(10-29-2021 08:12 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 06:38 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 06:31 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  I would tell the two schools to tell MAC to go fly a kite. I do not like college football on Tuesday and Wendsday's nights. It will kill off their fans with their home games will go south of 15,000 students.

...that is a determent, for sure... however, the times where UAB have played on a weeknight (typically Thursday, but we've had a few on Friday over the years) have not been bad, IF we have a fair opponent and/or we are doing well... ...the big "X-factor" for us, as much as we hate to admit it, is that a Saturday game sometimes pits you directly against the Bama and/or Auburn game(s)... it shouldn't be a big deal, but it can be - the biggest is the Iron Bowl - in fact, our home game with UTEP (which looks to be a very important game as to the West Division of C-USA) was moved to Black Friday, primarily to avoid 'going up' against the Iron Bowl this year.

I'm not sure if other teams have issues 'going up' against the larger schools scheduled games, but... it IS an issue, unfortunately...

The thing is, it hasn't been an occasional game for the MAC schools. It's been 2 weeknight home games and 2 weeknight road games for some of the MAC schools at least - certainly for NIU. That sucks. You get TV exposure but man, that's tough for attendance.

Maybe that will get better if the MAC does expand? With more schools available to play those weeknight games seems it would mean each school will have to play less of them in order to fill the required TV slots.

(10-29-2021 08:53 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 05:26 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 04:37 PM)_sturt_ Wrote:  Good to hear. Hate to see anyone left behind, and would rather everyone get out of the burning building alive.

But sounds like might be waiting on the fire truck a few weeks...

Its urgent for MTSU and WKU.

And urgent for CUSA as they can't do anything until this thread runs its course.

Exactly...until the MAC makes a decision CUSA will be at a standstill.

If I'm WKU I put in a call to the MVC too

Would suck for Murray State but if CUSA can't rebuild it would be the best possible independence option

(10-29-2021 09:04 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 05:08 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I’ve said in other threads that this makes complete sense to me as a long-term demographic play for the MAC. Leagues are locking things down for what they think will be stasis for the next generation: the short-term TV revenue impact is simply less of a concern compared to the last decade of conference moves.

Conferences historically are stable unless there are disruptions.
Switching from teams traveling by rail to bus and then air charter caused changes because schools that couldn’t practically align under rail travel became easier to travel to.

SWC in large part went to 9 with Houston because it opened up more TV possibilities when NCAA was capping appearances at 5 per rolling two year period. Imagine being an ABC executive trying to figure out which of UT-OU, UT-TAMU, UT-Arkansas you would skip one year.

The basketball driven deals when the tournament started being real money and you could cut your own basketball deal but not football.

Then the conference negotiated over-the-air network TV deals

Then the carriage fee becomes a big deal so we got cable driven deals

Then conference network deals.

Now we have streaming driven deals. JMU blowing people away with fan subscriptions to Flo was exactly what ESPN wants to help drive ESPN+ subscriptions.

With things sorting out, it’s likely that in a few years you wont have a lot of AD’s and presidents with experience in negotiating conference changes considering the short typical tenures.

These are alignments that could end up lasting a long time.

We are getting to the point where G5 conferences won't be able to raid each other with all the steep exit fees and parity among the conferences.

They'll have to go for CUSA leftovers or independents in the future. FCS teams too but the list of quality FCS move ups has become more narrow.

Maybe 50 years in the future one of the G5's will have an airport meeting and split.

Can this happen without espn giving a MAJOR bump to the MAC. CFP money, NCAA units, media deal all split by fourteen not twelve. Not to mention travel budgets going up for all twelve MAC schools. Seems like if you add that all up it could be more money than the resistant to change MAC can stomach. Am I forgetting something?

(10-29-2021 09:05 PM)Gamenole Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 08:12 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 06:38 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 06:31 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  I would tell the two schools to tell MAC to go fly a kite. I do not like college football on Tuesday and Wendsday's nights. It will kill off their fans with their home games will go south of 15,000 students.

...that is a determent, for sure... however, the times where UAB have played on a weeknight (typically Thursday, but we've had a few on Friday over the years) have not been bad, IF we have a fair opponent and/or we are doing well... ...the big "X-factor" for us, as much as we hate to admit it, is that a Saturday game sometimes pits you directly against the Bama and/or Auburn game(s)... it shouldn't be a big deal, but it can be - the biggest is the Iron Bowl - in fact, our home game with UTEP (which looks to be a very important game as to the West Division of C-USA) was moved to Black Friday, primarily to avoid 'going up' against the Iron Bowl this year.

I'm not sure if other teams have issues 'going up' against the larger schools scheduled games, but... it IS an issue, unfortunately...

The thing is, it hasn't been an occasional game for the MAC schools. It's been 2 weeknight home games and 2 weeknight road games for some of the MAC schools at least - certainly for NIU. That sucks. You get TV exposure but man, that's tough for attendance.

Maybe that will get better if the MAC does expand? With more schools available to play those weeknight games seems it would mean each school will have to play less of them in order to fill the required TV slots.

Maybe. But it could also just mean more weeknight games and still only one on ESPN2, one on ESPNU and the others streaming on ESPN+.
.

(10-30-2021 12:53 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Can this happen without espn giving a MAJOR bump to the MAC. CFP money, NCAA units, media deal all split by fourteen not twelve. Not to mention travel budgets going up for all twelve MAC schools. Seems like if you add that all up it could be more money than the resistant to change MAC can stomach. Am I forgetting something?

IMO, ESPN guaranteeing that everyone's basic payout stays the same would be enough.

(10-30-2021 08:15 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 12:53 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Can this happen without espn giving a MAJOR bump to the MAC. CFP money, NCAA units, media deal all split by fourteen not twelve. Not to mention travel budgets going up for all twelve MAC schools. Seems like if you add that all up it could be more money than the resistant to change MAC can stomach. Am I forgetting something?

IMO, ESPN guaranteeing that everyone's basic payout stays the same would be enough.

Agree. ESPN won't go any further than it has to, but if it favors the MAC at 14, that would be equitable.

(10-30-2021 08:15 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 12:53 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Can this happen without espn giving a MAJOR bump to the MAC. CFP money, NCAA units, media deal all split by fourteen not twelve. Not to mention travel budgets going up for all twelve MAC schools. Seems like if you add that all up it could be more money than the resistant to change MAC can stomach. Am I forgetting something?

IMO, ESPN guaranteeing that everyone's basic payout stays the same would be enough.

It has to be $1 more than any G5 payout so the MAC can claim P6.

I’m guessing there are a lot of MAC alums in Nashville because it’s a transplant city where the majority of people are not from there, except Bill Dazzle who allegedly is.

I don’t see how the MAC figures out divisions. Put two CTZ schools in the East and BGSU to the West? Put them in the West (logical) and move Toledo to the East? Divisional games from Kalamazoo to Murfreesboro?

It’s going to be a weird fit no matter how it happens, if it happens.

If UMass is all-in for all-sports I don’t see how they aren’t a lock. As I’ve always said, school presidents ultimately make these decisions and UMass’ institutional profile blows the others out of the water.

East- UMass
West- WKU

or if the money stays the same

East - UMass and FIU (fb only) or UConn (fb only w/ bball games)
West - WKU and MTSU

(10-30-2021 12:53 AM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Can this happen without espn giving a MAJOR bump to the MAC. CFP money, NCAA units, media deal all split by fourteen not twelve. Not to mention travel budgets going up for all twelve MAC schools. Seems like if you add that all up it could be more money than the resistant to change MAC can stomach. Am I forgetting something?

This is a move that make total sense now. Will it happen? Who knows.
ESPN would likely need to give the MAC $4 or 5 mil so they don't lose out on the deal, But that is little $ for ESPN to add.

(10-29-2021 04:36 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  As noted many times, this Blue Raider fan would be very pleased to see MTSU in the MAC.

Thanks for posting, Maize.

The MAC is a good conference. Great TV exposure. Lot of bowl tie ins. With WKU a built in rivalry game. You schedule other southern schools for ooc games and it is all good.

(10-29-2021 06:38 PM)TruBlu Wrote:  MAC won’t be disappointed with Middle Tennessee. A great MAC fit institutionally, a higher athletic budget ($35m) than WKU ($30m), a suburb of Nashville unlike WKU which is in another state, and we play SEC hockey being in the Predators market.

MT is in a much stronger position to excel long term than WKY.

I think WKU fans are beyond ready for y’all to begin excelling. Tick tock “100 Miles of Tepid Fan Interest” is not as fun

You’re also right, I don’t see WKU becoming a hockey school…

FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

(10-30-2021 03:04 PM)BKTopper Wrote:  FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

I'm not on Facebook so I couldn't tune in.

(10-30-2021 03:18 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 03:04 PM)BKTopper Wrote:  FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

I'm not on Facebook so I couldn't tune in.

(10-30-2021 03:18 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 03:04 PM)BKTopper Wrote:  FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

I'm not on Facebook so I couldn't tune in.

Good one

(10-30-2021 03:18 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 03:04 PM)BKTopper Wrote:  FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

I'm not on Facebook so I couldn't tune in.

Hmm, I'm watching on cbssn and I did hear them talk about all the CUSA departures and the rumors of WKU and MTSU talking with the MAC. All info that's been on this board prior to the game.

(10-30-2021 03:18 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-30-2021 03:04 PM)BKTopper Wrote:  FWIW not sure if anybody else heard the Old Dominion Louisiana Tech game announcers talking about MT/WKU to MAC.

I'm not on Facebook so I couldn't tune in.

That’s cold

(10-29-2021 06:31 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  

(10-29-2021 06:19 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  MAC is interested. Would not be surprised to hear ESPN dangling the prospect of more money to the MAC to balance out (and add to) paltry TV funding... plus, better bowl access if CUSA is killed off

...yeah I didn't even think about bowls... C-USA has at least 6 tie-ins that will be 'transferred' to other conferences... if the MAC just adds one bowl tie-in, it may add enough value to move the needle... although bowls are SO controlled by ESPN at this point I'm not sure how much effect it would ultimately have...

I just think it's interesting that the "MAC exploring expansion with WKU and MTSU" tweets started mere hours after the Marshall to the SBC announcement. It appears from the timing/sequence that perhaps there was a chance that Marshall may have left options open between the Belt and the MAC before their final call...

That appears to have been the case. Wednesday night football in November's freezing rain of north Chicago, Kalamazoo or Akron is not super appealing to some.

MAC, WKU and MTSU appears to be a lukewarm dating scene for all sides. It's up to ESPN to heat this up and make it spicier.