http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os...4403.story

The two leagues are discussing a variety of options that range from unifying to negotiate more lucrative television contracts to jointly pushing for an automatic bid to the BCS.

The only constant is change. Whether change, volunarily pursued or a response to an outside force, is a win/lose or a win/win situation depends upon the imagination and foresight of the decision maker.

The key, I think, is to realize the positive of what you have...and not focus and frozen stiff with the fear of what you don't have. Together, CUSA and MWC have a lot.

Could very well be the start of a true coast to coast league. Between the two conferences there are some decent teams (still) and more than enough of a footprint tv set wise.

What it would really represent though is pulling away from the other non-AQ's in terms of resources. It still wouldn't be bcs money (assuming they couldn't reach AQ), but I bet it'd be the premier non-aq league without question.

The BCS only uses the top 12 teams for their measure of the strength of a conference. So a 20ish team Mega-CUSA with maybe 2 10-team divisions would have a better chance of meeting the top 6 stongest conference measure that they are missing for BCS AQ status. But then they would still need a team to finish in the top 12 or better than 16 if an AQ champion is ranked lower than 16th.

With TCU, Utah and BYU all gone out of the MWC...Boise can't carry a 20 team league on their own. Sure there will be some surprise teams emerge each year, as they always do. But it won't help much. It'll be two non-AQ conferences combining to be one BIG non-AQ conference. The variety and scheduling would be nice, I guess....but even with a larger TV landscape...with that many teams it'll still breakdown the same and the TV contract would still be a non-AQ contract.

It won't be the greatest conference ever, but it would probably be the best the non-AQ's can do in the short term. At this point it's time for those of us in the non-AQ world to start thinking outside the box, because the status quo just allows the system to make the monetary gap between the haves and have nots greater by the year.

Not sure how far this will get with TCU gone, and probably one CUSA team going to the Big East too.

Still...getting rid of the bottom schools could help...

The MWC and CUSA have a chance to make great strides by collectively bargaining for a National TV contract (covering almost every region of the country), working together on scheduling issues, and promoting a champion worthy of BCS or NCG inclusion. That is the goal here.

I have suggested this for years over on the TBDPITL website and it seems to be coming to fruition. I believe CUSA should look at adding Temple in all sports and possibly, with the situation in the WAC, La Tech. Every program can bring something to the table here and it may use the distribution of the Mountain Network (with a new name) as its starting point. Whether its Rice baseball to UAB basketball to Hawaii football, there is significant content available to fill a network and generate revenue. Its a win-win for both leagues.

This potential collaboration has high academic schools like Rice, Tulane and Tulsa along with flagships like New Mexico, Hawaii, and Nevada, along with large State Universities in UCF, ECU, Boise State and Fresno State, plus City schools in Memphis, Houston and possibly Temple. This will be all about branding and fighting that nonAQ (supposedly mid-major) label. It could push the BCS over the edge in terms of OOC scheduling and the "stay ahead" mindset of athletic spending. No more "buy" games and the potential to streghthen each and every program, on and off the field.

Hopefully, the Big East moves up Villanova and we can all move on...

I have mixed feelings on it. If they got a shared auto bid, it is a great idea. no shared bid, I wouldn't do it if I was CUSA. The MWC is now basically the Wac. it will take a huge TV hit, Cusa will by far be the #1 non auto bid conf if they stand firm. That will end up true even if they lose 1 team. MWC likely ends up with 12 members, making 500 to 750 k per year. CUSA could very well end up at 12 members making approx 1 mil per school. $$$$ talks.

For this to realistically work they would need to form an 8 team conference under the MWC banner. In this manner they can get extra points like the Big East does for having less members and count TCU as the 9th team. Even then this has little chance in working due to the fact they have no third team (could really use BYU). They would have to have a very solid year next season out of their members and need strong finishes out of a few teams this season. When the evaluation period is over they could come together as a full merger with or without a BCS bid and move on. At this point though if they want a bid in 2012-2013 they need to form only an 8 team conference.

The only major point scorers right now are TCU and Boise St. Nevada is on pace to be a third point scorer (need top-25 BCS status). ECU and Tulsa have been relatively solid clubs during the evaluatio period. UCF, Hawaii, and Southern Miss all have good shots at getting in the BCS-25 this season which is a must. Still need to pick up a 9th team. Anything other than this type of small combination has no chance at getting a bid.

MWC:

Boise St. (9, 6)-11
(TCU) (11, 4)-3
ECU (32, 32)
Tulsa (35, NA)-42
Rice (37, NA)
Houston (NA, 26)
Nevada (NA, 46)-17
UCF (NA, NA)-29
Hawaii (NA, NA)-30
Southern Miss (NA, NA)-33
Air Force (NA, NA)-38
San Diego St. (NA, NA)-39

Collaboration options is different then merger. A better tv contract because of numbers would have to be divided by more members so it might not work out that great for each individual school. I think there are too many schools for a true merger of the 2 conferences.

So the Mountain West will look like:

Air Force
Boise State
Colorado St.
Fresno St.
Nevada
New Mexico
San Diego St.
UNLV
Wyoming

...and they're thinking about Hawaii? Is that the latest?

(12-03-2010 10:04 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  I have mixed feelings on it. If they got a shared auto bid, it is a great idea. no shared bid, I wouldn't do it if I was CUSA. The MWC is now basically the Wac. it will take a huge TV hit, Cusa will by far be the #1 non auto bid conf if they stand firm. That will end up true even if they lose 1 team. MWC likely ends up with 12 members, making 500 to 750 k per year. CUSA could very well end up at 12 members making approx 1 mil per school. $$$$ talks.

The MWC can't take a huge hit to their TV. They had none to begin with. They tied their fate to the Mtn. being a hot property and it never got distribution that was predicted. They make less than CUSA in TV revenue and won't get an increase unless they sell their soul back to BCSPN and play weeknights.

(12-03-2010 08:34 AM)Hoquista Wrote:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os...4403.story

The two leagues are discussing a variety of options that range from unifying to negotiate more lucrative television contracts to jointly pushing for an automatic bid to the BCS.

There is a lot more going on behind the scenes. There are multiple scenarios - a couple that could be quite beneficial to several members of each league.

(12-05-2010 04:09 PM)esayem Wrote:  So the Mountain West will look like:

Air Force
Boise State
Colorado St.
Fresno St.
Nevada
New Mexico
San Diego St.
UNLV
Wyoming

...and they're thinking about Hawaii? Is that the latest?

Yes, that's the latest. They should know this week for certain about Hawaii because they are wanted for FB only. On Wednesday Hawaii should find out if the Big West will take in their non-FB sports which would then free up the Hawaii to MWC for FB move.

CUSA sucks and all the schools in it know it. We poach from the WAC. The WAC poaches from D-2. And the Mt Goat or any other conference not named the F'n Sun Belt can poach from us.


Every member of CUSA is scared sh*tless right now.

1. You don't want to be stagnant for the next 10-20 years. Because programs that used to not even exist blow by you (Boise, UCF, South Florida, etc).

This is the dilemma with Houston fans right now. We've been treading water since the SWC broke up.

Now, Texas St and UTSA are moving to D-1. Are we scared about them? No. But they can't be ignored, nor can we ignore the fact that North Texas has one of the largest enrollments in the country and just built a new stadium.

Houston is pouring 500 million dollars into it's campus. And does impact a city that has a larger economy than Hong Kong (according to a Rice study) into the billions. Our and AD and president are doing a hell of a job with an apathetic fan base.

But fans are getting restless at the point of going nowhere. And something has to be done.

(12-07-2010 11:56 AM)ShockerBob Wrote:  1. You don't want to be stagnant for the next 10-20 years. Because programs that used to not even exist blow by you (Boise, UCF, South Florida, etc).

This is the real point. Look at Boise, UCF, USF, and Utah and TCU for that matter... they built up their programs by pouring in money and hiring good coaches, rather than sitting around complaining about their non-AQ conference.

Programs that spend money, hire well, and win, can rise above their conference instead of complaining that it holds them back.

(12-07-2010 01:30 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(12-07-2010 11:56 AM)ShockerBob Wrote:  1. You don't want to be stagnant for the next 10-20 years. Because programs that used to not even exist blow by you (Boise, UCF, South Florida, etc).

This is the real point. Look at Boise, UCF, USF, and Utah and TCU for that matter... they built up their programs by pouring in money and hiring good coaches, rather than sitting around complaining about their non-AQ conference.

Programs that spend money, hire well, and win, can rise above their conference instead of complaining that it holds them back.

I agree with what you are saying. Not only are the "have" category splitting into "haves and have nots" (SEC, Big 10, & PAC 12 versus ACC, Big East, & Big 12), the "have not" categories are splitting as well even within a conference like CUSA. You have UCF, ECU, UH, and Memphis putting more and more money in their the athletic department while others in the conference simply don't have the fan base related revenues to do such. Greater separation is occuring at every level, no matter what level.

CUSA, as we know it, will not exist in 3 or 4 years.

The schools with the larger budgets will affilate with each other. Schools that can't draw 20k a game will ultimately have to affiliate with each other.

I think the only way this would work in favor of the school who are better in sports is for them to leave CUSA and MWC to start their own conference and eventually push for an AQ bid. If they did and UCF, ECU, Nevada, and Boise stayed on track, it could easily happen.