Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[RugbyBuck]

It's 8 hours from Columbus to Chicago, so extrapolate accordingly for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska etc.

Well, there you have it. Let'em in and I can see the Bucks play every other year without even leaving home.

 

[redstatebuckeye]

Adding Georgia Tech would be a good move -- academically they meet the requirements. It would also help with recruiting kids from Georgia -- they can play in front of the home crowd a couples of times in their careers. It would still be difficult to get kids out of the south, but it would help.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Not that I get a vote, but I would favor this move strongly for a variety of reasons.

From a football standpoint, GT would be above the conference average, and most importantly, be a school which doesn't sit in our current talent or media footprint.

After Nebraska, and ruling out Texe$pn, there aren't too many home runs left out there, and this to me makes more sense than either Missouri or Aggie would have.

Also, a raid on the ACC is poetic justice, since they're the ones who started this whole mess, and it deprives Notre Dame of yet another place to land. Don't get me wrong -- I am not hoping for them to wind up in the B1G. I want to see the day where they have to ask to join and Delaney says "no".

 

[Muck]

FBS realignment: M-Day becomes A-Day for the MWC, C-USA (and what that would mean for the WAC and Sun Belt)

Throughout the realignment wave that hit the BCS leagues last summer, the Hotline cautioned fans to keep one thing in mind above all else:

Because there are so many levels of state and university politics and conference and NCAA bureaucracy involved in expansion, nothing is done until it-s done ... and sometimes not even then.

The same, it appears, is true for realignment at the non-BCS level.

Last week, I reported that the Mountain West and Conference USA would merge sometime next months.

Turns out, the merger plans could very well be shelved in favor of an alliance between the conferences.

According to sources:

* The NCAA told the MWC and C-USA that it would award the merged league only one AQ berth to postseason events. So instead of two 8-10 team leagues and two AQs, there would be one 16+ team league with only one AQ.

(Think that went over well with MWC/C-USA officials?)

* In addition … and I don’t claim to understand the legal nuances involved … the exit fees owed to the conferences by departing members would be deemed null and void if that conference merged with another.

* It also turns out that, because one conference would have legally dissolve itself in order to join the other — or they’d both have to dissolve to form a newly-named league — the NCAA Tournament revenue would be returned to the schools that earned it.

Memphis, for example, would keep its money from March Madness, instead of that cash going to C-USA.

(This stands in contrast to what I reported last week, which you should now forget you ever read.)

* All of which is another way of saying that the months and months and months of merger work done by the MWC, C-USA and their consultants (including Dean Jordan, a heavy hitter from Wasserman) was, it appears, for naught.

And don’t think for a second that the leagues are happy about it.

Could this story take another twist? Of course. It’s realignment, after all.

.../cont/...

Why in the world would the leaders of the MWC & C-USA believe they would qualify for 2 AQ slots if they combined into single conference?!

 

[BUCKYLE]

FBS realignment: M-Day becomes A-Day for the MWC, C-USA (and what that would mean for the WAC and Sun Belt)



Why in the world would the leaders of the MWC & C-USA believe they would qualify for 2 AQ slots if they combined into single conference?!

I'm shocked they'd get one.

 

[Zurp]

FBS realignment: M-Day becomes A-Day for the MWC, C-USA (and what that would mean for the WAC and Sun Belt)



Why in the world would the leaders of the MWC & C-USA believe they would qualify for 2 AQ slots if they combined into single conference?!

Well, if all 120+ FBS teams merged into one conference, I bet they'd get at least 7 AQ slots.

 

[IronBuckI]

I'm shocked they'd get one.

I'm sure that you get this already, but I don't think they will get one for the BCS. The one AQ for one conference applies only to NCAA sanctioned tournaments, like the basketball tourney and all of the other shit that the NCAA puts on for sports championships.

 

[Muck]

I'm sure that you get this already, but I don't think they will get one for the BCS. The one AQ for one conference applies only to NCAA sanctioned tournaments, like the basketball tourney and all of the other shit that the NCAA puts on for sports championships.

This was how I took the article as well.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I'm sure that you get this already, but I don't think they will get one for the BCS. The one AQ for one conference applies only to NCAA sanctioned tournaments, like the basketball tourney and all of the other shit that the NCAA puts on for sports championships.

This was how I took the article as well.

That makes way more sense.

 

[Muck]

Pacific to leave Big West for West Coast Conference

STOCKTON - University of the Pacific is on the verge of returning to its West Coast Conference roots and ushering in a new era for its athletic programs.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation said the process should be finalized today when the university presidents of the WCC's nine institutions will vote on Pacific's invitation to join, with seven votes needed to pass.

The WCC is currently comprised of BYU, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, University of San Francisco and Santa Clara. Pacific would become a WCC member for the 2013-14 academic year. The university was a member of the West Coast Athletic Conference from 1952-71. The conference changed its name in 1989.

Pacific has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. today at the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium. Athletic director Ted Leland said "discussions are ongoing" and declined further comment. WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich also declined comment.

Pacific's administration, including former Athletic Director Lynn King, has had a long-stated desire to join the WCC, because they felt it was a better fit academically, geographically and financially. All nine members of the WCC are private institutions with only BYU having a student body that reaches five figures at 32,980. Pacific's current enrollment on the Stockton campus is 5,228 students. BYU joined the WCC in all sports but football in August of 2010.

Pacific left the WCAC for the then-Pacific Coast Athletic Association in 1971. It would eventually become the Big West Conference and it has been Pacific's home since. According to conference bylaws, schools departing the Big West are required to give 12 months notice, which is why all of Pacific's sports will have one final season in the conference. Pacific's impending defection comes after the conference had received commitments from Hawaii to join in 2012-13 and San Diego State in 2013-14.

.../cont/...

 

[HorseshoeFetish]

Ok so this truly is a who cares story regarding C-USA/WAC and powerhouse UTSA...no offense to anyone who cares. I'm reading..actually just glancing at it this and see Larry Coker...Man did his career go in the wrong direction or what?



Football coach Larry Coker and UTSA officials apparently began having reservations about the WAC.


http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoo...poised-to-leave-wac-for-conference-usa-042812

 

[broken24]

A continuation of the WHO CARES posts:

Without WAC, other non-AQs will earn more BCS revenue

Texas State, UT-Arlington to Sun Belt in 2013

San Jose State, Utah State appear headed to Mountain West in 2013

Once-proud (and large) WAC on its death bed, and that's a shame

 

[Muck]

WAC 1995
Air Force
BYU
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawaii
New Mexico
San Diego St.
Utah
UTEP
Wyoming

MWC 2013
Air Force
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawaii
Nevada
New Mexico
San Jose St.
UNLV
Utah St.
Wyoming

 

[Steve19]

Once proud? Of what?

 

[Muck]

Conference USA expanding, will add six teams in 2013

Conference USA is expanding, and not by a little, adding six new programs in 2013, sources told CBSSports.com.

Florida International, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte and Old Dominion will all join to bring the roster to 14 teams. Charlotte doesn't begin playing football until 2013 and Old Dominion is moving up to FBS from FCS. It is unclear, the website reports, when those two will begin competing as full-fledge Conference USA football members.

This officially would nix the proposed C-USA-Mountain West Conference merger. The MWC will add Utah State and San Jose State in 2013, bringing its membership to 10 teams. The MWC and C-USA dashed their merger plan but have agreed to work together to share scheduling, television and marketing resources.

The Western Athletic Conference, meanwhile, will not only struggle to maintain relevance - but its very existence. Utah State and San Jose State are current WAC members, as are Louisiana Tech and Texas-San Antonio. Texas State, also in the WAC, is headed to the Sun Belt. That would leave the WAC, established in 1962 and once as large as 16 programs, with two programs in 2013 - Idaho and New Mexico State.

.../cont/...