Updated 1/6/18: MVC Expansion Poll

[VUGrad1314]

Gross. I'd rather stay at 10 than add UT-Arlington. It'd be one thing if they were still winning 20+ games year in and year out and looked like a rising program but they don't anymore. They are largely a commuter school and draw like 1800 fans on average. No thank you. This would be adding just to add I hate the idea of adding a market just to add a market. That rarely works and ends up hurting a league a lot more than it helps. See: Conference USA for one example. They went the market route and it has hurt them way more than it's helped. That strategy works for the Big 10 for example when you already have massive media deals and can get more eyeballs but in a league like ours the main criteria should be instiutional fit and ability to win. I know I've said I'm in favor of expanding the footprint in the past but only for the right programs. In my mind UT-Arlington is NOT the right program and I feel like this would be a mistake. The Loyola parallel is not a good one because at least Loyola had some history and tradition in basketball before they were added even if it had been awhile. UT-Arlington has no tradition and this would be purely a market add while we pray they actually have enough upside to help the league. This move would be bad bad bad. I am NOT a fan of this at all.

[agernes]

Obviously reasonable minds can disagree, and I'm not my sure my mind is made up yet. But this caught my eye again:

Even if travel costs increased, an Indiana State or an Illinois State wouldn't need to recruit very many students from say, Texas, or Colorado, in order to at least break even. Out-of-state tuition is a powerful force.

I wonder how many students that number is specificly to justify such a move at a few different schools.

I also don't think for a second they are going to 11, so I imagine there's another target somewhere. perhaps some goals have changed under new leadership too

[SalukiWorld]

Obviously reasonable minds can disagree, and I'm not my sure my mind is made up yet. But this caught my eye again:

Even if travel costs increased, an Indiana State or an Illinois State wouldn't need to recruit very many students from say, Texas, or Colorado, in order to at least break even. Out-of-state tuition is a powerful force.

I wonder how many students that number is specificly to justify such a move at a few different schools.

I also don't think for a second they are going to 11, so I imagine there's another target somewhere. perhaps some goals have changed under new leadership too

If they were to add UT Arlington, I'd guess they'd try to add another Texas school or a school near Texas in a major city. Maybe a Grand Canyon or Oral Roberts. I don't agree with this at all, think the MVC should stay a midwest conference. Plenty of good options to add in the midwest that are better than UT Arlington.

[unipanther99]

I think too often in the expansion discussion we get hung up on past basketball success or tradition. I think that can be a factor, but it shouldn't be THE factor. You want a program with access to the resources necessary to be competitive, maybe top half of the league most years. A program complimentary of our existing schools, not necessarily a program on the trajectory of surpassing them.

There's a decently amount of basketball talent in Texas. Recruit them with the promise they can get back to play in their home state once a year.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I think too often in the expansion discussion we get hung up on past basketball success or tradition. I think that can be a factor, but it shouldn't be THE factor. You want a program with access to the resources necessary to be competitive, maybe top half of the league most years. A program complimentary of our existing schools, not necessarily a program on the trajectory of surpassing them.

There's a decently amount of basketball talent in Texas. Recruit them with the promise they can get back to play in their home state once a year.

This is actually a good point that I hadn't thought about. Recruiting. Granted, I still don't think that I'm a huge fan of adding UTA (I'd much rather have Murray), but if it helps our schools recruit from a certain talent pool, that's a plus. Still though, I don't see much positives here overall.

[goramblers2011]

Honest question--has there ever been a study done or any type of research about the effect on recruitment (and general student population) of adding a new conference member? I know it is often said that by adding a school from X, you then open the pipeline to recruit athletes from X and might even get some students from X.

I feel in the current state of things, adding a school in Texas wouldn't have an effect on other MVC teams recruiting Texas. Our games nationally available and coaches can be in constant touch with players anywhere in the world.

And student population...even less of an effect. I don't see how adding UT-A (for example) would then lead to some Texas high schoolers saying "Now I am interested in attending Indiana State!"

Maybe I am overlooking something.

[SalukiWorld]

Honest question--has there ever been a study done or any type of research about the effect on recruitment (and general student population) of adding a new conference member? I know it is often said that by adding a school from X, you then open the pipeline to recruit athletes from X and might even get some students from X.

I feel in the current state of things, adding a school in Texas wouldn't have an effect on other MVC teams recruiting Texas. Our games nationally available and coaches can be in constant touch with players anywhere in the world.

And student population...even less of an effect. I don't see how adding UT-A (for example) would then lead to some Texas high schoolers saying "Now I am interested in attending Indiana State!"

Maybe I am overlooking something.

Think people are referring to recruiting student-athletes as opposed to the general population. It opens up a pipeline in Texas for teams to recruit from. "Come to ____ and play in a good league and get to play games close to home once or twice a year"

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Honest question--has there ever been a study done or any type of research about the effect on recruitment (and general student population) of adding a new conference member? I know it is often said that by adding a school from X, you then open the pipeline to recruit athletes from X and might even get some students from X.

I feel in the current state of things, adding a school in Texas wouldn't have an effect on other MVC teams recruiting Texas. Our games nationally available and coaches can be in constant touch with players anywhere in the world.

And student population...even less of an effect. I don't see how adding UT-A (for example) would then lead to some Texas high schoolers saying "Now I am interested in attending Indiana State!"

Maybe I am overlooking something.

Think people are referring to recruiting student-athletes as opposed to the general population. It opens up a pipeline in Texas for teams to recruit from. "Come to ____ and play in a good league and get to play games close to home once or twice a year"

It does give your school a chance for advertising in that area. The people in that area are more exposed to your school, weather it be from a ballgame or a commercial during a ballgame. This also adds the assumption that people down there are actually watching UTA basketball, which I'm not sure is happening much.

[unipanther99]

Part of it is improving the athlete experience. With the transfer portal madness, finding ways to keep our players is an important consideration.

What's the current fun road trip for MVC teams to take? Maybe Chicago? Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not Cedar Falls on January 25. Heading to Arlington in the shadows of Jerryworld would probably be a trip our teams would look forward to each year. Nice restaurants, plenty to do, and a respite from the cold.

Belmont could maybe do the same in Nashville, but Murray, KY isn't going to move the needle for our players.

[RacerJoeD]

Belmont could maybe do the same in Nashville, but Murray, KY isn't going to move the needle for our players

Playing in an empty gym in a big city is a heck of an experience. That isn't me grinding an axe, its just a fact.* Maybe UNI coming to Nashville would do it, but I doubt it.









*-https://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/2019-20/teams/belmont