Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[Red]

College of Charleston rumored to the A10 as the 16th member. Loyola has to be regretting that move already, right?

Not at all.

Their endowment has nearly doubled in the last 5 years, eclipsing the billion-dollar mark.

Their student population now includes 45 states and 58 countries - both of those numbers were in the 30's just a few years ago.

The move is about exposure, national, and international growth.

Not one of those things happened due to the A-10. They played their first year in the A-10 just last year. This year would be the first year you would see any effect, and this year's stats aren't even available.

So the starting point before playing in the A-10 would be the 45 states and 58 countries listed above. Same with their endowment which hit $1 billion in 2021.

Also, conference affiliation has no impact on international growth unless you're consistently on a wide-reaching network overseas.

You beat me to it. I don't think any of what was mentioned had anything to do with joining the A10, but rather, the success and media love they received before the A10 probably did have any impact.

[squirrel]

Correct to an extent, but those are this year's student demographics, which do get the benefit of last year - but they are now better aligned philosophically, educationally, financially, and athletically with closer peers than they ever had in the Valley.

SLU saw a similar transformation after it moved into the A10, which are the main reasons why they are perfectly happy there.

A10 gets more teams and games on national networks with international reach.

That's why the A10 is a national and international platform.

[BCPanther]

They just flat fit better culturally in the A10 and they have a legitimate shot to recruit regular students from the big east coast metros.

The move had nothing to do with athletics but they're going to be able to tell themselves that finishing in the bottom half of the A10 is somehow better than finishing in the bottom half of the Valley with us poors.

[VUGrad1314]

I wouldn't say the move had zero to do with athletics but institutional fit and recruitng exposure were likely far larger factors. It's the same reason I think that anybody who thinks that a school like VCU wouldn't jump immediately from the A10 to the AAC if they got a similar deal to Wichita State to be Army's partner are absolutely kidding themselves. Especially with the A10's media deal expiring soon the opportunity to play a national schedule with comparable or better basketball prowess with more likeminded schools (VCU is a bit of an institutional outlier in the A10 which is mostly private) would have a lot of appeal. The Big East is probably VCU's goal but they may not get in for institutional reasons (UConn getting in was a big deal for this reason but they got in because of their previous relationship with many current BE schools VCU doesn't have that though they do make sense from a program quality standpoint and their endowment would be large enough for them to be competitive). Let's not forget that the A10 is very unlikely to look the same as it does now. The Big East is going to make a move at some point. It has to, They can't just sit and watch the Big 10 add USC UCLA and Oregon and the Big XII snatch up Arizona Arizona State Utah and Colorado in addition to Cincinnati Houston and BYU and just assume that that isn't going to have a profound negative impact on their ability to get bids come March. It's a question of when the Big East expands, not if, and what teams the Big East decides to take. Either way, the raid on the A10 is coming and they will likely lose most if not all of their best programs. Loyola will still be happy with their East Coast recruiting and will likely stay but the MVC is going to be a better athletic league than the A10 when it's all said and done. All of this said, Charleston is a good addition if it happens adding to their footprint and giving all the schools new recruiting grounds with a decent overall program that fits well. I don't think this wave of realignment is going to affect the MVC membership wise unless it's the MVC going on offense (which I kinda hope they do if they have an opportunity). There are some good programs out there likely looking for a bump in competition that could really strengthen the league.

[LMS]

I don’t visit here often although I absolutely miss almost everything about the MVC. Hopefully, the newest iteration with Murray and Belmont help offset the losses. Reading what others have posted, I don’t think you’d find many Ramblers fans who are thrilled with being a middling A10 team. And although they were quick to thumb their noses at the Valley on their way out the door, does anyone believe the Shox are better in the AAC / CUSA than they were in the MVC? I know there’s some bias in what I’m about to say, but I’m not sure there has been a bigger winner in realignment than Creighton. Jays have elevated themselves into more of a national program than I ever would have imagined possible.

[unipanther99]

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-footba ... lsKE0pCPiW

This is really an interesting concept, and I think has the potential to work well for those two conferences.

I've often wondered if some sort of formal partnership with the B1G and MAC would make sense for the MVFC. They already share an officiating consortium for football. I don't think relegation into or out of the B1G is ever on the table, but some sort of limited revenue sharing between the B1G and MAC/MVFC in lieu of guarantees for scheduling games at Big Ten sites. Open up the Big Ten Network to the MAC/MFVC on nights when they don't have Big Ten games for content.

It could create a more consistent revenue stream for the MVFC schools, instead of wildly fluctuating guarantee checks from year to year.

If would basically mean for non-conference B1G games, instead of hosting Sun Belt or MWC schools, it's the MAC. Instead of Big Sky or OVC, it's MVFC.

Cuts down on travel expenses, games carry more local interest, and keeps the money in the (traditional) Big Ten footprint.

[BCPanther]

I don’t visit here often although I absolutely miss almost everything about the MVC. Hopefully, the newest iteration with Murray and Belmont help offset the losses. Reading what others have posted, I don’t think you’d find many Ramblers fans who are thrilled with being a middling A10 team. And although they were quick to thumb their noses at the Valley on their way out the door, does anyone believe the Shox are better in the AAC / CUSA than they were in the MVC? I know there’s some bias in what I’m about to say, but I’m not sure there has been a bigger winner in realignment than Creighton. Jays have elevated themselves into more of a national program than I ever would have imagined possible.

Creighton is the biggest realignment winner from a basketball sense, bar none. They hit the perfect storm and, all the credit in the world to them, they doubled down financially and went all the way in. They're also set up really well for a post-Mac world with the facilities and resources they've put together.

Wichita now finds themselves in exactly the same place they were before just with a hair more money and TV. It's not as much fun when you're not outspending everybody else nearly 3-to-1.

This might be too early but I think Loyola hurt themselves athletically while improving themselves as a university. The A10, like all of us, is going to be a 1 bid league more years than not. They increased their travel budget greatly and are in a league that is going to be splitting that share 16 ways instead of 12, not that they don't have the deep pockets to rectify that.

[Ali]

I don’t visit here often although I absolutely miss almost everything about the MVC. Hopefully, the newest iteration with Murray and Belmont help offset the losses. Reading what others have posted, I don’t think you’d find many Ramblers fans who are thrilled with being a middling A10 team. And although they were quick to thumb their noses at the Valley on their way out the door, does anyone believe the Shox are better in the AAC / CUSA than they were in the MVC? I know there’s some bias in what I’m about to say, but I’m not sure there has been a bigger winner in realignment than Creighton. Jays have elevated themselves into more of a national program than I ever would have imagined possible.

Creighton is the biggest realignment winner from a basketball sense, bar none. They hit the perfect storm and, all the credit in the world to them, they doubled down financially and went all the way in. They're also set up really well for a post-Mac world with the facilities and resources they've put together.

Wichita now finds themselves in exactly the same place they were before just with a hair more money and TV. It's not as much fun when you're not outspending everybody else nearly 3-to-1.

This might be too early but I think Loyola hurt themselves athletically while improving themselves as a university. The A10, like all of us, is going to be a 1 bid league more years than not. They increased their travel budget greatly and are in a league that is going to be splitting that share 16 ways instead of 12, not that they don't have the deep pockets to rectify that.

I'm shocked by what Creighton has become. I thought being a geographic outlier would be a detriment to them, but it hasn't at all. Mac is a good coach and although many harbor ill feelings toward that family, I like the guy and am glad to see him doing well.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

There's a small group of Creighton fans I've noticed at Arch Madness a couple times in recent years. My guess is they go to STL in years Creighton doesn't have a home game that weekend. It's amazing they still attend.

[unipanther99]

Lots of twitter rumors that Gonzaga will be joining the Big XII in either 2024 or 2025.

Sadly for the Shockers, zero rumors of WSU joining them.