MVC going to 12 with UIC and UTA?

[BEARZ77]

The Valley always has been a basketball conference. Football has never been anything of great significance. At one time the Valley was considered the best basketball conference in the country. I don't see why FCS or non-scholarship football should interfere with that. I get why that was an issue in the old Big East, because there were schools playing high level FBS football. That is not the case here. The highest level football in the MVFC is at a school that is not even a member of the Valley. Is there some great payout for being in the FCS playoffs? If the sport is so lucrative why can't the schools afford to fly to South Dakota? Drake flies from California to Florida to play football.

Football should not be a consideration in choosing members. If a guaranteed money losing sport is that important I would agree that maybe those teams should look elsewhere and leave the schools that are primarily interested in a basketball conference.

The Atlantic Ten seems to have figured this out. they have seven schools that field football teams all of whom play elsewhere. We just lost our top basketball program to them.

When you start a debate with a main argument of "has always" you're in trouble. I get your arguments, but they're based on Drake's values, not those of State Universities. I've never been a big proponent of FCS football, I've made the same financial arguments you make. But those aren't the only thing presidents are looking at. What basketball game this year did Drake or any other Valley school have over 10,000 fans on campus milling around for hours, tail gate partying with the AD and other boosters, other athletic teams coaches; that happens routinely in MVCF. You think that doesn't matter to University Presidents. A football weekend has so much more involvement of families visiting, the band and it's extended family involvement , the tail gating etc. It's a lot of blue sky benefits, but that doesn't mean they aren't valued by a lot of people. It is what it is. Again, I don't think either view is right or wrong, if you approach it that way, you'll just be caught up in a unwinnable never ending debate.

[Drakey]

I get it Bears. I would be thrilled if Drake had a football program like it did 40 years ago. The reality is that a private university with very few exceptions can't possibly afford to finance a scholarship football program. I just don't want football to dictate decisions for what should be a basketball conference. I think there is still a chance for a non FBS basketball conference to have a significant national impact. I don't think that is true of non FBS football.

[TBS_20]

I get it Bears. I would be thrilled if Drake had a football program like it did 40 years ago. The reality is that a private university with very few exceptions can't possibly afford to finance a scholarship football program. I just don't want football to dictate decisions for what should be a basketball conference. I think there is still a chance for a non FBS basketball conference to have a significant national impact. I don't think that is true of non FBS football.

I can concretely understand your point of view versus as an ISUr fan I dibt want just basketball to dictate the MVC's decisions. The fact is a couple of universities have outgrown the usefulness of the MVC. It's either stay in purgatory or try for something better. Our administration sucks. We're staying in purgatory.

[Mulefodder]

i dont know what a college president likes to do but i think they go bowlin in their big ole mansion basements and have nicknames on pins and if that there pin stands than they get to come to the valley for all them sport except pigskin rugby and may the best team win go maverick!

[RacerJoeD]

In the end it comes back to the same question that Valley members have to ask themselves;
What is the identity of the Missouri Valley Conference?

[Red]

In the end it comes back to the same question that Valley members have to ask themselves;
What is the identity of the Missouri Valley Conference?

We obviously have different opinions. I feel like MVC football is akin to high school football where it's fun to tailgate and all that, but the games are more or less irrelevant. Our league's bread and butter is college hoops. Why we aren't focusing on improving that is frustrating.

[mvfcfan]

Seems the Ohio Valley Conference is unlikely to allow Murray State to stay for football only. And Murray will neither drop football nor become a football independent, with no access to an automatic FCS playoff bid. I don't see them going to the nonscholarship Pioneer Football League. So membership in the MVFC would be critical in enabling any move to the Missouri Valley Conference.

I don't know what the MVFC membership thinks about Murray. But why would the four Dakota schools, Western Illinois, and Youngstown State want the Racers? The football league doesn't need a 12th member...certainly not anyone from the South...and especially not a program that has had a winning record only once every decade.

Realigning the MVC/Summit into state and private school conferences might be a good idea, but would that really change anything for Murray State?

You could flip your question the other way too. Why would the 5 MVC publics and YSU vote in favor of North Dakota who is the furthest north of the Dakota schools?

The answer is because the Summit League and the MVC likely have an agreement that if they add schools with scholarship football they will have a home in the MVFC.

And for the record I am all in favor of renaming the league the Gateway Football Conference. It was goofy that they changed it.

[RacerJoeD]

In the end it comes back to the same question that Valley members have to ask themselves;
What is the identity of the Missouri Valley Conference?

We obviously have different opinions. I feel like MVC football is akin to high school football where it's fun to tailgate and all that, but the games are more or less irrelevant. Our league's bread and butter is college hoops. Why we aren't focusing on improving that is frustrating.

I think that is the very crux of the issue. If you dont know what your goal is as a conference, you try to pull in different ways and it all falls apart.

[TBS_20]

In the end it comes back to the same question that Valley members have to ask themselves;
What is the identity of the Missouri Valley Conference?

We obviously have different opinions. I feel like MVC football is akin to high school football where it's fun to tailgate and all that, but the games are more or less irrelevant. Our league's bread and butter is college hoops. Why we aren't focusing on improving that is frustrating.

I agree the MVC needs to focus on one thing and the others can cut away and form their own league which ever way it drops. It's basically privates vs publics with privates winning decision making. Either deal with the privates being more powerful or cut away.

[BCPanther]

There's nowhere else to go that isn't a serious downgrade. That's the issue.

We're stuck with each other, for better or worse, and I think we make a lot more if it on this board than the league and the presidents do.