Welcome Murray State to the MVC!

[Bjhracer]

I’m more than thrilled with this move. Can’t wait for Arch Madness. Should help improve recruiting as well. I’m ready for the Racers to be a force in the MVC from day 1. Go Racers.

[STLRacer]

Super pumped for this announcement and thanks for the add! I wanted the MVC for the step up in quality of basketball, but selfishly I am beyond excited to be able to go to a conference tournament and sleep in my own bed !!! Cannot wait for Arch madness 2023!!!!

[BCPanther]

One underrated thing that I don't think gets talked about enough is how good our TV contracts are for our level. That should be the keynote of Doug Elgin's legacy, the man was a media rights visionary long before anybody else got there.

12 games on ESPN2/U (with 6 of those guaranteed to be ESPN2) (88 Million Homes)
8 games plus the semifinals on CBS Sports Net (55 Million Homes)
25 games available on NBC Sports Chicago, Bally Sports (Midwest, KC, Indiana and we'll now add Bally Sports South and Tennessee) (78 Million homes when South is added)
Championship Game on CBS (111 Million Homes)

Throw in the ESPN3/+ deal (including 22 league telecasts) and the exposure for anybody coming in jumps leaps and bounds and should do nothing but help Murray and Belmont as well.

[E-Villan]

Lol, true story. I bought a few Sam’s Choice Dr. Thunders at UT-Martin myself.....

They could have at least provided real Dr. Pepper.

We suck right now, but we have full liquor and a courtside bar. It helps.

[VUGrad1314]

One underrated thing that I don't think gets talked about enough is how good our TV contracts are for our level. That should be the keynote of Doug Elgin's legacy, the man was a media rights visionary long before anybody else got there.

12 games on ESPN2/U (with 6 of those guaranteed to be ESPN2) (88 Million Homes)
8 games plus the semifinals on CBS Sports Net (55 Million Homes)
25 games available on NBC Sports Chicago, Bally Sports (Midwest, KC, Indiana and we'll now add Bally Sports South and Tennessee) (78 Million homes when South is added)
Championship Game on CBS (111 Million Homes)

Throw in the ESPN3/+ deal (including 22 league telecasts) and the exposure for anybody coming in jumps leaps and bounds and should do nothing but help Murray and Belmont as well.

I sincerely hope Murray State and Belmont knock it out of the park in the MVC and allow our media deal to grow even more! Imagine both of these teams being top 25\at large caliber and getting their matchup on an ESPN network. Imagine a couple other programs stepping up to buttress and support them! It could happen! It has happened before! I think we are in a great spot. I'm not thrilled with the UIC addition but I get it and maybe they'll surprise us. At the very least the league shouldn't be any worse as we move into the post-Loyola era. As I said before I hope Loyola will remember us MVC schools in the non-con. I think a few home and homes between the Ramblers and the MVC will be very beneficial for both sides.

[Red]

As I said before I hope Loyola will remember us MVC schools in the non-con. I think a few home and homes between the Ramblers and the MVC will be very beneficial for both sides.

Don't count on it. How many times have us old MVCers seen WSU or Creighton since they left?

[BCPanther]

One underrated thing that I don't think gets talked about enough is how good our TV contracts are for our level. That should be the keynote of Doug Elgin's legacy, the man was a media rights visionary long before anybody else got there.

12 games on ESPN2/U (with 6 of those guaranteed to be ESPN2) (88 Million Homes)
8 games plus the semifinals on CBS Sports Net (55 Million Homes)
25 games available on NBC Sports Chicago, Bally Sports (Midwest, KC, Indiana and we'll now add Bally Sports South and Tennessee) (78 Million homes when South is added)
Championship Game on CBS (111 Million Homes)

Throw in the ESPN3/+ deal (including 22 league telecasts) and the exposure for anybody coming in jumps leaps and bounds and should do nothing but help Murray and Belmont as well.

I sincerely hope Murray State and Belmont knock it out of the park in the MVC and allow our media deal to grow even more! Imagine both of these teams being top 25\at large caliber and getting their matchup on an ESPN network. Imagine a couple other programs stepping up to buttress and support them! It could happen! It has happened before! I think we are in a great spot. I'm not thrilled with the UIC addition but I get it and maybe they'll surprise us. At the very least the league shouldn't be any worse as we move into the post-Loyola era. As I said before I hope Loyola will remember us MVC schools in the non-con. I think a few home and homes between the Ramblers and the MVC will be very beneficial for both sides.

Loyola was only around for 8 years and 5 of those were pretty damn mediocre. I'm nowhere near sold that they're some national power that we don't have any hope of replacing or improving upon nor am I sold that the A10 is head and shoulders above the Valley.

I'd argue that the Valley will be a better league on 7/1/22 than it was on 7/1/21.

[VUGrad1314]

One underrated thing that I don't think gets talked about enough is how good our TV contracts are for our level. That should be the keynote of Doug Elgin's legacy, the man was a media rights visionary long before anybody else got there.

12 games on ESPN2/U (with 6 of those guaranteed to be ESPN2) (88 Million Homes)
8 games plus the semifinals on CBS Sports Net (55 Million Homes)
25 games available on NBC Sports Chicago, Bally Sports (Midwest, KC, Indiana and we'll now add Bally Sports South and Tennessee) (78 Million homes when South is added)
Championship Game on CBS (111 Million Homes)

Throw in the ESPN3/+ deal (including 22 league telecasts) and the exposure for anybody coming in jumps leaps and bounds and should do nothing but help Murray and Belmont as well.

I sincerely hope Murray State and Belmont knock it out of the park in the MVC and allow our media deal to grow even more! Imagine both of these teams being top 25\at large caliber and getting their matchup on an ESPN network. Imagine a couple other programs stepping up to buttress and support them! It could happen! It has happened before! I think we are in a great spot. I'm not thrilled with the UIC addition but I get it and maybe they'll surprise us. At the very least the league shouldn't be any worse as we move into the post-Loyola era. As I said before I hope Loyola will remember us MVC schools in the non-con. I think a few home and homes between the Ramblers and the MVC will be very beneficial for both sides.

Loyola was only around for 8 years and 5 of those were pretty damn mediocre. I'm nowhere near sold that they're some national power that we don't have any hope of replacing or improving upon nor am I sold that the A10 is head and shoulders above the Valley.

I'd argue that the Valley will be a better league on 7/1/22 than it was on 7/1/21.

That's fair and very possible. At the very least the league should be deeper especially if we stay at 11 (which is unlikely). I just like how it feels like balance is going to return to the league between public and private even if it's not in terms of numbers I mean on court success. Before there was balance Creighton\WSU with schools like UNI SIU and Bradley stepping up as well. Then the publics tended to dominate (WSU\UNI\a few solid ISUr teams) Then there was the era of private dominance (Loyola\Drake\Bradley). It feels like we have returned to the original state of things with Belmont and Murray State expected to be good. Now hopefully we can get some programs to join them in success and make it feel like the old late 90s-mid 2000s Valley again! I believe we can do it!

[Action10]

Loyola was only around for 8 years and 5 of those were pretty damn mediocre. I'm nowhere near sold that they're some national power that we don't have any hope of replacing or improving upon nor am I sold that the A10 is head and shoulders above the Valley.

I'd argue that the Valley will be a better league on 7/1/22 than it was on 7/1/21.

I view this Loyola stretch, with the Final Four as a centerpiece, more like the stretch George Mason had in the mid-2000's. VCU has been able to have more sustained success, as has Wichita State. Wichita State does appear to be heading toward a complete implosion sooner rather than later though.

[VUGrad1314]

Loyola was only around for 8 years and 5 of those were pretty damn mediocre. I'm nowhere near sold that they're some national power that we don't have any hope of replacing or improving upon nor am I sold that the A10 is head and shoulders above the Valley.

I'd argue that the Valley will be a better league on 7/1/22 than it was on 7/1/21.

I view this Loyola stretch, with the Final Four as a centerpiece, more like the stretch George Mason had in the mid-2000's. VCU has been able to have more sustained success, as has Wichita State. Wichita State does appear to be heading toward a complete implosion sooner rather than later though.

Much like the conference they are in. I think another round of AAC defections is coming soon and then that league from a basketball\Olympic sports standpoint is going to be awful. An AAC without Memphis and potentially SMU is really bad at basketball. Like I can see a universe wherein come 2025 the MVC is a better basketball conference than the AAC. The question is will they be able to get out?

As for Loyola I'm going to be very interested to see how they handle the jump to the A-10. That's a lot of extra travel and there are a lot of really good programs in that conference. It's the right move for them but sustaining their success won't be easy unless they really did build something sustainable which remains to be seen. I'm confident that they'll be fine. They're spending a lot of money and Valentine seems like a solid coach but we'll see.