(12-12-2019 02:25 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean they probably should reorganize into the most regionally sensible combination of 2 leagues possible, but there's no financial incentive for the Sun-Belt to add teams and none for C-USA teams to pay the buyout to go to a league that also makes essentially nothing in TV revenue.

When is the AAC going to do this???

Yes but I think you are looking at it the wrong way.

I would look at it more who would most stand to benefit from a move to the SBC. Take a look at CUSA East.

Marshall
Western Kentucky
Middle Tennessee
Charlotte
Old Dominion
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

The Florida schools are together in the same conference and going to be more interested in a metro based alignment.

For Marshall in the SBC they would be on the fringe if they were to flip. With Western Kentucky they have someone that is contiguous at least.

Charlotte is close to App St and Georgia St but not in the same conference. ODU is close to that group of schools. I can see where these two in particular might be attracted to the SBC.

SBC East Proposed

Old Dominion
Charlotte
Appalachian St.
Coastal Carolina
Georgia St.
Georgia Southern

This would be a pretty compact division for ODU compared to CUSA East. Better branding and splitting the money 12 ways.

I don't think SoMiss with its 36,000 seat stadium and playing in a division with names like UAB, Rice and LaTech would want to align in a conference with the newbies of the SBC.

(12-13-2019 12:32 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(12-12-2019 02:25 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean they probably should reorganize into the most regionally sensible combination of 2 leagues possible, but there's no financial incentive for the Sun-Belt to add teams and none for C-USA teams to pay the buyout to go to a league that also makes essentially nothing in TV revenue.

When is the AAC going to do this???

No real incentive for the AAC to realign as long as ESPN is paying them 7 million a team.

(12-13-2019 04:24 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-13-2019 12:32 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(12-12-2019 02:25 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean they probably should reorganize into the most regionally sensible combination of 2 leagues possible, but there's no financial incentive for the Sun-Belt to add teams and none for C-USA teams to pay the buyout to go to a league that also makes essentially nothing in TV revenue.

When is the AAC going to do this???

No real incentive for the AAC to realign as long as ESPN is paying them 7 million a team.

Or the increased stature in men's basketball/football from other G5 conferences..

(12-12-2019 11:49 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(12-12-2019 04:28 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  You're not going to get nice, compact footprint from the two leagues no matter what you do. If you split the two leagues in east-west you have a league that stretches from Boca Raton and Miami to Huntington and Bowling Green. Is that going to save travel costs in any meaningful way if at all?

The AAC expands based on who will help the TV contract, the Sun Belt should as well. I don't doubt we could get $1 million+ a school with good adds and that will more than offset meager travel savings.

I want Charlotte, ODU, Appalachian, Liberty, Georgia St, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, FAU & FIU. (Football) and George Mason, VCU, & Charleston (basketball). The rest of the CUSA east could remain with the west teams which would creat a tighter conference for all of them. Our conference would reach from D.C. to Miami, with 3 coastal schools, the mountains and six metro cities.

No

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We often talk about consolidation of P5 to a P4, but the idea might have merit at the G level too.

Would facilitate a 5-1-2 playoff model because with four G conferences, the winners could play their way in to the regular playoff more easily.

The Sun Belt is by all reports earning more CFP money than CUSA or the MAC and also performing better overall on the field. The the auto payout of $10 million max is allocated for $1 million per team up to 10 teams, so why add more and get less per team.

The Sun Belt should stay how it is. New bowl contracts will be announced for 2020 and the new media contract with ESPN goes into effect in August of 2020. No need to screw around.

(12-13-2019 08:51 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  The Sun Belt is by all reports earning more CFP money than CUSA or the MAC and also performing better overall on the field. The the auto payout of $10 million max is allocated for $1 million per team up to 10 teams, so why add more and get less per team.

The Sun Belt should stay how it is. New bowl contracts will be announced for 2020 and the new media contract with ESPN goes into effect in August of 2020. No need to screw around.

Yep

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There are two groups of fans that will keep any current CUSA from joining Sun Belt.

The hardcore TEAM fan who doesn't follow college football closely and thus doesn't recognize the potential benefits.
The casual fan who is a pain to keep buying tickets already and would not recognize the benefits.

Sun Belt isn't getting [INSERT TEAM NAME] to join unless it is part of a rebrand. You can pick off those two groups by selling them on the idea that [INSERT TEAM NAME] is part of a NEW conference even if it is all Sun Belt teams.

Let's just keep the name Sun Belt and keep winning OOC games.

(12-13-2019 10:20 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  There are two groups of fans that will keep any current CUSA from joining Sun Belt.

The hardcore TEAM fan who doesn't follow college football closely and thus doesn't recognize the potential benefits.
The casual fan who is a pain to keep buying tickets already and would not recognize the benefits.

Sun Belt isn't getting [INSERT TEAM NAME] to join unless it is part of a rebrand. You can pick off those two groups by selling them on the idea that [INSERT TEAM NAME] is part of a NEW conference even if it is all Sun Belt teams.

I'm inclined to agree. Perception can be slow/difficult to change. One end around is a rebrand like you suggest. KFC comes to mind.

(12-13-2019 12:32 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(12-12-2019 02:25 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean they probably should reorganize into the most regionally sensible combination of 2 leagues possible, but there's no financial incentive for the Sun-Belt to add teams and none for C-USA teams to pay the buyout to go to a league that also makes essentially nothing in TV revenue.

When is the AAC going to do this???

When there isn't enough TV revenue available to justify the travel costs. With the new AAC TV deal there's zero reason to do it. At the Sun-Belt and C-USA level I think it makes sense to do it, but I also know it won't happen for the most part because of ego. For example there's really no good reason ULL, ULM, and La Tech shouldn't all be in the same conference, except La Tech seems to think they are "too good" for it (not the only example I could pick).

the cusa has a pretty large exit fee (for a GS) that would never be made up moving to The Sunbelt and really there is zero incentive for The Sunbelt to do this unless they get USM, La Tech, or maybe UAB

I believe the exit fee is $3 million and that would eat up conference distributions for 6 of 7 years at least

LaTech probably would not make the move because of ULM and Louisiana (and honestly it is smart of La Tech to remain on their own because while cramming into another conference with other Louisiana schools would seem like a good idea to many it would be harmful to all 3 of those programs

USM might move with UAB, but I doubt they would move on their own in an attempt to make something else hopefully happen

What exactly would they be raiding? I don't think there is any team from either conference that would want to leave for either conference.

(12-12-2019 11:01 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(12-12-2019 07:30 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Outside of the much needed mass realignment between the two conferences, a 1 off of USM leaving for Sunbelt and Texas St for CUSA would seem to make sense. But then you still have to deal with UT Arlington so there is no easy solution for the Sunbelt to get out of Texas completely

I’m not saying the Sun Belt should do this, but the Sun Belt could also make playing football a requirement, thus forcing out the non-football schools Texas-Arlington and Little Rock. There is a lot of history with Little Rock and Arkansas State would feel pressure to keep them, so it would likely never happen, but it is within the realm of possibility. If Texas-Arlington and Little Rock left, and the Sun Belt took in two CUSA members, then the SBC would be at 12 full members. If Texas State wanted in CUSA then they could go to CUSA and the SBC could take 3 CUSA teams. But that has to make money for the Sun Belt, because right now they’re making more money and splitting it less ways.

I could see Texas - Arlington and Arkansas - Little Rock in the Summit League. They already have Oral Roberts and they'll fit right in with Nebraska - Omaha and Missouri - Kansas City as branch universities...which isn't a thing anyone cares about. Might convince Dallas Baptist to switch baseball membership?

There are some attractive reasons to consider going back to the Sun Belt, but the biggest negative for me is basketball. C-USA may not always show it on the court, but there are more programs who actually care about being competitive in hoops in C-USA. Too many in SBC treat hoops success as a happy accident. Georgia State was the outlier there, but then they parted ways with Ron Hunter. Not sure how well they will do going forward.

(12-13-2019 02:25 PM)HiddenDragon Wrote:  What exactly would they be raiding? I don't think there is any team from either conference that would want to leave for either conference.

I think Texas State would be interested. Playing UTSA, North Texas and Rice would be attractive to them. I don’t know about Louisiana though. They would probably entertain the idea because they’d rather not play Louisiana-Monroe and play Louisiana Tech instead. Other than those two, why even bother?

(12-13-2019 03:21 PM)freshtop Wrote:  There are some attractive reasons to consider going back to the Sun Belt, but the biggest negative for me is basketball. C-USA may not always show it on the court, but there are more programs who actually care about being competitive in hoops in C-USA. Too many in SBC treat hoops success as a happy accident. Georgia State was the outlier there, but then they parted ways with Ron Hunter. Not sure how well they will do going forward.

For all the talk that CUSA is more interested in hoops, the results don't just scream that. CUSA has had a bit better outcomes but not significantly so, though I remain extremely grateful to WKU for delivering nad kicks to the western Arkansas Razorbacks.

(12-13-2019 04:00 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(12-13-2019 03:21 PM)freshtop Wrote:  There are some attractive reasons to consider going back to the Sun Belt, but the biggest negative for me is basketball. C-USA may not always show it on the court, but there are more programs who actually care about being competitive in hoops in C-USA. Too many in SBC treat hoops success as a happy accident. Georgia State was the outlier there, but then they parted ways with Ron Hunter. Not sure how well they will do going forward.

For all the talk that CUSA is more interested in hoops, the results don't just scream that. CUSA has had a bit better outcomes but not significantly so, though I remain extremely grateful to WKU for delivering nad kicks to the western Arkansas Razorbacks.

That is what I meant by "happy accidents". The SBC has been decent enough in hoops, a little worse than C-USA most seasons, but decent. There is a difference in the level of fan support and interest between the two. At least at the top of each conference.

(12-12-2019 01:22 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  The Sun Belt is likely to finish ahead of CUSA and the MAC in the CFP conference rankings again, which would make it 3 of the last 4 years. This as 4 of the 10 SBC teams had a first-year coach and a 5th had major staff changes.

The Sun Belt's TV contract is supposedly worth more than CUSA (the numbers from neither league has been made public) and the SBC is picking up Saturday ESPN real estate (4 regular-season games). The Sun Belt's CCG also got higher ratings than any G5 league other than the AAC.

IMO the Sun Belt needs to add 2 of Marshall, WKU, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss. We could close the gap between the MWC in football with two of those program and put distance between CUSA and the MAC.

Didn't WKU and La Tech JUST jump ship for CUSA? They are both doing reasonably well, despite WKU being a little bad lately. No need to drop back down.