MVC targeting Valpo & Murray State to create 11 team league

[All-MVC Fan]

PantherU has made me reconsider Milwaukee as a potential. There is some good stuff going on there. And let's not act too much like any of our current schools are setting the world on fire, so denigrating Milwaukee as a possibility might not be the smartest thing we could do...

I could be happy with Murray, Valpo, and Milwaukee. That could be a nice 12-team conference. This will be an interesting 2-week period. I bet we know the "new" makeup of the MVC by Mother's Day.

[Khan4Cats]

I like the idea of Murray State. If we can get Belmont as well that would be great.

We'd have two ISUs, two MSUs, and two BUs.

Add in Milwaukee and we'd have two Panthers as well.

[goramblers2011]

Remember that both of us used to kick the s*** out of Loyola on an annual basis.

Lol, chill out man. UW-M is 29-21 all-time against LU.

And in their last 20 meetings against Valpo, LU is 13-7. And 33-14 all-time.

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding both of our old Horizon pals to the MVC. Along with Murray.

[PantherU]

Remember that both of us used to kick the s*** out of Loyola on an annual basis.

Lol, chill out man. UW-M is 29-21 all-time against LU.

And in their last 20 meetings against Valpo, LU is 13-7. And 33-14 all-time.

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding both of our old Horizon pals to the MVC. Along with Murray.

I'm confused about the 29-21 number. I'm showing 28-18, and 22-10 since the year 2000.

[goramblers2011]

Remember that both of us used to kick the s*** out of Loyola on an annual basis.

Lol, chill out man. UW-M is 29-21 all-time against LU.

And in their last 20 meetings against Valpo, LU is 13-7. And 33-14 all-time.

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding both of our old Horizon pals to the MVC. Along with Murray.

I'm confused about the 29-21 number. I'm showing 28-18, and 22-10 since the year 2000.

Actually, I'm seeing 22-29 (see p. 91 of http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... _Guide.pdf). I think the Loyola media guide is including games against UW-M's predecessor school so your number may be more accurate.

Nonetheless, you're making our history seem as lopsided as, I don't know, Marquette vs UW-M (39-0).

[uniftw]

To clear up my post - I wouldn't hate UW-M has a 12th if we went to 12. They likely are my #1 choice for a 12th since Belmont seems to want to be an OVC member going forward.

I'm also pretty on board with staying at 11 and running a 20 game conference schedule.

[ValpoTX]

Remember that both of us used to kick the s*** out of Loyola on an annual basis.

Lol, chill out man. UW-M is 29-21 all-time against LU.

And in their last 20 meetings against Valpo, LU is 13-7. And 33-14 all-time.

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding both of our old Horizon pals to the MVC. Along with Murray.

It would be better to compare the results since we entered the HL in 2007-2008, to which Valpo is 7-5 against Loyola. Going back 20 meetings takes us back to the late '70s, which is not at all relevant to the recent series. If you add in the 1 other game between 1984 and 2006, Valpo is 7-6 against Loyola.

[PantherU]

Milwaukee Panther Arena is a great arena.

I am curious...since it now has the UWM name on it what are the finances? Do they still pay rent to play there every game? That attendance needs to get back in the 4,000K range though.

Thanks for your questions. The university is paying $3.4 million over 10 years for the naming rights. That money does not come out of the athletic department. That comes from the university's marketing expenses.

We do still pay rent, although the cost is far lower than our previous lease, about $14k per game.

Like I said, every time students and fans are surveyed, they will always always cite playing low-level teams as the #1 reason they don't come to games. Playing Youngstown State and Cleveland State doesn't get them excited. You put UNI, Missouri State, Bradley and Illinois State on the schedule and "VALLEY" on the court and that will build.

The Arena's undergone a bunch of renovations in the past two years, and it's in store for more.

Did I mention we're planning to build a brand new practice facility? The university has been collecting a segregated fee from students since 2010. We'd be building it this year if we didn't have a certain governor who was trying to balance the budget ahead of a 2016 run for president. It'll move forward soon; the seg fee fund is building every semester, and the university asked for the state for an advance on the money to build it while paying it back as the fee is collected. So it would be a net zero for taxpayers.

Even academically we'd be a boon to the MVC. Ask researchers at Illinois State, Loyola, Southern Illinois and Indiana State if it interests them to have one of the new members be an R1 school. The research partnerships that could be gained by adding Milwaukee are a nice, albeit tangential, benefit.

Our basketball program is in transition, so we're coming off a down year. But remember you're not adding a school for their immediate prospects (although we should be significantly better in 2017-18). I mean, none of us think of UNI as a "14-16 team" - it's just a down year.

I'll say this; coming from the position of an outsider with an obvious bias, I think the best move is a three-team addition of Milwaukee, Valparaiso and Murray State. None of us are hampered by other major sports pulling money from hoops (Murray State hoops is king, Valpo's is non-scholarship and ours is non-existent). We've all got historical success. All of our sports match up with the MVC. We're known commodities, not just potentially good teams for the conference.

Make it Milwaukee, Valparaiso and Murray State. Not necessarily in that order, I'll take the 12th seat as long as I get to the table.

[ahunte1]

Remember that both of us used to kick the s*** out of Loyola on an annual basis.

Lol, chill out man. UW-M is 29-21 all-time against LU.

And in their last 20 meetings against Valpo, LU is 13-7. And 33-14 all-time.

That being said, I wouldn't mind adding both of our old Horizon pals to the MVC. Along with Murray.

A good post by PantherU as usual. I enjoy reading him. But there is some exaggeration re UWM vs Loyola in recent years. Last thing we need is another poster here tearing us down. If the league goes to 12 I would welcome UWM.

[Dawgbit]

Omaha NB, (Creighton,remember them?) population 434,353.

Wichita KS population 386,552.

Murray, KY. population 17,741

Next question?

Oh yes Carbondale is SO much bigger. Or Terre Haute Indiana? Sorry not buying it.

The size of the town should have nothing to do with it. Look at Ole Miss in the SEC. They are in a town of only 20,000.

I'd personally like to have a team with a fan base than a team from a large town that gets absolutely no coverage due to pro teams or power 5 teams in the same city or the people just don't care. A 20, or whatever is being talked about, game conference schedule would benefit us because we usually have to schedule some D2 schools to come to Murray to be schedule fillers and that hurts attendance.

Ann Arbor is smaller than Waterloo/Cedar Falls.

A look at current MVC markets

Peoria - 373k metro (141st in country)
Des Moines - 623k metro (91st in country) - nearly 1/3 of all Iowa lives in this one metro
Evansville - 314k metro (156 in country)
Normal - 190k (225th in nation)
Terre Haute - 171k (227th in country)
Chicago - 9.5m (3rd in country)
Springfield - 458k (113th in country)
Cedar Falls - 171k (244th in country)
Carbondale - 126k (310th in country)

Funny thing is - the smaller cities/metros have the teams with the most success - Cedar Falls as a town is 40K. Normal is 50k. Des Moines proper is 210k. Peoria is 120k. Chicago proper is 2.7m. Evansville is 125k.

It would appear city/market size doesn't matter for success. If you want to argue TV's added then no one in Illinois, not or Valpo or UMKC or most of what UNO, etc... are going to be the addition. We already have the "market saturation" we are going to have there. Belmont, Murray State, UALR, UTA, NDSU, SDSU, etc... are your adds. Also, we don't really have a TV deal. We do but we don't. It revolves around ESPN3. There isnt much for "exposure" to add.

Let's look at it from a fan support basis. The "pride of the Obscure Valley Conference" is drawing a whopping <3.300 fans per game? And we are supposed to be excited? Count me out.

2016 NCAA men's basketball attendance.
Wichita State: 10,805
Creighton: 15,941
Murray State: 3,266

In the current state of the MVC, I suppose beggars cannot be choosers.