(07-13-2020 10:11 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  this is absolutely going to be a game changer.

i suspect most athletic programs will survive this ultimately. Even if they are forced to do a drastic thing and take a year or two off like UAB to recover.

but what it will do is make every non-P5 school make sure they are as "pandemic-proof" as possible in the future.

that's going to be mean realigning into more sensible conferences, stop trying to keep up with the P5 arms race and be more realistic with spending, and possibly even some will pull an "Idaho" and drop down to FCS.

the P5 schools will be fine because even a 50% cut in their TV rights will still provide them more revenue than any non-p5 will generate. They may be wounded, but this will be far from a death blow. it's just a flesh wound to them.

Let's hope so. In the other infamous thread on this board, the discussion about conference realignment is always so football-centric. That is, often with little-to-no consideration that JMU doesn't need just a fit for FB, but really prefers a best fit for the entire athletic program. More sensible geographic make-ups could accomplish all of that for JMU. Again, let's hope so. While no question FB is extremely important, I am proud of JMU for attempting to be as good as we can be across the board in all of our programs (still hoping we will soon turn corners in MBB and Baseball) and not throwing all our eggs into the football basket like some others have.

As do I! Although I think it’s a false equivalency to say “supporting ALL athletic programs” must mean “all athletic programs under the same conference umbrella”. I know JMU seems to act like any affiliate membership is a non-starter (while we have programs in our department that are already affiliate members of non-CAA leagues).

(07-13-2020 11:10 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  As do I! Although I think it’s a false equivalency to say “supporting ALL athletic programs” must mean “all athletic programs under the same conference umbrella”. I know JMU seems to act like any affiliate membership is a non-starter (while we have programs in our department that are already affiliate members of non-CAA leagues).

Other conferences/schools like the AAC seem to be encouraging affiliate type arrangements for non-revenue sports, though really that is to help them survive and keep their current membership structure for revenue sports.