I'd really like to know which ADs are pushing this merger idea. From the article it appears like ODU and MT are at the very least mulling the idea. I didn't realize they were having financial struggles. ODU has the largest budget in C-USA. Why are they struggling?

(04-09-2017 08:52 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  I'd really like to know which ADs are pushing this merger idea. From the article it appears like ODU and MT are at the very least mulling the idea. I didn't realize they were having financial struggles. ODU has the largest budget in C-USA. Why are they struggling?

Is it really a merging idea or a geographic alignment idea? I assume the latter because there's no real benefit for a G5 superconference. The Sun Belt members would go from profiting over a million dollars per school from the CFP to getting table scraps.

And this is roughly what the eastern daughter conference would look like.
FAU
FIU
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Coastal Carolina
App State
UNCC
MTSU
ODU
WKU
Troy

I assume in this scenario Marshall says F it all and goes back to the MAC.

Basically, every school listed ends up in a lesser basketball conference and football ends up with several programs that are anywhere between ne'er do wells and works in progress. I can't imagine most of the schools on that list wanting to go along with it.

So not only do you somehow have to find a way within the FBS rules to create the reorganization, but you have to get (I assume) a supermajority in both conferences to go along with it.

Wherever MT goes, we will follow. They are Moby Dick and we are Ahab

Is this thread some strange April Fool's joke or something? I've seen nothing in any of this that would make C-USA a better conference. Sunbelt mergers- seriously???

I realize we're in the slow season for college sports, but it is truly bizarre how obsessed fans on this message board are with "conference realignment/expansion".

(04-09-2017 03:41 AM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(04-08-2017 07:49 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  A merger with the Sun Belt is not in the interest of North Texas. Personally, I'm sick of these media shills of eastern programs pushing these realignment stories. And, I don't think those eastern ADs shouldn't even speak about it in public. They don't have enough votes out there for those eastern ADs and university presidents to force a merger on the rest of us. These media stories just make C-USA look weak.

If ODU, MT, or any other program can't afford to play in C-USA, then leave and go join the Belt... Or just quit like Idaho. But, you will not force the rest of us to merge with the Sun Belt.

North Texas is investing in our athletics. We are building a new track and soccer faculty, and a new indoor practice facility. We are renovating and expanding our athletic center. We just gave all of our football coaches raises (17% more then last year). And we just bought out the contract of a 20 win Sun Belt basketball coach. We have no reason to merge with a conference we poach from.

This is a stupid article.

I agree, Minuim is the king of offseason click bait for CUSA, I didnt even read it. Last year ODU was the shoe-in for the AAC according to him.

So you're just spouting off and really don't even know what you are talking about then. Par for the course (in honor of the Masters).

(04-09-2017 10:09 AM)DogsWin1 Wrote:  Is this thread some strange April Fool's joke or something? I've seen nothing in any of this that would make C-USA a better conference. Sunbelt mergers- seriously???

I realize we're in the slow season for college sports, but it is truly bizarre how obsessed fans on this message board are with "conference realignment/expansion".

It will be really disappointing if conference leadership does this in the short term. I think bigger changes are coming with the Big 12 and cable cutting fallout. Each school needs to demand more from the conference for innovative scheduling to reduce travel costs for now.

(04-09-2017 09:18 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Is it really a merging idea or a geographic alignment idea?

It should be neither. It should be updating the leagues to maximize financial distributions from the conference. The incentives and the the facts on the ground are very much different in 2017 than they were in 2012. There is no reason for conferences in our situations to be above 8 or 9 members (given football championship game rule changes and new tv deal structures). The alignment should be to get those should which generate the most organic revenue and can put together a Tier 3 tv package other than streaming it for free on some third party platform.

This is stupid. Will NEVER happen.

(04-09-2017 11:04 AM)MU ATO Wrote:  This is stupid. Will NEVER happen.

Agree. It's always something from that newspaper and school.

(04-09-2017 09:18 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 08:52 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  I'd really like to know which ADs are pushing this merger idea. From the article it appears like ODU and MT are at the very least mulling the idea. I didn't realize they were having financial struggles. ODU has the largest budget in C-USA. Why are they struggling?

Is it really a merging idea or a geographic alignment idea? I assume the latter because there's no real benefit for a G5 superconference. The Sun Belt members would go from profiting over a million dollars per school from the CFP to getting table scraps.

And this is roughly what the eastern daughter conference would look like.
FAU
FIU
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Coastal Carolina
App State
UNCC
MTSU
ODU
WKU
Troy

I assume in this scenario Marshall says F it all and goes back to the MAC.

Basically, every school listed ends up in a lesser basketball conference and football ends up with several programs that are anywhere between ne'er do wells and works in progress. I can't imagine most of the schools on that list wanting to go along with it.

So not only do you somehow have to find a way within the FBS rules to create the reorganization, but you have to get (I assume) a supermajority in both conferences to go along with it.

Everyone seems to assume that Marshall's safety net would be to go back to the MAC, there is only one problem, most MAC school's do not want us back. There is a new thread every time merger or realignment is mentioned that asks the question "should Marshall be extended an invitation and/or be allowed to re-join the MAC" and the comments usually circle back around to a "No". Some, site the dominance of Football in the 90's and the bad taste it left, others say we've left twice, so no more. The only fan base that seems open to Marshall coming back to the MAC is Ohio's. Also, most Marshall fans will tell you that they feel a much deeper identity to that of a Southern school then that of a Midwestern school.

(04-09-2017 11:10 AM)deb025 Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 11:04 AM)MU ATO Wrote:  This is stupid. Will NEVER happen.

Agree. It's always something from that newspaper and school.

Thank you. I'm glad some others are coming over here and calling out this crap. I like ODU, but won't for very long if they keep pushing this garbage.

My preference would be these 8 current C-USA schools:

UAB
Middle
WKU
ODU
Charlotte
Marshall
USM
La Tech

Then add 2 more programs EAST of the Mississippi and never look back...18 game round robin in basketball and 8 or 9 conf games in football

(04-09-2017 08:52 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  I'd really like to know which ADs are pushing this merger idea. From the article it appears like ODU and MT are at the very least mulling the idea. I didn't realize they were having financial struggles. ODU has the largest budget in C-USA. Why are they struggling?

The ODU president is on record in the article as saying that he was not in favor of a CUSA - Sunbelt merger. He had some other ideas that would lower the travel costs for all of the schools while keeping CUSA intact. Anytime CUSA schools lose a million dollars or more from one year to the next, that is significant.

The MTSU athletic director and an unnamed CUSA athletic director seemed to agree that something either would or needed to change soon based upon the loss of TV revenue along with many or all of the CUSA schools now providing the cost of attendance allowance to it's athletes.

(04-09-2017 01:33 PM)Dragonz Lair Wrote:  My preference would be these 8 current C-USA schools:

UAB
Middle
WKU
ODU
Charlotte
Marshall
USM
La Tech

Then add 2 more programs EAST of the Mississippi and never look back...18 game round robin in basketball and 8 or 9 conf games in football

If it ever came down to making changes, those schools are the same ones that I would choose for ODU to be aligned with too.

*This merger-reorganization talk is probably also based on the assumption that the development of regional rivalries will also increase attendance. It may not be only about saving money, but also making money. I bet you'd see that happen slightly in football and basketball. I personally can't fly to games, but I'd definitely drive up to 250 miles to see one on the road.

(04-09-2017 01:27 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 11:10 AM)deb025 Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 11:04 AM)MU ATO Wrote:  This is stupid. Will NEVER happen.

Agree. It's always something from that newspaper and school.

Thank you. I'm glad some others are coming over here and calling out this crap. I like ODU, but won't for very long if they keep pushing this garbage.

Don't judge a school or fanbase by what a beat writer sketches up with his itchy fingers over an afternoon snack and one more thing each school reports their income/expenditures and budget differently and just because we have reported a bigger number doesn't mean we are immune to loss of TV Revenue esp with a new stadium on the Horizon.

(04-09-2017 02:38 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 01:27 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 11:10 AM)deb025 Wrote:  

(04-09-2017 11:04 AM)MU ATO Wrote:  This is stupid. Will NEVER happen.

Agree. It's always something from that newspaper and school.

Thank you. I'm glad some others are coming over here and calling out this crap. I like ODU, but won't for very long if they keep pushing this garbage.

Don't judge a school or fanbase by what a beat writer sketches up with his itchy fingers over an afternoon snack and one more thing each school reports their income/expenditures and budget differently and just because we have reported a bigger number doesn't mean we are immune to loss of TV Revenue esp with a new stadium on the Horizon.

I don't see ODU fans dismissing this report. In fact, a few seem very excited about it.

That beat writer wouldn't publish a story like this if it would upset the ODU program. They like their access. ODU's AD didn't have to go on the record for this article, but he did. I have a problem with that.

These types of articles indirectly promote ODU's desire to be in a modified lineup. That is not promoting our conference, and it is counterproductive to every program in C-USA. Other G5 conferences are having a field day with this stupid article.

I know the NCAA requires a minimum of 14 sports (men 6 or 7 and women 7-8) to be D1. Is there a minimum requirement by the NCAA on how many sports a conference must play?

I believe what the ADs are getting at is play football and basketball under one conference (CUSA) then find homes for your other sports in the closes conference you can....

bus conference

I think that's what they are talking about when they say "need help from the NCAA"

Unless each school is with in 5 hours of each other the team is flying in football and basketball. Even then they might be flying depending on game time to some of those games. So I don't see any way travel cost is going to be lower for the top two sports.

Below is a apple to apples comparison between what it cost Western to travel their last year in the SBC and their first year in CUSA. But even then it's going to vary because of OOC play/travel might not be the same both years. I know one huge difference in football...Western went to a bowl (Bahama) in our first year in CUSA and was left out of a bowl the last year in the SBC.

Actual travel expenditures for the last two years on record for Western. This is different than budget items. A budget is a predicted cost and expenditures actual cost. With Western the budget is two years behind expenditures. In July I will have the 2015-16 expenditures

In the next to last column I added in a 2% cost of living increase to 2013-14 and then deducted it from 2014-15 to compare for any cost increase.

(04-08-2017 07:49 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  A merger with the Sun Belt is not in the interest of North Texas. Personally, I'm sick of these media shills of eastern programs pushing these realignment stories. And, I don't think those eastern ADs shouldn't even speak about it in public. They don't have enough votes out there for those eastern ADs and university presidents to force a merger on the rest of us. These media stories just make C-USA look weak.

If ODU, MT, or any other program can't afford to play in C-USA, then leave and go join the Belt... Or just quit like Idaho. But, you will not force the rest of us to merge with the Sun Belt.

North Texas is investing in our athletics. We are building a new track and soccer faculty, and a new indoor practice facility. We are renovating and expanding our athletic center. We just gave all of our football coaches raises (17% more then last year). And we just bought out the contract of a 20 win Sun Belt basketball coach. We have no reason to merge with a conference we poach from.

This is a stupid article.

First, there are no openings in the SBC currently. Second, you need to use the past tense of "poach" 'cause it ain't happenin' again any time soon.

(04-08-2017 09:16 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  I'm not going to address the idea but rather the last line in the article that the financial model is broken. The financial model is broken because so called non profit educational institutions that control the power operate more like a cartel than a non profit. We are in these far flung leagues because we have chased money to stay competitive. We have chased money because of a flawed system that allows power and resources to be consolidated among only a handful of conferences. Not even the NFL and MLB operate this way and they actually are for profit entities. It's absurd that pro sports operates more like a non profit and collegiate sports operate more like an illegal transnational criminal organization.

I'm all for letting the market set some paremeters here. The SEC should get more than C-USA for a TV package because more people watch them but there should be caps and some shared revenue across all D1 for the TV money. But with that said the P5 leagues should not be getting 85% of all other revenues while the other five leagues scrape by with the remaining 15%. As usual no one is willing to step up and address the underlying problem instead focusing on a symptom of the bigger problem. And the media buys it hook, line and sinker every time.

Not to take away from a fantastic post but believe it or not, the NFL is definitely a not-for-profit entity.