Loyola Leaving for A-10

[racernation]

On the podcast, there was a mention of a fourth team that was "withheld". I bet it's NKU. It fits the footprint, is in a nice market size, they have over 14,000 students. And great facilities. Assuming Murray is next, I'd have NKU before Kansas City and Arlington.

[RacerJoeD]

I wouldnt be shocked if its UIC as the fourth team

[BCPanther]

I think we, focused exclusively on athletics, lose the point of how hard it's going to be for smaller universities in the Midwest to thrive going forward and that has to be at the forefront for the presidents, especially of the privates.

The population around us is getting older, the number of high school graduates is dropping and all of these institutions have to make sure they stay solvent. Picking off a few kids from Dallas and a few kids from Nashville and a few more from Kansas City can make a huge difference and it doesn't take many of them to make a difference.

One of our former presidents always said 'athletics and performing arts are the front porch of the university'. It's where people come and hopefully have a good enough time that they are curious enough to want to go look around inside the house next time.

That's all well and good I just think we'll do a better job of that if we added schools like UIC Milwaukee NKU St Thomas and Bellarmine: these are markets where most (if not all) MVC institutions could expect to have a fighting chance. Like it or not, most of our schools' reach is and will always be regional in nature and most kids want to go to school far enough away from home that they aren't under their parents' thumb but not so far away that they're in a completely different area of the country. I would venture to say that many more kids in Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cincinnati Louisville and Minneapolis know how good Drake Bradley Valpo UNI Evansville and such are as schools and would be more apt to come here than kids from Texas and western Missouri. We wouldn't get more than a negligible handful from those areas. In places like Chicago and Milwaukee especially MVC schools could hope to give themselves a fighting chance to boost enrollment. Those are the schools I would be targeting if we're all about markets here.

As for the front porch argument I agree wholeheartedly and right now we just had a porch pirate steal our best package. It would be helpful if we could add some more nice packages (albeit not as nice as Loyola) like Murray State and NKU to keep Valley athletics competitive. Our pool of additions should be as follows:

If we want to get better athletically we should pick from: Murray State NKU Wright State and perhaps St Thomas Bellarmine Maybe Cleveland State or Oakland as well

If we want student recruitment adds we should pick from UIC Milwaukee UDM or even some of the schools I mentioned in the athletics portion but UIC and Milwaukee are by far and away the most potentially fruitful additions we could make if we want markets we could reliably tap into for students without busting our travel budgets and making it so we spend a good portion of the enrollment money we get from students from the far away places like Arlington traveling to play them. I wouldn't even so much look in KC and Arlington's direction unless I see firm commitments to athletics and a firm promise that Missouri State is staying. Otherwise I'd rather further regionalize the conference because that's where our students are going to come from like it or not. Even if you could guarantee me the former (Arlington and KC commitment to athletics) there's no way you could guarantee me the latter (Missouri State staying. Without Missouri State I'm just not that interested in having schools that far away when we could accomplish the same goals better with more geographically sensible additions.

I hear you, I do.

The problem becomes that northern cities, especially those that have an industrial past, are losing population where places further south with good weather and more diversity in employers are thriving.

Kansas City is going to have to show that they're all in. That's why they aren't getting in right away. They're going to have to sign a long term lease with Municipal Auditorium, show that they have a plan for olympic sports and demonstrate that they are going to pump money into MBB, WBB and Volleyball.

Arlington is so cheap and easy to get to that they're never going to be on an island and they've been very vocal in the fact that they have money to spend. They also play in very nice newer on-campus arena that seats 7000 and will fit perfectly in the Valley and have generally good facilities overall. Getting out of the Sun Belt to a league that cares about something other than football is going to be great for them.

And Murray is Murray. They'll generally good though that curve to playing in the Valley is steeper than they think it is right now. One off games are a totally different animal than the 20 or 22 game grind is going to be. They'll be fine.

I always find it interesting, and this isn't directed at you in any way, that the Illinois and Indiana schools are so worried about flights. Drake and UNI have to fly everywhere except to each other and to Bradley, Belmont is going to have to do a good bit of flying. It's just become part of the deal in this league and in athletics in general.

[racernation]

I wouldnt be shocked if its UIC as the fourth team

Probably, just wishful thinking it's NKU

[BCPanther]

I wouldnt be shocked if its UIC as the fourth team

This right here. The other three were/are going to be added thinking Loyola was sticking around. UIC is an incredibly easy choice for 14 assuming all of the background work comes in as we'd expect it to.

[Fetz86]

Yeah, I think if 14 is the number than it should be Murray St, Milwaukee, UIC, then pick one between NKU or St Thomas. KC might not be terrible if they can show a sustained financial commitment for a couple years and start on facilities upgrades, but being in Missouri they know they need to show me, not make promises. I don’t think pushing into the Dakotas, Arkansas, Texas or Ohio fit the conference. Wright State, especially given their financial troubles, doesn’t excite me.

[VUGrad1314]

If it's 14 then let's do Murray State NKU UIC and Milwaukee. It's a nice balance of academic market and basketball prowess and comes from markets where we have a good shot at drawing students. We can put KC in the on deck pile alongside the likes of Wright State St Thomas Bellarmine the Detroit schools Cleveland State South Dakota State etc. Arlington makes no sense for this conference when the same goal and value they would provide can easily be accomplished using more regional programs that are more likely to be successful both on the court\field and in their stated purpose of helping us draw students. I hope Arlington works out I'm just scared of adding an albatross when the path to multiple bids gets steeper every year (especially since we've been nothing but an albatross these days I don't know if the conference can afford another).

[Salukimadness86]

It would seem that both Kansas City and UT Arlington would need to commit money into their programs to be able to join. I don't know what is standard for these types of moves, but I hope that we require both of them to spend above the median MVC budget, whatever that number is, to build their program to make sure that they are at least serious about basketball. Granted, money doesn't always equal results, but in general is a pretty good indicator of success. And of course, that they have commit to having nice facilities. This COULD turn into a good thing if they commit recourses like Loyola did.

And...Bring in Murray. Just do it.

Agree. Bring in Murray State, NKU, UIC and then another private. Perhaps Oakland?

[MiddleTnRacer]

How about Bellarmine? Private school in Louisville. They play home games @ Freedom Hall. They’re scheduling themselves a ton of brutal non-con road games every year to make themselves better and build their brand. They feel like Belmont about 15 years ago.

[IllinoisState]

It would seem that both Kansas City and UT Arlington would need to commit money into their programs to be able to join. I don't know what is standard for these types of moves, but I hope that we require both of them to spend above the median MVC budget, whatever that number is, to build their program to make sure that they are at least serious about basketball. Granted, money doesn't always equal results, but in general is a pretty good indicator of success. And of course, that they have commit to having nice facilities. This COULD turn into a good thing if they commit recourses like Loyola did.

And...Bring in Murray. Just do it.

Agree. Bring in Murray State, NKU, UIC and then another private. Perhaps Oakland?

Oakland is public. Detroit? Lipscomb? Bellarmine?