(04-27-2014 07:15 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Quit trying to fix every damn problem today. Quit trying to wrap everything up with a bow today. Be the anti-Wall Street and instead of focusing on quarterly reports, worry about your stock value in three years or five ears or 10 years instead.

+3

That's what UMass FB-only and NMSU all-sports offers ... 10 all-sports members, playing a 6/6 divisional schedule in FB, with the flexibility to add 2, 4 or 6 schools down the track on a timetable of the Sunbelt's own choosing, for once.

And how does that differ from simply adding Liberty?

(04-28-2014 07:15 PM)SlyFox Wrote:  And how does that differ from simply adding Liberty?

Adding Liberty would cause the conference to be out of balance. It is much better to bring NMSU in all sports and UMASS in football only. Choosing UMASS/NMSU gives teams like EKU and Missouri State time to get things in order. Liberty is not a good fit. NMSU will be added as a full member before Liberty is considered.

Cool story, bro. But it doesn't answer the question. Adding Liberty would result in 10 all-sport members, playing 6/6 divisional schedule in football, with the flexibility to add 2, 4 or 6 schools down the track on a timetable of the Sun Belt's own choosing. UMass, Missouri State, EKU, Jax State and even JMU would still be in play moving forward.

You can make an argument for adding UMass football only as being better for the Sun Belt than adding Liberty, although I would disagree. But you can't argue that adding UMass football/NMSU all sports is better for league balance.

For the record, I really like the staged upgrades occurring at McGuirk. Whether UMass stays FBS or finds itself back in FCS due to circumstances beyond their own control, the finished product of the on-campus stadium is great for the school and Western Mass in general.

Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

(04-28-2014 08:24 PM)SlyFox Wrote:  Cool story, bro. But it doesn't answer the question. Adding Liberty would result in 10 all-sport members, playing 6/6 divisional schedule in football, with the flexibility to add 2, 4 or 6 schools down the track on a timetable of the Sun Belt's own choosing. UMass, Missouri State, EKU, Jax State and even JMU would still be in play moving forward.

You can make an argument for adding UMass football only as being better for the Sun Belt than adding Liberty, although I would disagree. But you can't argue that adding UMass football/NMSU all sports is better for league balance.

For the record, I really like the staged upgrades occurring at McGuirk. Whether UMass stays FBS or finds itself back in FCS due to circumstances beyond their own control, the finished product of the on-campus stadium is great for the school and Western Mass in general.

Adding UMASS and NMSU would balance the league

Football

East

Appalachian State
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Massachusettes (football)
South Alabama
Troy

West

Arkansas State
Idaho (football only)
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
New Mexico State
Texas State


Oly Sports

Appalachian State
Arkansas Little Rock
Arkansas State
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
New Mexico State
South Alabama
Texas Arlington
Texas State
Troy

Pretty balanced

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

That doesn't count. The Liberty beat writer said so.

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

So you can't answer the question. Where is the UMass to the SB info coming from?

(04-28-2014 09:10 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

So you can't answer the question. Where is the UMass to the SB info coming from?

I don't have to answer your question.

Just face it...Liberty has missed out again.

(04-28-2014 09:10 PM)TheRevSWT Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

That doesn't count. The Liberty beat writer said so.

So answer the question Rev and bring something to the conversation. Where is the UMass info coming from? I've searched and searched and found NOTHING. 100% speculation.

(04-28-2014 09:12 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:10 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

So you can't answer the question. Where is the UMass to the SB info coming from?

I don't have to answer your question.

Just face it...Liberty has missed out again.

I'll "face it" when Benson or our AD makes a statement, not when several blowhards on a message board say so.

(04-28-2014 09:15 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:12 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:10 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:05 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing. Over the past month a handful of schools are been declared the next member of the SB. So where does all the UMass info come from?

No FCS liminates Liberty.

So you can't answer the question. Where is the UMass to the SB info coming from?

I don't have to answer your question.

Just face it...Liberty has missed out again.

I'll "face it" when Benson or our AD makes a statement, not when several blowhards on a message board say so.

Time is ticking...If another year passes...the chances for Liberty goes down. June 1st is almost here...a little over a month away.

(04-28-2014 08:50 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  Serious question. HAs there been any official statement from anywhere that says the SB and UMass are in negotiations? Has Benson, an AD, or a beat writer reported it? I've not seen the first thing.

In negotiations? Not an official word, which suggests that any negotiations have not been completed. Though if the Sunbelt meeting is in May, it would be unlikely to be completed prior to May anyway.

As the UMass official spokesman said at the time that the news broke that the MAC had exercised their option and UMass declined to exercise theirs:

Quote: UMass plans to remain an FBS football member after leaving the MAC, university spokesman John Sinnett told ESPN.

"We are committed to FBS football and have been working with Carr Sports Consulting to examine future conference possibilities," Sinnett said. "We have been actively pursuing alternative options for conference alignment, but it is in the university's best interest not to speculate on those at this time."

Someone would have to be quite naive to believe that UMass has not made contacts with the Sunbelt, but how the Sunbelt has responded has been all rumors and speculation at this point.

(04-28-2014 07:15 PM)SlyFox Wrote:  And how does that differ from simply adding Liberty?

The Sunbelt gets NMSU BBall instead of Liberty BBall, and likely access to four games a year in home and home series with UMass.

And a pair of FB-only schools that it will be politically easier for the conference to walk away from than NMSU FB-only, given NMSU's history as a past member of the conference.

What I wonder at this point is whether the conference leaders sort of already know who the vote will be on in about 3 weeks when they meet or is it still totally up in the air with numerous teams still in the running.

Anyone keeping up with all this knows there is no source, it's just speculation. But what isn't speculation during realignment? If we took all rumors as fact then JMU would of been invited, MSU was aready invited and EKU was in deep talks with the SBC about an invite. I think the UMASS rumor is just like all these other rumors. The only thing that has remained constant is LU is on the SBC radar and is being considered. If that comes true who really knows. Maybe Benson will say something on the two cents radio show tomorrow to clear the air?

The show is on the 30th of April. I just realized it's still the 28th in the states. Here it's already the 29th

(04-28-2014 09:13 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  So answer the question Rev and bring something to the conversation. Where is the UMass info coming from? I've searched and searched and found NOTHING. 100% speculation.

I have no answer that will sate you.

I merely laugh at Liberty folks running over themselves to try and discredit something that doesn't benefit Liberty.

(04-28-2014 09:21 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  What I wonder at this point is whether the conference leaders sort of already know who the vote will be on in about 3 weeks when they meet or is it still totally up in the air with numerous teams still in the running.

What the email from the EKU President suggests is that they have at least started to winnow it down.

There is more wiggle room in the statement than some people may realize, since the evaluation moving on to FBS schools is typically read to mean that FCS schools are out, when it could mean that the assessment of the FCS schools are finalized, but the assessment of FBS schools are not. Either means essentially the same thing as far as EKU is concerned, if the conclusion of the assessment for EKU was to not include it among the viable options at this point in time.

(04-28-2014 09:22 PM)Curtisc83 Wrote:  The only thing that has remained constant is LU is on the SBC radar and is being considered.

As far as the is part, that's speculation too.

(04-28-2014 09:24 PM)TheRevSWT Wrote:  

(04-28-2014 09:13 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  So answer the question Rev and bring something to the conversation. Where is the UMass info coming from? I've searched and searched and found NOTHING. 100% speculation.

I have no answer that will sate you.

I merely laugh at Liberty folks running over themselves to try and discredit something that doesn't benefit Liberty.

I was asking a serious question about the UMass info because reading most of the posts you would think it's a done deal. I was thinking there's some news out there that I wasn't aware of. So I ask a serious question and the smart remarks start. Liberty fans have been extremely cordial on this board and continue to get hammered by posters that bring nothing to the conversation.

Liberty is still in play. Meetings still happening. Votes to come in May.