(01-18-2020 01:26 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:  

(01-18-2020 01:10 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(01-18-2020 12:22 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  

(01-18-2020 05:07 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  This is much ado about nothing. Craig Thompson should have kept his mouth shut. This is an issue they don’t need to deal with for another five years. There was no reason to bring this issue up. At the end of the day, the current deal costs the other ten teams each $180,000 annually. Boise State can make that up in college football playoff revenue, if they can continue to play at their current level. If they drop off or other schools emerge in the next five years, then they can have the discussion with Boise State about the current contract.

One thing I am certain of, Boise State is not sending their Olympic sports to an eastern or southern conference. If they did join the AAC at some point in the future, they would drop their Olympic sports in the WAC. Boise State is starting baseball in 2020 and since the Big Sky does not have baseball, the WAC is a better fit.

This past season, Boise State had 38 California players on their football roster. They would have to think hard about moving out of a western conference, especially when the revenue difference is minimal. They are not going to leave the MWC.

Boise State will not send their Olympics to the WAC. Even though I would love to see it, it's not happening. Back when they were joining the Big East, they planned on doing that, before the WAC was weakened. They're not going to play with Dixie St, Cal Baptist, Tarleton St, and Chicago St.

They would need an absolute homerun deal for their football team to leave the MWC. The Big West probably wouldn't take them now, the Big Sky is "too small time for them" and the WCC isn't taking them. Their only real option is the WAC, but like I said, not happening without a sweet deal

Why wouldn’t the Big West take Boise State? I don’t think that would be off the table at all if Boise State wanted to pursue football-only membership in the AAC or independence. The WCC isn’t necessarily off the table, either, although that isn’t the same type of fit on paper. Ultimately, the WCC will do whatever it will take to keep Gonzaga happy. If Gonzaga sees adding Boise State as a positive (where even if they aren’t necessarily a great basketball program as of now, it’s still a legit top-to-bottom athletic department like BYU), then that can’t be discounted.

I think the long-term playoff structure will surely matter. If there’s an 8-team playoff with a guaranteed spot for the G5 champ, then that’s a huge incentive for Boise State to stay in the MWC. However, if we still have the current system or there isn’t any guaranteed spot for the G5 champ, then that’s where independence might become more attractive. The one thing that we have seen with BYU is that it’s actually a little easier getting a P5-like schedule as a western team because the Pac-12 schools are much more willing to grant home-and-home series to non-P5 schools than the other P5 conferences. Boise State has garnered a certain amount of credibility as a brand name, as well - P5 fan bases don’t have the reflexive “that’s a G5 school” reaction to playing Boise State that they do with virtually everyone else.

So, I guess I’m a little more open to the possibility seeing schools like Boise State going independent than I was a few years ago. Independence by choice (meaning schools like BYU and UConn as opposed to UMass and New Mexico State) is going to be most attractive to the schools that have hit the glass ceiling on wrong side of the P5/G5 divide, which certainly would apply to Boise State.

Also, I really don’t know what the MWC leadership is doing with its statements, either. Craig Thompson should be much more scared of pissing off Boise State compared to any other school in the MWC. This is the G5 equivalent of the Big 12 worrying more about pissing off Iowa State and Kansas State instead of Texas and Oklahoma. If the Big 12 doesn’t have Texas and Oklahoma, then they don’t have a conference. Similarly, if the MWC doesn’t have Boise State, it doesn’t take too much movement for it to suddenly face a similar fate as the WAC. If I was running the MWC, I wouldn’t let the tail wag the dog... which means keeping Boise State happy should be priority #1 regardless of the complaints of much less valuable schools that don’t have any real realignment market power.

The Big West has 5 sister Cal State Schools and MWC football peer Hawaii in it. That is 6 immediate no votes.

The WCC is a possibility if BYU pushes for it but BYU needs the MWC for its Oct./Nov game scheduling. BYU will think twice about pissing off Thompson and the other MWC Presidents.

Losing Boise State would currently be a financial gain, under the existing structure, for the other schools not to mention soothe pissed off fanbases. Independence today means no access to the access bowl as BYU well knows. The prospect of your season being meaningless after one loss in October does not build your program. BSU will not go independent.

The real question is does the AAC want them. They bring a prima donna attitude worse than Texas so if you do have fun.

Have you seen our conference lately? We know drama. Boise State's ego us average for us.