-2019 02:46 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(03-20-2019 02:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  What about improving the product you already have? That’s a better idea than starting a conference from scratch.

Which is why I commented on the current agreed upon Sun Belt media deal.

It's already at 500k per school and no one has to pay exit fees, nor lose their CFP contract, bowl contracts and NCAA units.


Only a blind person could have missed the upswing that conference has had in Football. With the addition of Gills (from the A10) as commissioner I could see a path forward for better Bball as well (GaSt, UL, GS, UTA, and LR are all pretty decent at bouncy ball)

The Sun Belt has had tradition in basketball. Schools like UAB and WKU came from there and I like what Georgia State is doing. They’re right in the middle of a recruiting hotbed.

But with that being said, I’d take our core over your core anytime. I want C-USA to get better with the lineup we have. The potential is there. Now if I had my way, I’d rather have UTEP in the MWC where we belong and where our biggest rival (New Mexico) is.

In terms of basketball, South Alabama has been successful. Our last hire didn't pan out and as a result we are in our longest NCAA drought in our history. We like our new coach and expect Jag basketball to be back as soon as next season.

Number of NCAA bids by school
8 - South Alabama
7 - Louisiana Monroe
6 - Louisiana*
5 - Georgia State
5 - Little Rock
4 - Coastal Carolina
3 - Georgia Southern
2 - Appalachian State
2 - Troy
2 - Texas State
1 - Arkansas State
1 - Texas-Arlington

* Had 4 appearances vacated due to NCAA violations - so 10 total

I was surprised to see ULM with 7 NCAA appearances.

On closer examination the last appearance was in 1996 in the Southland before joining the SBC and they had a record of 0-7 in NCAA games with nothing competitive.