Quote:b-a-s-k-e-t-b-a-l-l

You'll have to spell basketball in the new CUSA with Cincinnati, L'ville, Marquette and DePaul bolting and rumors of St. Louis and Charleston soon behind them - because no one will recognize the game. CUSA is down to a one bid dance conference in a hearbeat in '05.

But the MAC thanks CUSA. We need those bids you'll give up with the $$$$ to go with them.

IULurker Wrote:You might be right Murox, however right now the MAC has 3 teams in the BCS top 25 - pretty good for ESPN. Also, the MAC deal is not that great right now, so it will be hard to make it fall even lower. CUSA, on the other hand, is in trouble. Some of those schools are already losing BIG money on athletics. When that ESPN revenue stream dries up, it will be even worse so they are going to tighten their wallets. One way of doing that, of course, is to not subsidize 5 bowl games.

That's an excellent point. Tulane and UAB already tightened the belt...what's left when a $70 million contract gets cut by $50+ million? And where are the Marshall fans who were adamant that the CUSA contract was primarily for football, and wouldn't change?

As for the MAC's contract, I believe it might get revised...upward. CUSA no longer has marquee value, and ESPN will probably fill in the blanks w/ substance instead of 'style'.

Even if it doesn't change, the MAC teams are better off b/c the money is split 12 ways instead of 14.

Yup, Marshall finally has done something good for the MAC.