http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/201...be-closed/

Seems the infamous "sources" are reporting talks within CUSA to add FIU to the program...possibly to better help divisional alignments should the CUSA and MWC combination proceed forward.

Nothing new here. It should all start to clear up in about a week to 10 days. It is however sad when you see stuff in a "news" report that mirrors message board speculation form a month ago. Geez Louise! Scary.

Look.

No way the ACC leaves UCONN and Rutgers on the table.

No way the Big-12 leaves Louisville on the table.

Navy has basically already accepted conditional Big East membership.

Already have rumblings about the Big East's desire to have 12 football members as the goal, which would require more additions.

At some point, the Big East will need anywhere from 3 to 5 more members from the MWC/CUSA pool. Navy, Air Force, Memphis, East Carolina all seem destined to be Big East members.

The much vaunted MWC/CUSA alliance is going to morph over time into a WAC/MWC/CUSA/SBC merger with only a few schools being left behind.

The Big East is going to become nothing but a merger of the "old" MWC and "old" CUSA's best programs.

Unless this is being reported by the school, CBS, or ESPN it's not a valid source.

(01-05-2012 12:38 PM)CAJUNNATION Wrote:  Look.

No way the ACC leaves UCONN and Rutgers on the table.

No way the Big-12 leaves Louisville on the table.

Navy has basically already accepted conditional Big East membership.

Already have rumblings about the Big East's desire to have 12 football members as the goal, which would require more additions.

At some point, the Big East will need anywhere from 3 to 5 more members from the MWC/CUSA pool. Navy, Air Force, Memphis, East Carolina all seem destined to be Big East members.

The much vaunted MWC/CUSA alliance is going to morph over time into a WAC/MWC/CUSA/SBC merger with only a few schools being left behind.

The Big East is going to become nothing but a merger of the "old" MWC and "old" CUSA's best programs.

Not so fast...

Lets see what happens after CUSA/MWC meet next week. Still wondering how many Presidents are looking at a map and hearing no increase in revenue with this merger. If it ends up being football only then CUSA is looking at you SBC.

if CUSA can get Temple for all sports...DO IT NOW!

I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

At some point you have to ask, "what is the value"

Would I like for ASU to be in CUSA? Truthfully, the departure of Houston and SMU decreases the value of C-USA for me. If Memphis were to leave, Rice, USM and Tulsa hold some marketable value for ASU but its certainly not a slam dunk choice to me.

I'm sure UNT fans drool over the idea of C-USA but with Houston and SMU gone all UNT gains is Rice and Tulsa and some value in playing UTEP if UTEP is still in play. What made C-USA most attractive no longer is in place.

FIU with the departure of USF and now UCF, really has very little to gain from CUSA.

People can squawk about the TV money and bowls but we know from past experience that the loss of top programs in C-USA narrowed the revenue gap between C-USA and Sun Belt and the loss of three name programs in large markets means C-USA revenue is going to fall again. As we've seen with the WAC, losing programs can also mean losing bowls.

The pursuit of a jersey patch is a fool's course of action. USU and NMSU wasted decades pining to join the WAC and by the time they got there the schools that made the WAC valuable to them (UTEP, New Mexico, BYU, Utah) were long gone. They traded Big West patches for Sun Belt, and then WAC but gained nothing in the process other than ending up in a weaker situation than what they had back when they were grumbling about the Big West and when they were grumbling about the Sun Belt.

I think the next 177 days are going to be very interesting. If the Big XII does go back to 12, what happens next will be fascinating. Will the ACC go bargain hunting and go to 16? Will the Big East non-football schools agree to even greater dilution of their bread and butter product just to help the football schools? Will the merger happen? Will Big East collapse with a new football entity taking its place?

Right now the level of uncertainty is such that I think fans need to realign their thinking away from what the logo on the 30 yard line says and think in terms of what schools their institution is best aligned with.

(01-05-2012 04:50 PM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

Respectfully baseball has absolutely nothing to do with who is or is not invited to a conference.

(01-05-2012 04:50 PM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

No doubt about it. I'd like to think our administration at least tried though, and put together a plan to bring in baseball and improve other areas of the program to present in front of the powers that be.

However, once I accepted the situation, and looked at who was left in this conferences merger, I feel better about the sun belt than I ever have. Clearly UL and ASU have set the bar a little higher for the future, and as MT, UNT, FAU and Troy get their programs back on track along with WKU who will be solid the next couple years, this conference will still be 2nd best among NON AQs. Granted, there will be only 4 NON AQ conferences if this merger goes through. But I have no doubt, the sun belt will be better than the MAC and WAC at the get go, and in a couple years should be pushing the MWCUSA merger conference.

I just don't think this merger think lasts longer than 3 or 4 years before they break apart and form two new leagues that are regionally based
(The thing they should have done 15 years ago)

Gotta agree with the last too posts. CUSA isnt the end all be all for me. The departures and the merger talk has kind of soured me. We would still be close to East Carolina and UAB but the three schools that have left (so far) were also attractive away game destinations. Plus who wants to have to send Olympic Sports to the Mountain Time Zone if the all sports comes to pass. SBC has more attractiveness for a Southern city team

(01-05-2012 05:32 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:50 PM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

No doubt about it. I'd like to think our administration at least tried though, and put together a plan to bring in baseball and improve other areas of the program to present in front of the powers that be.

However, once I accepted the situation, and looked at who was left in this conferences merger, I feel better about the sun belt than I ever have. Clearly UL and ASU have set the bar a little higher for the future, and as MT, UNT, FAU and Troy get their programs back on track along with WKU who will be solid the next couple years, this conference will still be 2nd best among NON AQs. Granted, there will be only 4 NON AQ conferences if this merger goes through. But I have no doubt, the sun belt will be better than the MAC and WAC at the get go, and in a couple years should be pushing the MWCUSA merger conference.

I just don't think this merger think lasts longer than 3 or 4 years before they break apart and form two new leagues that are regionally based
(The thing they should have done 15 years ago)

I have been saying for some time that there is really no reason for UL [or any SBC school] to leave unless it is to go to an AQ conference. We already have what others really want; an upwardly mobile, regionally based, balanced and competitive conference comprised largely of relatively large public universities in the best recruiting areas of the country.

Let's be honest, people are moving and jocking for position for one thing and one thing only - money. AQ status is just a little something extra. If CUSA and the merger/combination with MWC goes through the mixture of programs, sports and markets will be quite lucrative. The only bad thing about that is the large number of schools involved will dilute the payouts. But, if the combination can yield television revenue of $4-5m per school in football, I don't see any SBC or WAC school that wouldn't jump in line to be included. And for those that think the payouts will be less, please realize that the very diluted Big East is looking at about $10m per football member with their upcoming deal.

(01-05-2012 06:13 PM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  Let's be honest, people are moving and jocking for position for one thing and one thing only - money. AQ status is just a little something extra. If CUSA and the merger/combination with MWC goes through the mixture of programs, sports and markets will be quite lucrative. The only bad thing about that is the large number of schools involved will dilute the payouts. But, if the combination can yield television revenue of $4-5m per school in football, I don't see any SBC or WAC school that wouldn't jump in line to be included. And for those that think the payouts will be less, please realize that the very diluted Big East is looking at about $10m per football member with their upcoming deal.

I don't think the money is there.
Take what CUSA and MWC made independent of each other. Now is that figure going up or down with CUSA losing three large markets (basically three because Rice is much less of interest in Houston than the Cougars). Then subtract another large market in San Diego State, then subtract the Salt Lake market and the highest profile school they had in DFW. Subtract national brands BYU, TCU, Utah, and Boise State.

Then tell me how the two combined ends up producing more TV dollars or even enough to keep the per school distribution from falling.

Imagine now you are a financially struggling program like UAB and the league baseball tournament just moved from Hattiesburg or Houston to Fresno. Imagine men's basketball is at Memphis but women's basketball is at Reno.

We need another Bowl tie-in, esp. with USA coming on board next year, we'll have 10 teams almost securing 4 or 5 in conference wins for a handful of teams. We are going to have 4-5 bowl eligible schools each year and if we only have 2 guaranteed slots, that's going to leave a lot of schools scrambling/being left out.

This is the difference between our conference and the others at this time. Football drives the bus and bowl games are the incentive to win the games.

(01-06-2012 09:55 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 06:13 PM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  Let's be honest, people are moving and jocking for position for one thing and one thing only - money. AQ status is just a little something extra. If CUSA and the merger/combination with MWC goes through the mixture of programs, sports and markets will be quite lucrative. The only bad thing about that is the large number of schools involved will dilute the payouts. But, if the combination can yield television revenue of $4-5m per school in football, I don't see any SBC or WAC school that wouldn't jump in line to be included. And for those that think the payouts will be less, please realize that the very diluted Big East is looking at about $10m per football member with their upcoming deal.

I don't think the money is there.
Take what CUSA and MWC made independent of each other. Now is that figure going up or down with CUSA losing three large markets (basically three because Rice is much less of interest in Houston than the Cougars). Then subtract another large market in San Diego State, then subtract the Salt Lake market and the highest profile school they had in DFW. Subtract national brands BYU, TCU, Utah, and Boise State.

Then tell me how the two combined ends up producing more TV dollars or even enough to keep the per school distribution from falling.

Imagine now you are a financially struggling program like UAB and the league baseball tournament just moved from Hattiesburg or Houston to Fresno. Imagine men's basketball is at Memphis but women's basketball is at Reno.

Agree . . I just do not see the loss of several high profile teams resulting in more TV dollars on a per team basis for those left behind . . also the MWC teams moved away from ESPN due to no interest in week night games and ESPN recently sued CUSA as I recall. I do not see much hope for this merger/alliance.

Go SBC !!

(01-05-2012 05:32 PM)MG61 Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:50 PM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

Respectfully baseball has absolutely nothing to do with who is or is not invited to a conference.

That's not what I've been told.

(01-06-2012 10:35 AM)CAJUNNATION Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 05:32 PM)MG61 Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:50 PM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(01-05-2012 04:47 PM)ntmeangreen11 Wrote:  I started to see the writing on the wall a month or so ago, I don't think UNT to CUSA or UNT to MWC/CUSA was ever a possibility. I guess it was in 2004, but 2004 is long gone, as is our chances.

It really stinks.

Respectfully, UNT's chances to go to CUSA were and are badly damaged by not playing one of the signature sports of that Conference [baseball].

Respectfully baseball has absolutely nothing to do with who is or is not invited to a conference.

That's not what I've been told.

Cajunnation, who told you that baseball has something to do with this?

(01-06-2012 09:58 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  We need another Bowl tie-in, esp. with USA coming on board next year, we'll have 10 teams almost securing 4 or 5 in conference wins for a handful of teams. We are going to have 4-5 bowl eligible schools each year and if we only have 2 guaranteed slots, that's going to leave a lot of schools scrambling/being left out.

This is the difference between our conference and the others at this time. Football drives the bus and bowl games are the incentive to win the games.

Most bowl contracts run through the 2013 season so fixing that issue won't be likely until 2014.