(04-11-2013 10:47 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-11-2013 08:43 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  I don't believe UCF or Temple or USF builds the eagerness of Tulane or Houston or Tulsa fans to purchase tickets or donate to compete against them (or make the ticket a valuable commodity that permits forcibly extracting donations from potential ticket buyers). That simply defies belief.

But at least it's unproven. It is proven, with many years of data, that playing more local opponents does not help those teams to fill the seats at their stadiums. (Unless the "local opponents" are Texas, TAMU, Oklahoma, or LSU. The point being that fans respond in large numbers to big-name opponents and not to non-name opponents, whether they are local or not.)

As I said above, the CUSA-to-AAC teams might well experience the same result in the AAC, but at least they are trying something different.

That's where the regional conference (with low outside revenue) argument falls apart for me. The MAC, SBC and several of CUSA are lucky if they're drawing in the mid 20,000's for games. My theory is your school either draws fans / has a fanbase or it doesn't. It's much better to stand on your own than to rely on visitors for revenue.

No matter what ECU is in a much better situation b/c of geography & NCAA revenues. We were somewhat of an outlier any way you slice it but having Navy (+ hopefully a non-FB offset), Temple, UConn, UCF & USF in our time zone at least is a huge improvement over what we had before. Our closest conference mate was Marshall before. Now we have 3 within or roughly closer in Navy, Temple & Cincy. We severed trips UTEP and put Memphis in our new west division.

Playing UNCC & ODU in conference is completely unacceptable to myself and at least half of our fanbase, especially the bigger donors so a truly regional league like MAC or SBC is basically a non-starter.