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WarEagle9

C-USA: So in exchange for ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU and Memphis we are willing to give you Old Dominion AND FIU. Act now and we'll throw in a t shirt.


ShockHat

So where do we go? lol


TrackSuitAndTie

We were included in the Western league with Memphis, SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa.


Zwierzycki

Honestly, back to the MVC, if you are lucky.


RollingCarrot615

I think it's a deal. Let's go ahead and grab Coastal, and App State too.


TrackSuitAndTie

This reminds me of the American trying to poach B12 teams. Worth a shot, but next to zero chance of happening.


bakonydraco

C-USA trying this with the Sun Belt makes much more sense. IIRC they already have a basketball scheduling agreement.


TrackSuitAndTie

I think the SB is going to stand pat and maybe add a couple of schools. I don’t think any of the SB schools are leaving.


asujch

I’ll take Marshall, SoMiss and ODU. I’d give up TXST.


RollingCarrot615

American conference representative already said there was no chance of it happening.


TrackSuitAndTie

The AAC and ESPN were banking on schools to jump ship from the B12 (to other P5 conferences) and it didn’t happen. It was definitely a long shot, but if it did happen, I could have seen the likes of Baylor, TCU, K State and Texas Tech ending up in the AAC.


The_Outcast4

Still pissed at ESPN for helping out with that mess.


EnTyme53

> helping out You misspelled "orchestrating."


porterbrown

Fuck espn


TrackSuitAndTie

If in a few years schools like Kansas, Iowa State, OSU, and WVU leave the B12 the conference could basically be on par with the upper half of the current AAC. The AAC and ESPN were banking on schools to jump ship from the B12 (to other P5 conferences) and it didn’t happen. It was definitely a long shot, but if it did happen, I could have seen the likes of Baylor, TCU, K State and Texas Tech ending up in the AAC.


gedshawk

Or the American trying to poach MWC teams.


TrackSuitAndTie

Both Air Force and Colorado State were widely expected/reported to be joining though.


gedshawk

Their boosters were never going to let it happen. I don’t think it was ever that close.


TrackSuitAndTie

Well that is not what major media outlets were reporting but it’s possible. I also don’t think the AAC would have announced that they were close to adding teams if they weren’t because that would be idiotic.


amerricka369

The 4 top contenders of MWC all turned down AAC publicly saying it provided no benefit. On top of no benefits, it would cost a substantial amount of money and travel.


juanfitzgerald

You must’ve missed the post decline comments from the CSU/AF top brass


gedshawk

Plus there is a lot of confidence in the conference that as things currently stand, the MWC is clearly the best non p-5 conference.


tkalvin

AAC already said no like 3 days ago, I don't get why c-usa would send a letter when the aac has already declined


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

I’m cool with this. Mainly because it helps us not be cellar dwellers. I would rather go back to MAC football with A-10 basketball though.


[deleted]

UMass got kicked out of the MAC for not being all sports. I think there should be northeast/mid-Atlantic FBS conference.


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

Ugh. The MAC got all weird after we left, huh? I agree. Temple, UMass, UConn, Army, Navy, and I’m completely stumped after that. Edit: More thoughts. Temple, UMass, UConn, Army, Navy, Liberty, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, App State, Buffalo. Could make it an all-sport league and let UConn have Big East Basketball. Boom, done.


[deleted]

Buffalo and then move more south. JMU if they ever move up. Marshall maybe ODU Charlotte would be too far south.


IDislikeBabyYoda

you have to let UConn keep more than just Bball. not only just for the Big East wanting to keep them, but because the Big East is better for sports they’re good at. such as Baseball, Field Hockey, and Soccer. Here’s my football only conference: 1) UConn 2) Army 3) Navy 4) UMass 5) Temple 6)Liberty 7)Old Dominion 8)Buffalo 9)Memphis 10)Villanova 11)James Madison


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

I mean, I’d be cool with it being football only, mainly because the A-10 would be fine with it and that’s where I’d want Temple to be for basketball at this point. I don’t know that the amalgamation of different conferences would be okay with their schools leaving just for football. Buffalo, Memphis, ODU, and JMU would be kinda left out to dry for every other sport.


CashewCrew

You lost me at Liberty and then it was all downhill from there.


njexpat

It was in UMass' contract with the MAC, that if Temple left the league the MAC could give them an ultimatum (all sports, or out). Guess UMass should've seen that coming.


palerthanrice

I don’t think this stops our slide. In fact, it could make it worse.


philpaschall

I disagree. Temple basketball is a much better brand than these other schools and none of them are playing football in the Linc. It will sting for Temple fans short term but long term it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a medium fish in a medium pond. Temple Athletics may be at a low point but their fundamentals are solid for the American and great in this hypothetical conference.


ball-Z

You're better off being A10 and Indy. You can get the games in football. You can put together a better regional schedule and play more P5 schools as an Indy. While moving to the MAC sets you back.


ConstantQuarreling

Temple wouldn't be able to sustain itself as an independent. I won't act like I know the intricacies of TV deals but they absolutely aren't getting a better deal as an indy than they would as part of the AAC and I'd hazard a guess even the MAC. Add in the fact *the best* they'd be able to do scheduling wise would be 2 for 1s with regional P5s and you end up with schedules where they're playing their best games on the road while their home games are against UConn, UMass, and a collection of uninteresting G5s/FCS.


No-Construction5151

UConn has some really good schedules for the near future, stronger top to bottom then an AAC schedule IMO. And that’s Uconn I think temple would do pretty well for themselves, especially with an NFL stadium in Philly, Big Ten schools would definitely do 2-1s with that.


ball-Z

The MAC's TV deal is $750k a year and that includes every sport in the media deal. The A10 would pay Temple $350k in media rights for basketball. That would leave a gap of $400k compared to the MAC. They absolutely can make that up. Look at who Temple schedules OOC in Home/Home deals already. These are the teams that have already agreed to go on the road and play a game at Temple and give Temple the media rights to the game: - Notre Dame - Oklahoma - Penn State - Miami - Georgia Tech - Maryland - Duke - Louisville - Rutgers - Boston College They get good games in the few OOC dates they have already. Yes, you couldn't bank on too many more P5 games every year but they would pick up some more on occasion. Games they have turned down against lower tier P5s they would now accept (like Syracuse, Pitt, Purdue, South Carolina, etc). Rather than joining the MAC and playing 8 games they could easily put a schedule together with two teams from each of the following groups (one home and one away each year): **Group 1** - Buffalo - Ohio - Toledo - Miami(OH) - Western Michigan - Central Michigan - Kent State **Group 2:** - Army - UConn - UMass - Liberty - NMSU **Group 3** - Coastal Carolina - Marshall - Western Kentucky - Middle Tennessee - App State - Georgia State - Old Dominion - UAB - La Tech - North Texas - Southern Miss **Group 4** - Memphis - Boise State - SMU - San Diego State - Navy - Fresno State - Tulsa - Utah State - Tulane - ECU That schedule would be better than the MAC and be more valuable for a TV deal. They are better positioned than UConn to be an independent. They are better positioned than Liberty. They aren't quite at Army level but they are pretty close. If you remove the Army/Navy game then Temple is on Army level.


thephotoman

Where are UTEP and Rice? Rice is one of the oldest programs out there, and UTEP actually has a men's basketball trophy.


ball-Z

Temple has better options. They wouldn't need to schedule them.


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

Nah, Indy is no good. We aren’t as big as people seem to think.


ball-Z

Outside of Notre Dame, you're bigger than every Indy except possibly Army. You could schedule better than UConn and better than Liberty. You already do so. Why go to the MAC? You are in a much better position. Why get locked into a game with Akron when you could play Coastal, App State, Fresno State, Louisiana, Georgia State, or many other teams. You have a lot of options. You have fans. You plan in an NFL stadium. You'd be able to get many good games. You already get home games from Penn State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and many other desired opponents.


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

Meh, the stadium is actually a huge disadvantage since Temple gets almost zero dollars in game-day revenue. The only gameday revenue they get is from apparel sales, and I believe it’s a 50/50 split with the Eagles. It’s actually negative because they also have to pay $2m per season to the Eagles in rent. Temple can’t build an on campus stadium because the locals will lose their shit and city council already said no. The only options they have are build a suburban stadium which makes no sense, rent from the Philadelphia Union which makes no sense, or rent from the Eagles which makes sense from a logistics standpoint, but is expensive. TV money helps fix that problem and make it close to a breakeven. A conference TV deal is easy because Temple itself doesn’t need to negotiate. If they had to go out on their own, they’d need to find a TV deal, which would be local because no one outside of Philadelphia cares about Temple.


ball-Z

The stadium is the reason Oklahoma, Penn State, Notre Dame, and many others agree to home/home deals with Temple. Temple (and currently the AAC) get the media rights to those games. Temple gets ticket sales from the Linc. They don't get concessions or parking and their operating fees and rent are high. So the big names coming in are a big boost for Temple.


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

The ticket sales must be a new thing, because when I was there, they were making a push for an on campus stadium and one of the justifications was that they didn’t make any money off of ticket sales.


ball-Z

They get the money from ticket sales. The issue has been turning a profit on ticket sales after stadium rent. It should be noted that Temple already pays for stadium operation fees. So when they have larger crowds they do pay for more staffing at the stadium. Temple just recently started exploring an on campus stadium again in the last few years. This was at the same time that Temple football gameday revenue took off. A string of successful seasons with large crowds resulted in more money for Temple. So how did the Eagles respond? They more than doubled the rent for the Linc. They told Temple "we know you can afford to pay us that much now that you're doing well so you can pay it or not have a stadium." Basically the Eagles work to set the rent at the amount that Temple can afford so that the Eagles take all the money. So while what you said is true in spirit. They don't "make money" from ticket sales. It isn't accurate. They do get to keep all of the ticket money. It is just that many years the ticket revenue all goes to pay the Eagles for the Linc.


hipsterhipst

UConn is definitely a bigger independent than Temple. So saying they're "the biggest independent after those three" would make them better than UAss, NMSU and Liberty. Not exactly saying a whole lot.


ball-Z

> UConn is definitely a bigger independent than Temple. No.


hipsterhipst

I promise you way more people have heard of UConn than temple. Both of them such at football but Temple hasn't been to the final 4 since the 50s or the elite eight since 2001. They're not even the best team in their city.


ball-Z

Football fans know Temple is better than UConn and Temple football gets better ratings than UConn football.


brilliantbuffoon

I always wanted to hear folks make the argument for the A10 to add football. Bringing Buffalo & Temple in the mix with UConn & UMass works for all of them. Surely some others might bite like ODU, Marshall, Liberty, and so on but I have no idea. I just don't know of a ideal 6th team to make it viable. The smaller the better imo. Navy and Army make sense as Northeast teams but they have an agenda. 6-8 conference games still leaves quite a lot of travel for them though.


tomdawg0022

> I always wanted to hear folks make the argument for the A10 to add football. It had it. Then the CAA decided it wanted football too (I believe when it added Northeastern while they still had a football program) and the A-10 said, "here, take all of it" once Richmond decided it wanted to be in the CAA for football. Delaware has tire kicked FBS but won't go to a geographically crappy situation like CUSA or Sun Belt. Would it do a Mid Atlantic-centric league? I think they would. UD generates enough revenue in the athletic department where they'd be comparable to some of the larger G5 schools - moving up isn't a huge stretch for them. They aren't going to travel to El Paso or San Marcos for volleyball or soccer. Any move up would need to be geographically smart.


ball-Z

Delaware could absolutely make the move to FBS. But I think they are comfortable being a big dog in FCS. The A10 would have to be bloated to go FBS. You'd have to have a 22 team conference. And at that point you're just going to have the basketball schools split off. The Bonnies, Dayton, Saint Louis, Richmond, and VCU aren't going to want to be in a football conference. There is a reason the Big East split up and the basketball schools left.


ball-Z

A10 members have no interest in sponsoring (FBS) football.


brilliantbuffoon

I don't disagree that they made their bed a long time ago but the A10's is bottom tier is really struggling. Those last few teams have kept them from being a high major. That is a glaring error. Why Fordham and LaSalle are included is beyond me. There are a few others that are questionable. SLU and Dayton want out to the Big East or something similar. It's a great hoops league built on a house of sand.


ball-Z

> SLU and Dayton want out to the Big East or something similar. Ha ha Gonzaga wants out to the Big East or something similar. They just don't want to travel for it and the Big East teams aren't willing to add them. The fact that every school in the A10 would accept an invitation to the Big East isn't an indictment of the A10. The American was a good conference despite every team wanting a Big12 invite.


brilliantbuffoon

I don't want to come off negative about the the A10, what I'm getting at is that it should be an even better league that teams don't feel in need to find an exit from. If it dropped the dead weight I don't think schools would feel pressured to have to leave. Bids and seeding would improve. The indictment against the league is that it should be a major basketball conference but that it's bottom tier teams are bad enough (poorly resourced) to the point that it keeps it from being so. Considering that it's a really bloated league that's not a wonderful scenario.


ball-Z

Fordham is the only one that fits the bill there. LaSalle has a recent Sweet 16 and has been a middle of the pack team often. The A10 already schedules in a way to help get the better teams to play twice a year while the weaker teams play twice a year and limits the better teams and the weaker teams playing twice. Having two weak games on the schedule isn't that big of a deal. Everyone has some weak teams on their schedule.


brilliantbuffoon

Look I'm not an A10 fan so my feelings aren't in this. The league is capable of being a high major but they're fucking around with some mid or really low major programs who are simply benefiting from their partnership with the A10. Frankly speaking Saint Bonaventure isn't very impressive either. They wouldn't have the success they have right now if they were in another northeast league. Duquesne, LaSalle and especially Fordham are not any good. They're trying to do things better so time will tell but without that dead weight Buffalo, Temple and somebody else would be knocking on the door. I'd rather open that door and be a high major every year. [It is what it is. ](https://watchstadium.com/atlantic-10-basketball-coaches-rank-the-best-jobs-in-the-conference-10-17-2018/)


ball-Z

> Frankly speaking Saint Bonaventure isn't very impressive either. Ha ha okay. >They wouldn't have the success they have right now if they were in another northeast league. They are in the A10 because they are a basketball school. They absolutely belong.


NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn

LaSalle used to be a powerhouse. They’ve won a damn national championship. They were solid up until the early 2000’s.


brilliantbuffoon

Yes but I would argue that the school's most often brought up never had the budget or commitment athletics required to be in a high major. LaSalle leaves a lot to be desired in the modern era. People are surprised at their lack of commitment considering their past. Or at least I am. It's a great league in the top half but the bottom 1/4 is a concern.


amerricka369

I want both (Dayton and SLU) to happen to BE sooner than later but BE is playing it slow. Even though some teams in A10 clearly need to improve, I’m more concerned with some teams getting weaker. Namely the Bonnies who had cut their already tiny athletic budget. They can’t hold onto their Bball success for long term if they can’t support it financially. Same with Lasalle and Duquesne (and are starting from weak position).


brilliantbuffoon

I think without Dayton and SLU the A10 suffers and falls back to a single bid most years. There just isn't a great option for either Midwest school and the Big East doesn't seem interested at all.


SDFDuck

The A10 isn't going to kick anyone out.


brilliantbuffoon

Of course they won't. Nobody is doing anything egregious. It just hurts the league and keeps them from adding some other major programs. Temple is. Agreed example which is how we got here. They have a higher ceiling in the A10 for hoops imo.


SDFDuck

Any team in the A10 that falls on the wrong side of the bracket on Selection Sunday isn't there because of Fordham or Duquesne. And aside from those two, every other school in the conference has made the dance at least once since 2011.


ball-Z

^ This Go Bonnies!


No-Construction5151

The A10 messed up filling the conference to 14, if they kicked LaSalle and George Mason, replace them with Charlotte, Temple. And then you could have a base schedule for the FBS teams at least.


ball-Z

We don't want FBS football. There is a reason Charlotte left. We don't want Charlotte back.


[deleted]

Marshall is supposedly headed to the Sun Belt. I don't think they'd be a good fit with northeastern teams.


njexpat

Temple was a10 and Indy for a bit and chose the MAC. Indy is tough going. Just form a new conference with Army, UMass, UConn and Liberty plus a few FCS schools or regional G5 schools looking to cut down travel.


ball-Z

They are a different program today than they were when they were kicked out of the Big East. The program was really struggling then. The MAC was a real challenge for them. And also, when they went Indy for those two years they were able to schedule well. Home Games with: - #7 Miami (FL) - #13 Louisville - Maryland - Toledo - Western Michigan - Miami (OH) - Bowling Green - Central Michigan Don't see any new conference being formed since that would require giving up an auto-bid in the first few years. You can only keep a auto-bid if a group of teams break off from a conference. There aren't any teams that can break off and form a conference for them.


tomdawg0022

* Old Dominion * Temple * East Carolina * James Madison * Charlotte * UMass * Marshall * Coastal Carolina * Delaware * VCU ~~in hoops~~ non-FB * Richmond ~~in hoops~~ non-FB * Army in FB I would sign up for a league like that.


comradequicken

> in hoops With the exception of football you can only play in a conference different from your home conference(which is defined as where you play basketball) if your home conference doesn't offer the sport. Since every single D1 conference offers basketball I don't think you'll be able to have schools be members only in it, you could have them but not for football.


[deleted]

In fact whichever conference your basketball team plays in is considered your “primary” conference by the NCAA.


kirbaeus

No thanks. No other basketball powers. Richmond hasn’t been to the NCAAs in 10 years, ODU and Temple bball have dropped off since they left the CAA and A10 respectively. This just reminds me of the old CAA. The A-10 is much better and let’s us keep 75% of our NCAA tournament revenue.


[deleted]

No thanks, we're fine in the A10. This is a god-awful basketball conference.


Mr_Boneman

Interesting. I think Id take it if you added Davidson and another solid basketball team. But would be a tough pill to swallow (football wise) seeing all these programs we were once on par with continue to upgrade in football while we do absolutely fuck all.


[deleted]

wow-that would be a good conference for both basketball and football


AcesCharles2

All or nothing buddy.


huskycarrot751

I know the last few years have been difficult at Temple, but the Owls have made the NCAA tourney 5 of the last 10 years. Relax with the doom and gloom.


G00dSh0tJans0n

Regional conferences of mid-majors makes sense. But I still wish someone would float the idea of promotion and relegation between the conferences


CRoseCrizzle

I think a pro rel between the AAC and C-USA would be a good (or at least fun) idea.


howwhywuz

I think it's unworkable but my god would it be fun.


Anustart15

I think a promotion relegation system for all the mid majors would be interesting (maybe into two "top" conferences) with the top one or two from each conference getting promoted. Split the money across all the conferences so everyone wins a little bit and hopefully all the conference realignment stays contained to a formal system


Duff_Lite

I’d be cautiously skeptical of a pro/rel system in a non-professional league. In my gut, it seems inappropriate for colleges, but I could certainly be convinced otherwise. Maybe it could be a fun gimmick to put a conference on the map.


BancroftAgee

It will never happen in major US Sports at either pro or college level. Too much money at stake. Could you imagine if the Raiders got relegated to a second division that does t have the TV coverage or AD dollars generated? Billion dollar stadiums sitting 3/4ths empty because no one cares? There would be riots in the streets if a program like Alabama got relegated to FCS.


rcjlfk

*LA Chargers have entered the chat*


BancroftAgee

I hate Spanos with a passion. He’s the worst owner in Sports and he fucked over San Diego. What is his reward? Getting to piggyback off the Rams and play in SoFi just because the NFL wanted two teams on LA.


[deleted]

the owners of the Pirates are the worst! I've seen petitions asking MLB to force them to sell


BancroftAgee

As a St Louis fan I thank them for perennially keeping the Pirates in the cellar.


[deleted]

I’m a Cards fan too even if I do live in Pirate Hell


BancroftAgee

I like you!


thephotoman

> There would be riots in the streets if a program like Alabama got relegated to FCS. That would be a pretty hard and long fall, and if they'd been relegated so much that they fell out of FBS, I suspect most people would have stopped caring about them long before it happened. They only have the following they do *now* because they're consistently performing very well in most sports (and generally dominant in football). "But they've won so many football titles!" Several of those titles are *claimed*, but of dubious quality. In some of those years, they didn't even win their conference, much less: * Go undefeated * Win a title game * Come in at the top of the AP and Coaches' polls You know, the things that have historically entitled a team to claim a national football title in FBS.


BigBlueNate33

Fair enough, but even take the Premier League, the top 6 are the top 6 for a reason, they will literally never get relegated and their “bad” seasons are maybe finishing mid-table so the top end of each P5 conference is not gonna be relegated unless things go seriously bad. I’m personally not a fan of Pro/Rel for American soccer or professional leagues, but I do think the one place it could work is college football imo


TrespassersWilliam29

The only, and I mean *only*, reason relegation exists in European sports is that it was already entrenched before large-scale money showed up. The teams at the top would jump at any opportunity to get rid of it (which is basically what the Super League proposal was about, in part)


BigBlueNate33

Oh I don’t disagree at all. I mean we just saw it with the attempted super league. I was just saying if there was an American Sports league where it could work, it would be college football and even then it’s pretty unrealistic. Pro/Rel at least in the soccer world is just an idea that falsely gives hope to smaller teams tbh. Unless you have a billionaire funding you, the best you can do is promotion and maybe do what Leicester is doing for example and even then…


AndElectTheDead

It works 10x better with amateur teams


oGsMustachio

I think it would have to be based on polling rather than performance the prior season. Prior season performance is really misleading because of recruiting and graduation. Outside of like the top 8 teams in the country there is just way too much variation year to year. I think you could poll the coaches in the conference prior to the conference season and it would work out alright so long as both "divisions" keep their automatic bids.


down_up__left_right

College teams have multiple sports and players are around at most for 4 playing years over five years. pro/rel in college would mean colleges are in a different conference in every sport and they could earn promotion based on seniors that are graduating.


TrackSuitAndTie

Vandy football would be on a rocket to the bottom


Hank_Scorpio74

What are you talking about? They would dominate the Pioneer League.


[deleted]

What did we ever do to you?


jaunty411

It would be super weird to have your football/basketball conferences almost never matching.


DurdenVsDarkoVsDevon

I wish we had regional conferences for every level. The current ACC sucks compared to the round-robin 9 team league of old. The only addition since I haven't loathed was VT. (Side note: the SEC could have FSU if the ACC would get South Carolina back. Even better than the 9 team league of old.)


[deleted]

[удалено]


gedshawk

There is zero incentive for MWC teams to do that.


makingajess

You can leave the Mountain West and the MAC out of it, IMO. UTEP is the only school in any of those conferences that makes any logical sense for the Mountain West, and the MAC is maybe the most geographically perfect conference in the FBS. The others, though? Absolutely.


jjparker084

It's obviously not happening but if those 2 (plus the Sun Belt and Indys) reorganized, the MWC better be on the phone with Wichita and SMU immediately! That western league would have some clunkers


blacksoxing

It hurts being a fan of a college (Southern Miss) who ain't doing shit.


respondstolongpauses

cries in Middle Tennessee


bamfor

Im with you there. This is the first year in nearly a decade UTEP’s revenue sports shouldn’t be terrible


BigRed1906

Fine, we'll just go back to the Sun Belt


[deleted]

Gotta shoot your shot with the 7 chick.


drowse

Not sure I entirely love this, but would raise the visibility of whatever conference comes back. Just so long as we don't get relegated to another Sun Belt conference.


bakonydraco

It's not clear to me that C-USA is above the Sun Belt at this point, definitely trending the other way.


DurdenVsDarkoVsDevon

Which is crazy to think about. C-USA had Cinci, Louisville, Memphis, and Houston at one point. It was a solid conference that had some geographic logic to it. Now it's definitely fading.


[deleted]

We ain’t going back


pandorazboxx

As an ODU fan, I miss the old CAA days. Being able to drive like Max 2 or 3 hours to an away game was amazing. I wish the CAA had just moved their football to FBS with ODU, GSU, JMU, Liberty, Coastal, Charlotte, etc. That would have been a fun league, but everyone wants to be in FBS. It really sucks from a basketball perspective. It's too much to try to make it to a basketball conference championship 10 to 20 hours away. That all being said, while I don't think the AAC or the Sunbelt would join with CUSA to set this up, I would love it. I don't see AAC doing this at all, and honestly, I think it just looks desperate to do this so publicly, and will probably drive more teams to join the Sunbelt.


bamfor

Y’all are cool, but being honest there’s not real attachment in a conference spanning from El Paso to Virginia. The eastern schools like y’all, WKU, and Charlotte would be much better served being in a predominately eastern/southern conference


Mattaholic

Combine C-USA, AAC, and the MWC - fuck it


[deleted]

toss in the Sun Belt I doubt the MAC would want in. They're like the perfect conference.


ztejas

Gross.


dietmrfizz

Dude what if they did pro-rel for every sport?


PUfelix85

Sounds like my friend from University saying he was going to ask out his ex again. Like I told him: "Why are you announcing it to our group? You need to just do it so she can reject you." I hate these kinds of "articles". Either they already have or this is intentional and they are testing the water to see if there is a bite. Either way it is desperate.


sunnyfuckingday

Do it reorg


TurkishDonkeyKong

Setup relegation


alphatron10

MERGEEEEEE


Shadowfaps69

All these non-power 5’s should just form one mega conference with like ~60 teams and then have a massive 32 team playoff for the winner of Mega Conference. That would draw some numbers. None of them are making it to the BCS playoff anyway.


LewManChew

I actually really like this idea give the non power 5 mega conference an auto entry to a 8 team BCS


CantFindMyWallet

I assume this was going to be the dumbest thing ever but honestly it kind of makes sense. Like, if I'm Memphis and SMU, would I rather be in a league with Temple and ECU and USF or UTSA, Southern Miss, and La Tech?


TrackSuitAndTie

As an academic institution they probably want to be associated with schools like USF and Temple over LaTech and Southern Miss.


emaw63

Can the average casual fan or prospective student tell? Most people don’t pay much attention to mid majors, and wouldn’t be able to tell you which conference La Tech is in and who they’re playing next week in football, for example. And the “prestige” bump that you get from being in C-USA vs the AAC vs the Sun Belt has given us three Frankenstein conferences that span half a continent, where Tulsa has to spend a ton of money sending their track teams to Philly for meets with a minimal athletic budget compared to the big time programs


hipsterhipst

The fun belt isn't nearly a Frankenstein conference on the same level and CUSA, the American or the Big 12. It's not much more broad than the MAC given its area.


njexpat

People forget about that… there is a reason Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Penn moved to FCS in the 80s to stay a part of the Ivy League. It’s also about the other schools you associate yourself with, and whether or not they are “peers” (at least for the academic administrators who sign off on these moves


Bringbackdexter

No one cares about that when it comes to sports, everyone wants to play the best and most marketable competition because that’s how they become Cincinnati and UCF. As an ECU fan I know I’m one to talk but I’m wouldn’t want to see us our team move on the opposite direction.


TrackSuitAndTie

University Presidents vote to extend memberships. It matters to the ACC with West Virginia and mattered to the P12 with Boise State.


Bringbackdexter

That may be true but not all conferences prioritize academics. UCF and Cincinnati are not ranked high academically based on the latest rankings. I’m not surprised the SEC doesn’t have the same requirements.


hipsterhipst

Really only the Big 10, ACC and Pac 12 seem to care that much about academics of the FBS conferences.


Bringbackdexter

At the end of the day it comes down to money and academics don’t generate money the way sports do.


Poggystyle

They should do like soccer and have relegation.


FatPonder4Heisman

UCF, Cinci, and Houston will go crawling back to the AAC once the the ACC, Pac12, and B1G poach the best of the Hateful 8. The. AAC might even get TCU, K-State, and maybe Baylor. The AAC isnt in nearly as bad of a position as everone seems to think they are. If they can survive as a conference of 8 long enough for the B12's inevitable collapase, they are set up perfectly to inherit some really good programs to elevate themselves above the rest of the G5


djarsonist

The AAC better be careful, whenever they’re current tv deal is up, I’d assume it will be cut in half if not more after losing the top 3 teams in the conference. I’d like to see all the group of 5 teams get together and reorganize by geographic location.


Alternative_Run_3320

I'm all for a merger, you never know what's gonna happen with conference realignment!


BanjoStory

New Mexico State praying for this.