(02-26-2021 08:15 PM)HyperDuke Wrote: Just curious: what makes someone “an A-10 guy”? Just a general fan of the league? Got confused because of the ODU fandom.
Went to an A-10 school, found this discussion from a topic on an A-10 board discussing ODU wanting out of C-USA for the A-10. While registering, I saw the C-USA team pulldown menu, so when it asked a favorite team, I just listed ODU.
(02-27-2021 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote: Also, it would take 8 full member A10 teams playing FBS football for them to sponsor it. Which would likely lead to an old BE type identity crises because you can't relegate FBS football to volleyball status for those that have it and if you have that many that have it then that would be a substantial block of schools. Which is why I doubt that happens. Taking in ODU in Charlotte or any other member that has FBS football could create a flight risk of those schools but there's no internal conflict.
The concept was that ODU was attempting a switch to the A-10 to get into a better basketball league, going independent in football and Charlotte goes with them (brokering the deal as a former A-10 member). Marshall and WKU fans have said
"What about us? We'd want that, too."
If those FOUR joined the A-10, and went Indy for FBS, they can play each other, and UMass, Liberty and New Mexico State every year to fill out a schedule.
Or they could call THAT EXACT THING "Atlantic 10 Football" with 5 full A-10 members and 2 affiliates. That does not meet the requirements for an official FBS conference, it's just "glorified independence." BUT you have a league office making the schedule so you don't have to negotiate 6 games for each season with the others. There's no NY6 access, but (a) that doesn't exist for independents either and (b) that hasn't come up for a C-USA member yet anyway. The A-10 can negotiate bowl tie-ins because they'll have someone who's 4-2 in conference every year. They can TRY to negotiate CFP hush money that C-USA gets when the next CFP deal is up (5 years left).
So if those four are willing to go FBS independent, playing Glorified Indy football in the A-10 is better on the football side of things; and of course, it's a BETTER BASKETBALL LEAGUE than C-USA;
And the Football TV rights can be bundled in with A-10 MBB/WBB rights, and those 4 schools are better off.
Now, if all that is true... you can create the exact same "glorified Indy" scenario in a new league if MTSU, UAB and La Tech decide they'd be better off with the 4 C-USA schools who want out than remaining in C-USA. You'd need an 8th full member to start the clock on becoming an official FBS conference. Liberty would definitely do it and Buffalo might as well (and UMass would love to play football with that league).
You'd get all the benefits I laid out above in the "A10 glorified FBS Indy" concept; only after 8 years, it would become a full FBS conference per NCAA rules -- which is NOT going to happen in the A-10.
The only question is "is a new league as good as the A-10 in basketball?" I hope the answer is no because I'm an A-10 fan. But it's a lot closer than current C-USA.
Those 7: .518 in FB, .577 in MBB since new C-USA alignment.
Other 7: .406 in FB, .456 in MBB since new C-USA alignment.
They'd go from a .516 overall C-USA to a .577 overall new league in hoops (plus what Buffalo or Liberty does, and they are programs pretty close to what those 7 are). Their computer ratings would be higher because there's no longer eight games vs "RPI/NET killer" in the league. That league could get an at-large pretty easily.
But even if it's a one-bid league, you're splitting that NCAA Tournament revenue 9 ways instead of 14 in C-USA; In the A-10, they give 75% of the NCAA money to the team that earned it, and split the 25% of each NCAA unit among the other teams.
So if an 18-team A-10 gets four NCAA units a year, but you don't make it, you're getting .056 NCAA shares a year.
In a one-bid C-USA with an even split, you'd get .071 NCAA shares a year.
In a one-bid New League of 9 teams, even split, you'd get .111 NCAA shares a year.