(10-27-2026 01:27 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-27-2026 01:01 PM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  The MAC surely has an idea of whether the rumors are correct- Ohio/Miami/Toledo moving on, certain teams moving to FCS. If they think there's validity to some or all of those, well, they better try to backfill.

Miami trying to move to the AAC seems to be a longer term effort that has been underway on the donor front for a while now, and it's still up in the air whether there's a price point they can afford where they can buy their way in.

If the negotiations are at the point where Ohio and/or Toledo have a good idea of the number, this would be the time to look around to find out if there is an appealing move on offer, since the odds seem high that the deal will involve a CUSA-style GOR.

So it is probably not axiomatic that rumors of Ohio and/or Toledo looking around are due to both or either school getting an offer ... it can easily be working out what their options are before committing to a GOR. That is a situation with much less Chicken Little to it. Clearly, JMU moving to the American opens up at most one spot in the Sunbelt, and Toledo and Ohio would be far from the only candidates asking about that spot.

Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio.

Ohio is loyal to the MAC but Miami is putting pressure on them by moving. Ohio could also be talking to the AC in fact I would bet on it if Miami and Marshall are doing it. Now is that conversation going anywhere I don't know but they have a better chance of an AC bid on the basis of their academic profile alone then Marshall and most of the other interested schools. Ohio also is a serious candidate for the SBC and definitely ahead of any other MAC school due to profile and location near Marshall.

Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state. Neither does Miami but they are at least a prestigious academic school to bring into the conference. Toledo is a fringe candidate for the SBC, only if the SBC expanded to 16 and probably even not if that happened.

I do not believe Toledo in all reality has anywhere to go all-sports. Miami and/or Ohio are 50/50 chances to leave the MAC at this moment. As an Ohio fan I hope we are not sharing a conference with Miami again but the Ohio BOT wants to stay aligned with Miami. If Miami gets an AC bid they'll want an AC bid first for example. If Ohio wants a AC bid they might not be really interested in moving to the SBC. The AC could grow to 18 teams if reports are to believed.

Personally I would rather have Ohio play in the SBC than AC where its mostly a bunch of urban schools rather than college towns and not play in another conference with Miami. That can also be accomplished by letting them go and staying in the MAC.

(10-28-2026 02:15 PM)polkhigh Wrote:  

(10-28-2026 10:46 AM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(10-28-2026 09:47 AM)astr083 Wrote:  I really see no reason why Miami(OH) would pony up $40 mil to join another G6 conference - the AAC is not far and away better than the MAC.

The American has a much more lucrative television contract. Even if Miami were to get less than a full share of it, that's a lot of money. Plus, Miami would probably be looking at this as a way to put some separation between themselves and the other Ohio schools in the MAC by joining a conference with strong academic institutions such as the service academies and Tulane.

All that said: This seems risky to me. We are talking about a football program that could only draw 12,000 people on a perfect September Saturday this year for Bowling Green. I can't help but wonder if Miami would eventually run into some of the kind of financial and competitive problems that have plagued Rutgers since they joined the Big Ten.

(10-28-2026 10:24 AM)GRBRONCO Wrote:  If Ohio gets the Sunbelt invite, they are gone.

Would Ohio leave for the Sun Belt in search of less television revenue? Or would it be the opportunity for its non-revenue teams to see more parts of the country?

If you have evidence of real interest there, please share it. But I'm not seeing much upside to the Sun Belt.

I thought the SBC paid more?
Also, would Saturday's in Athens hosting Marshall, App State, ect..be beneficial to OU and Athens.

Would having divisional conference mates in the Virginias, Carolinas, and Georgia help OU exposure to fb recruits in those areas.

Ohio has tremendous potential. I think they can grow in the SBC and they can grow the SBC.

Ohio is interested in contending for the CFP like JMU.

Miami increasing spending in the AC will motivate Ohio to do the same regardless of what conference Ohio is playing in.

The two best options for Ohio, IMO.

1a. An 11/12 MAC without Miami. Split the BB money 11 ways and the Cleveland tournament. Represent the southern half of the state for the MAC.

1b. 16 team SBC with Toledo, Missouri St. I think an 8 team division with Ohio, Toledo, Marshall, App St, ODU, Coastal, Georgia St, Georgia So would be one of the strongest alignments in the G6. Travel costs would be manageable enough because of strict divisional play in all sports.

Toledo, Marshall and Ohio together on the schedule every season would make for PAC East type compeition IMO.

Some of the other mentioned for the SBC East...

-Delaware. They stink in BB, don't have great fans. Maybe some day but do not want to be in a conference with them right now.

-Liberty. Good FB but school might be too non-traditional for the SBC.

-WKU. Best years are behind them and not enough of a FB school.

(10-30-2026 11:41 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio. ...

... Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state....

There aren't any MAC schools from Ohio that "represent the state", so the fact that a given one doesn't is a moot point.

(10-31-2026 09:17 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-30-2026 11:41 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio. ...

... Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state....

There aren't any MAC schools from Ohio that "represent the state", so the fact that a given one doesn't is a moot point.

Look at AAC members, how many actually represent their State?

(10-31-2026 09:17 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-30-2026 11:41 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio. ...

... Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state....

There aren't any MAC schools from Ohio that "represent the state", so the fact that a given one doesn't is a moot point.

I disagree when you have BG, Kent and Ohio pulling large and broad student bodies from the state of Ohio.

Miami is broad but they have more out-of-state students than in-state. They are pulling in 50%-60% of the representation of a Kent State or Ohio. Even less when branch campuses are counted in the equation.

(10-31-2026 09:26 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(10-31-2026 09:17 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-30-2026 11:41 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio. ...

... Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state....

There aren't any MAC schools from Ohio that "represent the state", so the fact that a given one doesn't is a moot point.

Look at AAC members, how many actually represent their State?

I was considering the view that whether or not a Go6 school "represents their state" is a factor on getting into the American. And yes, on the one hand, yes, Go6 schools that "represent their state" represent small population states, so it's more common in the Western US, and not common in the area that the American focuses on.

My focus was on it being more than a little delusional to suggest that there are any MAC Ohio schools that "represent" the entire state of Ohio.

(11-01-2026 12:04 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-31-2026 09:26 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(10-31-2026 09:17 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-30-2026 11:41 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... Its a completely different situaiton between Toledo & Ohio. ...

... Toledo is more in Marshall's shoes. They want an AC bid but that isn't going to happen due to enrollment issues and they don't represent the state....

There aren't any MAC schools from Ohio that "represent the state", so the fact that a given one doesn't is a moot point.

Look at AAC members, how many actually represent their State?

I was considering the view that whether or not a Go6 school "represents their state" is a factor on getting into the American. And yes, on the one hand, yes, Go6 schools that "represent their state" represent small population states, so it's more common in the Western US, and not common in the area that the American focuses on.

My focus was on it being more than a little delusional to suggest that there are any MAC Ohio schools that "represent" the entire state of Ohio.

My point here is that Miami & Toledo for that matter have a low saturation in-state for Ohio.

Total Ohio residents including graduate & branch campuses.

Toledo 11,193
Akron 13,500
Miami 15,368
Bowling Green 16,548
Kent State 28,305
Ohio 29,495

For Toledo 60% of its students are from within 30 miles of campus. They have a very low penetration rate in-state outside of the immediate area.

If the American is going to go with a second school beyond Miami its not going to be Toledo which incidentally allows for non-qualifiers which the American does not allow. Bowling Green is a much bigger draw across the state than what Toledo is and if Toledo leaves the MAC they are close enough to cover that market.

Miami system only represents 13.4% (15,368 of 114,409) of in-state students. The MAC even with the loss of Miami will still have 100,000 Ohio in-state students in the conference.

(11-01-2026 12:43 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... My point here is that Miami & Toledo for that matter have a low saturation in-state for Ohio.

It would be more plausible that that was your original point if you had originally said anything along those lines. None of these numbers would support a conclusion of "and therefore are representative of the state of Ohio in general", which is the distinction you were originally drawing.

The idea you float just a few messages upthread that Miami changing conferences opens the door to Ohio University becoming the representative of Southwest Ohio in the MAC is itself delusional, even setting aside the effort to suggest that any of the Oho MAC schools "represent the whole state".

(11-01-2026 02:07 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-01-2026 12:43 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... My point here is that Miami & Toledo for that matter have a low saturation in-state for Ohio.

It would be more plausible that that was your original point if you had originally said anything along those lines. None of these numbers would support a conclusion of "and therefore are representative of the state of Ohio in general", which is the distinction you were originally drawing.

The idea you float just a few messages upthread that Miami changing conferences opens the door to Ohio University becoming the representative of Southwest Ohio in the MAC is itself delusional, even setting aside the effort to suggest that any of the Oho MAC schools "represent the whole state".

Bruce in a lot of regards that is already the case. The Ohio radio network stretches right up to the Miami valley cooridor and there is discussion about opening another branch of our osteo medical school in the greater Dayton area. We'd no longer have to respect Miami's turf in marketing toward SW Ohio if they left the conference.

The American I believe is mainly interested in Miami as a prestige add and not for the purposes of making an investment in the state of Ohio like they've done in Texas as an example. If the American wanted greater saturation within the state of Ohio beyond Miami at some point they'll be looking for Ohio instead of Toledo.

The 4C's schools of Ohio (Miami, BG, Ohio, Kent) were designed to be major schools for the state. However Miami has decided for itself it wanted to focus on operating more like a larger version of a private school rather than focusing on access many years ago now.

Total TV viewership by FBS college:

https://x.com/DNeckel19/status/2118087695838654732

WMU-UM "clockgate" prime time game did wonders for Bronco eyeballs. 6th in the G6.

(11-06-2026 10:59 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  Total TV viewership by FBS college:

https://x.com/DNeckel19/status/2118087695838654732

WMU-UM "clockgate" prime time game did wonders for Bronco eyeballs. 6th in the G6.

4,000,000+ of that 4,460,000 total was the Michigan game.

That tells me the Boise game didn't really move the needle at all.

(11-06-2026 11:37 AM)ejd_5277 Wrote:  

(11-06-2026 10:59 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  Total TV viewership by FBS college:

https://x.com/DNeckel19/status/2118087695838654732

WMU-UM "clockgate" prime time game did wonders for Bronco eyeballs. 6th in the G6.

4,000,000+ of that 4,460,000 total was the Michigan game.

That tells me the Boise game didn't really move the needle at all.

WMU Vs BOISE hand 330,000. Pretty good actually for a non-competitive game.

(11-06-2026 11:47 AM)GRBRONCO Wrote:  

(11-06-2026 11:37 AM)ejd_5277 Wrote:  

(11-06-2026 10:59 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  Total TV viewership by FBS college:

https://x.com/DNeckel19/status/2118087695838654732

WMU-UM "clockgate" prime time game did wonders for Bronco eyeballs. 6th in the G6.

4,000,000+ of that 4,460,000 total was the Michigan game.

That tells me the Boise game didn't really move the needle at all.

WMU Vs BOISE hand 330,000. Pretty good actually for a non-competitive game.

Its pretty good going up against all that P4 competition on Saturday.

I caught some of the game at a casino. It was on all over the place.

(11-01-2026 02:57 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  ... The American I believe is mainly interested in Miami as a prestige add and not for the purposes of making an investment in the state of Ohio like they've done in Texas as an example. ...

Any reporting that the American Conference is interested in Miami at all?

I've seen the reporting that Miami is interested in the AAC, but none that the American is interested in Miami.

(11-06-2026 08:05 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Any reporting that the American Conference is interested in Miami at all?

I've seen the reporting that Miami is interested in the AAC, but none that the American is interested in Miami.

I think some of us here are putting a lot of weight on this post from BeatWestern:

(10-14-2026 06:56 PM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  The expectation is that Miami is leaving the MAC for the American with an announcement likely within the next two months.

Among the most likely candidates to replace JMU in the SBC are Delaware, MTSU and WKU. Delaware and WKU are among schools to keep an eye on for MAC expansion as well.

(Yesterday 08:26 AM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(11-06-2026 08:05 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Any reporting that the American Conference is interested in Miami at all?

I've seen the reporting that Miami is interested in the AAC, but none that the American is interested in Miami.

I think some of us here are putting a lot of weight on this post from BeatWestern:

(10-14-2026 06:56 PM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  The expectation is that Miami is leaving the MAC for the American with an announcement likely within the next two months.

Among the most likely candidates to replace JMU in the SBC are Delaware, MTSU and WKU. Delaware and WKU are among schools to keep an eye on for MAC expansion as well.

I'm also hearing reports the Ohio camp Miami is likely out the door.