Updated 1/6/18: MVC Expansion Poll

[Drakey]

I'm not sure I understand the argument here. Most schools in our conference are in smaller "college towns" except for Loyola and Evansville, and Evansville doesn't really provide much for the conference. Carbondale, Bloomington, Cedar Falls, Peoria...How is Murray different from these cities? Also, Murray (which I'll admit annoys me a bit living just on the Illinois side of that local rivalry) has a ton of followers which would benefit the conference.

I think Des Moines may be a better example than Evansville. Heck, Cedar Falls/Waterloo has 60,000 more people than Evansville. Metropolitan Des Moines has 3-4 times the population.

[Dean Wormer]

I'm not sure I understand the argument here. Most schools in our conference are in smaller "college towns" except for Loyola and Evansville, and Evansville doesn't really provide much for the conference. Carbondale, Bloomington, Cedar Falls, Peoria...How is Murray different from these cities? Also, Murray (which I'll admit annoys me a bit living just on the Illinois side of that local rivalry) has a ton of followers which would benefit the conference.

I think Des Moines may be a better example than Evansville. Heck, Cedar Falls/Waterloo has 60,000 more people than Evansville. Metropolitan Des Moines has 3-4 times the population.

It's a goofy post, but you aren't comparing apples to apples. If you're comparing the Cedar Falls- Waterloo MSA, which is 175K, then you should use the Evansville MSA, which is 360K.

The OP thinks Peoria is a college town and compares to Murray. Evansville and Peoria have nearly identical demographics, and Evansville probably has more college students as they also have a sizeable public with around 10K students. I still wouldn't call either of them a college town. Murray really only compares to Carbondale and maybe Cedar Falls as a small college town.

[DUBulldog]

I'm not sure I understand the argument here. Most schools in our conference are in smaller "college towns" except for Loyola and Evansville, and Evansville doesn't really provide much for the conference. Carbondale, Bloomington, Cedar Falls, Peoria...How is Murray different from these cities? Also, Murray (which I'll admit annoys me a bit living just on the Illinois side of that local rivalry) has a ton of followers which would benefit the conference.

I think Des Moines may be a better example than Evansville. Heck, Cedar Falls/Waterloo has 60,000 more people than Evansville. Metropolitan Des Moines has 3-4 times the population.

Agreed. Des Moines is in no way a college town. Metro of > 700,000 people and two small universities that don't have 10,000 students between them.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I'm not sure I understand the argument here. Most schools in our conference are in smaller "college towns" except for Loyola and Evansville, and Evansville doesn't really provide much for the conference. Carbondale, Bloomington, Cedar Falls, Peoria...How is Murray different from these cities? Also, Murray (which I'll admit annoys me a bit living just on the Illinois side of that local rivalry) has a ton of followers which would benefit the conference.

I think Des Moines may be a better example than Evansville. Heck, Cedar Falls/Waterloo has 60,000 more people than Evansville. Metropolitan Des Moines has 3-4 times the population.

Agreed. Des Moines is in no way a college town. Metro of > 700,000 people and two small universities that don't have 10,000 students between them.

I suppose I didn't realize how big some of the towns were in our conference. Regardless, they're not exactly Chicago.

[Majik45]

I suppose I didn't realize how big some of the towns were in our conference. Regardless, they're not exactly Chicago.

Definitely not Chicago, but Peoria Metro Area I think used to be around 300K, even though the actual city of Peoria was like 120K. Definitely not a college town, but Bradley is probably the most popular sports team that plays in the city.

I would argue that Loyola only gets play in Chicago when they are in the NCAA tournament and winning games. I would guess most of Chicago does not care about them even during the regular season. Too much Cubs, Bears, Bulls love going on there.

[squirrel]

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 don't know of any "studies" - but most schools publish their student demos on their website somewhere. It's not scientific by any means, but yes, in my experience looking at the data there is some correlation in terms of general student population in states of the conference where a team competes (particularly outside of the region).

In terms of rosters, 10 Big Ten schools not named Rutgers had players from NY/NJ on their rosters. One of those that did not, Maryland, had players from Illinois and Wisconsin. Another school that did not had a player in the NYC metro area but CT, which I didn't count.

[RacerJoeD]

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 don't know of any "studies" - but most schools publish their student demos on their website somewhere. It's not scientific by any means, but yes, in my experience looking at the data there is some correlation in terms of general student population in states of the conference where a team competes (particularly outside of the region).

In terms of rosters, 10 Big Ten schools not named Rutgers had players from NY/NJ on their rosters. One of those that did not, Maryland, had players from Illinois and Wisconsin. Another school that did not had a player in the NYC metro area but CT, which I didn't count.

Most are not published, as they are proprietary studies done by "search firms". These firms study the impact of adding teams from different areas, the value differential between adding 2 teams vs 4 teams, vs 1 team, etc.

[Dawgbit]

If post season success, say like EVER making it to The Sweet Sixteen were the prerequisite for entry into the MVC, Murray would be deficient. Maybe they can finish above .500 in the powerhouse OVC this year and catch the eye of the new commish though. They seem to have difficulty beating Belmont since Belmont joined that conference. These are verifiable stats, BTW. And an observation, outside of Murray KY, it’s all about The Kentucky Wildcats, just an observation.

[acepurple84]

I'm not sure I understand the argument here. Most schools in our conference are in smaller "college towns" except for Loyola and Evansville, and Evansville doesn't really provide much for the conference. Carbondale, Bloomington, Cedar Falls, Peoria...How is Murray different from these cities? Also, Murray (which I'll admit annoys me a bit living just on the Illinois side of that local rivalry) has a ton of followers which would benefit the conference.

I think Des Moines may be a better example than Evansville. Heck, Cedar Falls/Waterloo has 60,000 more people than Evansville. Metropolitan Des Moines has 3-4 times the population.

Well maybe 2 times. Des Moines has 699K Metro and Evansville is around 360K

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Metro populations:

Chicago (Loyola) - 9.5-million
DeMoines (Drake) - 700k
Springfield, MO (Missouri State) - 460k
Peoria (Bradley) - 370k
Evansville (Evansville) - 355k
Normal (Illinois State) - 190k
Terre Haute (Indiana State) - 170k
Cedar Falls (Nothern Iowa) 170k
Carbondale (Southern Illinois) - 125k
Valparaiso (Valparaiso) - poor info. Only found 35k city population.