Anyone know how to get a copy of the 240 page study that Raycom did for the Metro in 1990?

I’d be interested in reading it in its entirety.

From what I’ve read full members would have been:

Temple
Rutgers
WVU
VT
SC
Florida St
Miami
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
USM
Tulane

fb only: BC, Pitt, Cuse, ECU

I haven't found the whole thing yet, but here's part of it: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...erence.pdf

Found here: https://raycomsportshistory.com/raycom-s...1979-2015/

The second page of this USA Today article they link is interesting too: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...sSpark.pdf

(11-15-2020 07:05 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I haven't found the whole thing yet, but here's part of it: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...erence.pdf

Found here: https://raycomsportshistory.com/raycom-s...1979-2015/

The second page of this USA Today article they link is interesting too: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...sSpark.pdf

Nice find. That’s more of it than I’ve ever found. It’s interesting that they proposing the same pod system that caused so much trouble in the WAC.

(11-15-2020 07:39 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 07:05 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I haven't found the whole thing yet, but here's part of it: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...erence.pdf

Found here: https://raycomsportshistory.com/raycom-s...1979-2015/

The second page of this USA Today article they link is interesting too: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...sSpark.pdf

Nice find. That’s more of it than I’ve ever found. It’s interesting that they proposing the same pod system that caused so much trouble in the WAC.

For the WAC, it wasn't the pod system that caused the trouble. It was a bad geographic spread (too wide and no 4 clean groups of 4) and the money wasn't there to make it worth it.

(11-15-2020 08:17 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 07:39 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 07:05 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I haven't found the whole thing yet, but here's part of it: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...erence.pdf

Found here: https://raycomsportshistory.com/raycom-s...1979-2015/

The second page of this USA Today article they link is interesting too: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...sSpark.pdf

Nice find. That’s more of it than I’ve ever found. It’s interesting that they proposing the same pod system that caused so much trouble in the WAC.

For the WAC, it wasn't the pod system that caused the trouble. It was a bad geographic spread (too wide and no 4 clean groups of 4) and the money wasn't there to make it worth it.

Not to derail my own thread but I think that had they taken Nevada instead of Tulsa it would have worked:

East: SMU, TCU, Rice, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado St, Utah, BYU
West: UTEP, UNM, Nevada, UNLV, San Diego St, Fresno St, San Jose St, Hawaii

Your Airport 5 are grouped with the SWC 3 to make a division of 8 and the historic rivalries are preserved.

(11-15-2020 08:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 08:17 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 07:39 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(11-15-2020 07:05 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I haven't found the whole thing yet, but here's part of it: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...erence.pdf

Found here: https://raycomsportshistory.com/raycom-s...1979-2015/

The second page of this USA Today article they link is interesting too: https://raycomsportshistory.com/wp-conte...sSpark.pdf

Nice find. That’s more of it than I’ve ever found. It’s interesting that they proposing the same pod system that caused so much trouble in the WAC.

For the WAC, it wasn't the pod system that caused the trouble. It was a bad geographic spread (too wide and no 4 clean groups of 4) and the money wasn't there to make it worth it.

Not to derail my own thread but I think that had they taken Nevada instead of Tulsa it would have worked:

East: SMU, TCU, Rice, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado St, Utah, BYU
West: UTEP, UNM, Nevada, UNLV, San Diego St, Fresno St, San Jose St, Hawaii

Your Airport 5 are grouped with the SWC 3 to make a division of 8 and the historic rivalries are preserved.

If it were possible to swap Boise St for San Jose St, you got yourself a decent league.

If pods:

Pacific: Fresno St, Hawaii, San Diego St, UNLV
West: Boise St, BYU, Nevada, Utah
Mountain: Air Force, Colorado St, New Mexico, Wyoming
Southwest: Rice, SMU, TCU, UTEP

Let’s say BYU, TCU, and Utah end up leaving. Bring in Tulsa and Utah St plus Navy (football-only). Navy prefers playing Texas teams (why they are in the AAC West) and playing Air Force as a division game opens up one OOC slot.

Divisions -
West: Boise St, Fresno St, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego St, UNLV, Utah St
East: Air Force, Colorado St, Navy, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP, Wyoming

Pods -
Pacific: Fresno St, Hawaii, San Diego St, UNLV
West: Boise St, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah St
Mountain: Air Force, Colorado St, UTEP, Wyoming
Southwest: Navy, Rice, SMU, Tulsa

Plan AAA would have been nice but it was 13 schools so I wonder how they’d work around that. I didn’t see any mention of a CCG so maybe that wasn’t part of the plan.

BC, Cuse, Pitt, WVU, VT, SC, Miami

Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, USM, Tulane, Florida St

That’s a pretty nice grouping.

This almost happened, and I mean if it were not for two icons of two different sports this league would be a power conference.

What happen was Bobby Bowden didn’t want his team who was playing as an independent at the time be stuck scheduling the likes of Cincinnati, Louisville, Tulane and others when they were competing for Nationals Championships year after year.

The other icon was 2 time defending NCAA champion Denny Crum of Louisville who didn’t want to part with the Metro Conference. At the time Louisville was the king pin of the conference, and leaving the conference for new one would have meant forfeiting a lot of NCAA credits and so forth.

So if then poweres to be at that time could have foreseen the future this conference would have come to fruition, but there would have been no guarantee other conferences wouldn’t have come for teams FSU, and South Carolina, and Miami. But it was nice talking about the possibilities back in the day for sure.

(11-15-2020 10:16 PM)BigOwensboroCard Wrote:  This almost happened, and I mean if it were not for two icons of two different sports this league would be a power conference.

What happen was Bobby Bowden didn’t want his team who was playing as an independent at the time be stuck scheduling the likes of Cincinnati, Louisville, Tulane and others when they were competing for Nationals Championships year after year.

The other icon was 2 time defending NCAA champion Denny Crum of Louisville who didn’t want to part with the Metro Conference. At the time Louisville was the king pin of the conference, and leaving the conference for new one would have meant forfeiting a lot of NCAA credits and so forth.

So if then poweres to be at that time could have foreseen the future this conference would have come to fruition, but there would have been no guarantee other conferences wouldn’t have come for teams FSU, and South Carolina, and Miami. But it was nice talking about the possibilities back in the day for sure.

I recall those days well. The potential scenarios at the time were interesting.

(11-15-2020 10:16 PM)BigOwensboroCard Wrote:  This almost happened, and I mean if it were not for two icons of two different sports this league would be a power conference.

What happen was Bobby Bowden didn’t want his team who was playing as an independent at the time be stuck scheduling the likes of Cincinnati, Louisville, Tulane and others when they were competing for Nationals Championships year after year.

The other icon was 2 time defending NCAA champion Denny Crum of Louisville who didn’t want to part with the Metro Conference. At the time Louisville was the king pin of the conference, and leaving the conference for new one would have meant forfeiting a lot of NCAA credits and so forth.

So if then poweres to be at that time could have foreseen the future this conference would have come to fruition, but there would have been no guarantee other conferences wouldn’t have come for teams FSU, and South Carolina, and Miami. But it was nice talking about the possibilities back in the day for sure.

So instead, Bowden prefers to schedule the likes of Duke & Wake Forest? I don't buy it.

Miami & Pitt were two of the top-15 programs in the country at the time. They were better than the ACC's top program (Clemson). Syracuse, WVU, and SC were at least equal to the ACC's 2nd best program (not even sure who that would have been). Probably better.

West Virginia almost joined the Metro back when Tulane’s basketball program got busted. They had an approved vote to accept membership and I believe it was vetoed by their president in the 11th hour.

Cincinnati
Louisville
West Virginia
Virginia Tech
South Carolina
Memphis
Tulane
S. Miss
Florida State

That would have been a solid league.

It would have been interesting to see a league essentially built around 80s and 90s powerhouses Florida St and Miami with a supporting cast of WVU, SC, VT, Louisville, and Syracuse.

Aside from the revenue sharing feud I think where this plan failed is with all the filler. I don’t think ECU, Tulane, USM, Rutgers, and Temple were essential to the plan in terms of quality football but Tulane and USM were already Metro members and guaranteed a seat and the NYC and Philadelphia markets were part of Raycom’s master television plan. ECU was only in the plan to round things to an even number.

It’s fascinating that in 1990, the folks who put this plan together could already see the potential of major college sports moving to 4 giant conferences and they were trying to form the Super Metro to preempt them.