Jump to content
Did I hear a WOOSH?

Conference Realignment thread

Recommended Posts

On 12/18/2022 at 1:45 PM, RSF said:

No state currently prohibits same sex marriage.  Oberkfell v Hodges.

UCLA is playing in the Sun Bowl.  Which is in El Paso, Tx.

My bad. The prohibition must be based on something else since Hberkfell was issued in 2015 and SDSU reportedly hesitated briefly before agreeing to play in the Whatever Bowl last year against UTSA. I suspect UCLA is similarly paying for its team to travel to El Paso this year via alumni donations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/18/2022 at 2:42 PM, Someone Else said:

I do believe Oly sports work around it often.  Maybe look at some schedules over the last few years.

I'm not sure how they would work it out on a consistent basis but I'd bet they'd figure it out if it meant more money. You know, if there's a will there's a way ,,,

The cost for the great majority of Oly sports to travel to an offending state is a pittance of what it costs for a football team. Example: SDSU's men's golf team is composed of just 12 students and 2 coaches and the players can presumably store their clubs in the belly of the plane they fly in with minimal cost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/18/2022 at 7:39 PM, 818SUDSFan said:

My bad. The prohibition must be based on something else since Hberkfell was issued in 2015 and SDSU reportedly hesitated briefly before agreeing to play in the Whatever Bowl last year against UTSA. I suspect UCLA is similarly paying for its team to travel to El Paso this year via alumni donations.

Or it's because athletics is not state funded and thus not subject to the ban.

 

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/23/californias-texas-travel-ban-creates-confusion-college-sports/

 

The coaches are also clearly state employees. But for at least in some cases, their travel costs aren’t covered by state appropriations. Earlier this year, a UCLA spokesman told The Daily Bruin student newspaper that its athletics program doesn’t receive any state funding. School officials didn’t return requests for comment Friday, but they have said in the past that they don’t have any plans to keep its athletes out of postseason games in banned states.

  • Like 1

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/14/2022 at 11:49 PM, utenation said:

I’ve wondered about the Zags without Few as well. Do they bump up an internal guy or do they have enough cache to snag a name brand?

Mark is 60 years old. And he’s been at it awhile. 

That is the big question really for Gonzaga what happens when he leaves. at one point I thought they had a succession plan in place when Few leaves but I think that went out the window a while ago. If they hired from the outside it would be an interesting choice and thinking it would have to come from another similiar type school and coach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My next dominoes: 

2023 is upon us and so is the next edition of dominoes. I'm stealing a few of my predictions from Matt Brown:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/re...0591371409

The first moves will be non-moves: the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and ACC all stay put. 

Matt has Gonzaga and SDSU moving to the Pac-12. I will go with this but add the following: the league will add Air Force as a football-only member to counter balance Gonzaga and keep the 9-game football schedule. Air Force is a nationally relevant brand as a service academy. Their Olympic sports home will be revealed shortly. 

The next league I believe will make a move is the Big East for two reasons: more inventory for the next TV deal and increased NCAA bids. The current double round robin format is great but it hurts the league's chances of gaining maximum bids. Adding one school and keeping the 20-game schedule would likely gain the league half a bid a year as long as the addition would be at least a middle of the pack school; enter Saint Louis. The Bilikens are in a market not tapped by the Big East and would help the league fill out the map in the Midwest. Saint Louis is one of the strongest programs in the Atlantic 10, which has served as a feeder league for the Big East recently. 

As a result of the departures of Gonzaga and BYU, the WCC will go hunting: they add Grand Canyon and Seattle. Matt seems to like Cal Baptist over Seattle, but I think the later wins out due to their being several teams in California already and none in Washington state if Gonzaga leaves. 


The Atlantic 10 could stay put at 14 but I have a feeling they will go to 16. Two east coast programs stand out as additions: College of Charleston and Iona. Neither school has football, and both are leading mid majors on the east coast. 

The Mountain West is now in an interesting position after losing SDSU and Air Force. Matt seems to think the league will not do anything if SDSU only leaves. I think ultimately Hawaii gets an Olympic sports membership to pair with their football-only membership to get the league to 10 all-sports members. 

The AAC stays put at 14. 

The Missouri Valley comes into the fray unexpectedly as they invite Air Force to join. The league decides 13 is an unwieldy number and invites UT-Arlington as their 14th member. 

The MAC, C-USA, and Sun Belt ultimately stay put. 

Obviously, the Ivy League stays put as well. 

Matt seems to think the WAC might die, but I don't think so. At this point the league has eight members (six of which will play football in 2025).
I think the league will be able to capitalize on a geographic and competitive Olympic sports advantage over the Big Sky and add Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona to get to 10 schools. 

I think the Big Sky will respond with a hay-maker. Through innovative scheduling, I believe the following would work out: the Big Sky invites NDSU, SDSU, UND, and USD for all sports to get to 12. North Dakota was once a Big Sky member and the travel was an issue but if all four Dakota schools go that will mitigate that problem. 

The CAA is going to need to add a 14th member after the departure of College of Charleston. I believe Charleston is an important city for the league, and they add Charleston Southern. 

The Southern decides to capitilize on the Big South's misfortune and add Gardner Webb to get to 11 members. 

With the departure of Deion Sanders from Jackson State, the SWAC realizes it needs a new face of the league. The league decides to invite Tennessee State (and Eddie George) to get to 13. TSU is an HBCU in the footprint, and has been rumored as a potential SWAC school. 

The following leagues look around and decide to stay put: Patriot, Big West, and MEAC

The Horizon League pulls the trigger on its prize, Bellarmine, to get to 12. 

I think at this point, the Southland and A-Sun (both at 10 schools) stay put.

The MAAC is going to look for a replacement for Iona and settle on Wagner. 

The America East looks around and decides to stay at 9.

At this point, the OVC has 9 members, and the Summit is down to 6. Having more stability, the OVC will be the aggressor: the league adds Western Illinois, Kansas City, and Oral Roberts to get to 12. 

The NEC is at 8 schools after the departure of Wagner and add Le Moyne (D2) to back to 9 (this is a Matt Brown prediction). 

The Big South is at 7 schools after being raided multiple times. Matt has suggested Tampa and West Florida could move up so I will use them. That would get the league back to 9. 

This leaves the remaining three Summit league programs (Denver, Omaha, and St. Thomas) and Chicago State. It would take a lot for a league to die as an AQ is so valuable. These four programs add four D2 programs to keep the league alive: Augustana (SD), UIndy (IN), Ferris State (MI), and Grand Valley State (MI).

That leaves us with 370 schools, 32 conferences, and 0 independents.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/30/2022 at 6:45 PM, HawaiiMongoose said:

I’m going to stick with my prediction that the Pac stands pat with the remaining 10 members.  I think the odds of that happening are 60-40 compared to adding SDSU and/or anyone else.

Certainly seems like it would have happened by now if it was going to happen. Personally I think they should at least add SDSU, but what the hell do I know. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2022 at 6:03 PM, ph90702 said:

Memphis blew their chance at the Big 12!

according to the Big XII they had more interest in Tulane...but everyone around here always tells me they're useless (Tulane) so who knows.

mem skyline sig.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2022 at 7:12 PM, Gonzagafan2021 said:

@UofMTigers Would you rather see Memphis move to the big east for basketball or stay in the AAC?

stay in the AAC all day. we (Memphis fans) have too much invested in Tiger football to just toss it aside like UConn.

besides a conference with Memphis, Temple, WSU, SMU, UAB, Tulsa, FAU, UNT, etc is a good foundation for basketball.

  • Like 2

mem skyline sig.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2022 at 8:12 PM, Gonzagafan2021 said:

@UofMTigers Would you rather see Memphis move to the big east for basketball or stay in the AAC?

 

Gonzaga would be smart to join a conference that plays ALL the sports.

The Memphis fan is correct. There is likely going to be an FCS/FBS split in the near future and those FBS spots are already increasing in value.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/18/2022 at 1:52 PM, NorCalCoug said:

Rotten Meat - 75    Utah - 66

Probably a good thing Utah basketball will be hidden away on Amazon Prime going forward for only ten thousand diehard Utah and PAC fans to witness.  

It turns out the Amazon prime rumors were based on USC/UCLA still being in the PAC and there hasn’t been another counter made public so even Amazon prime is a major ? right now.

I wonder if the impact of ESPN signing the F1 deal to the PAC time zones won’t begin looming large in negotiations; who is there to pressure Amazon into jumping into cfb now? What leverage does the PAC have to necessitate an agreement with Amazon in under a year? I think we will start hearing a downward trend in PAC AAV numbers for the new PAC deal rumors as we go through this off-season.  

  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2022 at 1:15 AM, SalinasSpartan said:

Certainly seems like it would have happened by now if it was going to happen. Personally I think they should at least add SDSU, but what the hell do I know. 

I personally don’t think PAC/SDSU expansion plans are any more or less likely today than before, it’s just not up for action yet.  The PAC must secure its next contract before any of that can happen.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/3/2023 at 12:06 AM, Did I hear a WOOSH? said:

I personally don’t think PAC/SDSU expansion plans are any more or less likely today than before, it’s just not up for action yet.  The PAC must secure its next contract before any of that can happen.

No. Typically all the action takes place right as the power conferences start to negotiate their new deals, not right after they are locked in. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thing with Amazon, there’s been this assumption that they will inevitably get into college football one way or the other.  The PAC thus assumes they would come gallivanting in to pick them up after they get dropped to the curb next year, but why does Amazon have to pick up the PAC? They’re a business.  They care about money.   They could probably buy out both the MWC and Sunbelt contracts and settle new deals for both for less than half the cost of anything close to the current B12 deal and get greater overall viewership and have interesting cross rivalry events that would be way more interesting than PAC football.  Amazon could have its own bowl system.  Hell, they may be eyeing the new fbs and fcs playoffs and not give a damn about any conference that isn’t the SEC.  Has anyone from Amazon actually reported interest in the PAC specifically? The most PAC-friendly reports have said that ‘the PAC was pursuing Amazon’, not the other way around.  The PAC is about to find a stranger in the alps.  

  • Like 1
  • Facepalm 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.






×
×
  • Create New...