Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[BEARZ77]

"For Missouri State athletics, it's starting to look more like a "when" and not an "if" the school will move up a subdivision in Division I football, based on recent comments by the university's president."

https://www.news-leader.com/story/sport ... 189082007/

My vote in order of preference

1) Stay at 11 and keep the round robin
2) invite UST to help exposure for recruiting both students and athletes. Also natural expansion for conference footprint.

Smart's made those comments before, so really nothing new there. The one thing I would add, despite his statements to the contrary, I think Smart wants that to be his opus , and he's mentioned leaving his position in the next couple years , so he may be pushing things behind the scenes. I think the key thing to watch is if MSU announces a major donor to fund the South Stadium upgrades at some point; w/o that we aren't going anywhere , but if that gets announced, then yeah, we are serious.

[Bulldog4life24]

From purely Drake's perspective, the opportunity to get into TC proper multiple times a year would only help draw more future students, as its one of Drake's leading student recruitment areas. Much more so than SW Missouri (no offense intended MSU fans!).

I'd be interested to see how many other schools in the league really see the TC as a priority for student body recruitment.

[SalukiWorld]

Yawn, easily replaceable school other than enrollment numbers

[BCPanther]

From purely Drake's perspective, the opportunity to get into TC proper multiple times a year would only help draw more future students, as its one of Drake's leading student recruitment areas. Much more so than SW Missouri (no offense intended MSU fans!).

I'd be interested to see how many other schools in the league really see the TC as a priority for student body recruitment.

Big deal for UNI too. Seems all of our younger alumni are heading to the Cities and KC if they don't end up in Des Moines.

I figure Drake and UNI would have to be, by far, the biggest beneficiaries of getting into the Cities consistently.

[TylerDurden]

"For Missouri State athletics, it's starting to look more like a "when" and not an "if" the school will move up a subdivision in Division I football, based on recent comments by the university's president."

https://www.news-leader.com/story/sport ... 189082007/

My vote in order of preference

1) Stay at 11 and keep the round robin
2) invite UST to help exposure for recruiting both students and athletes. Also natural expansion for conference footprint.

That article reads like a PR piece hoping to drum up some donors to fund stuff they haven't been able to fund.

It's a chicken-or-the-egg game: If you announce a move to FBS, does funding come? Or do you announce a move after funding is in place? Seems like they aren't willing to pull the trigger without the $$ being lined up, which is understandable. It also seems the donors aren't there at the moment or at least there aren't enough to support the big-ticket stadium expansion, etc.

To me, that seems like an institution that isn't fully committed to a move to FBS. They like the idea of it and will try to fundraise off of the concept, but aren't sure it's really sustainable. Donors know if you're all in on a plan.

I also wouldn't overlook the potential impact that the University of Missouri and its affiliated politicians will have on such a move. There will be opposition in Columbia.

All that said, if MSU decides to join C-USA or whatever irrelevant FBS league, I wish them well and hope the MVC avoids making an addition (if they make one) that doesn't have the capacity to support a competitive men's basketball program.

[BEARZ77]

Yawn, easily replaceable school other than enrollment numbers

Petty drivel from a dying school.

[BEARZ77]

That article reads like a PR piece hoping to drum up some donors to fund stuff they haven't been able to fund.

It's a chicken-or-the-egg game: If you announce a move to FBS, does funding come? Or do you announce a move after funding is in place? Seems like they aren't willing to pull the trigger without the $$ being lined up, which is understandable. It also seems the donors aren't there at the moment or at least there aren't enough to support the big-ticket stadium expansion, etc.

To me, that seems like an institution that isn't fully committed to a move to FBS. They like the idea of it and will try to fundraise off of the concept, but aren't sure it's really sustainable. Donors know if you're all in on a plan.

I also wouldn't overlook the potential impact that the University of Missouri and its affiliated politicians will have on such a move. There will be opposition in Columbia.

All that said, if MSU decides to join C-USA or whatever irrelevant FBS league, I wish them well and hope the MVC avoids making an addition (if they make one) that doesn't have the capacity to support a competitive men's basketball program.

On the other hand, Smart is a very good business man and very strategic in how he approaches things. He's not given to talking for the sake of it. This article at this time had a purpose, now what that is remains to be seen. Certainly continued fund raising was a part , but I don't think he would have said "when not if" unless he saw ample progress being made behind the scenes. There is no doubt, this is the plan now, whether it happens we'll see. As I've always said, I like the Valley , but switching just adds some new intrigue. There's really not much sentiment towards "things as they were" in today's world.

[Kip Dynamite]

Here is another tweet from Wyatt Wheeler:

Here were my thoughts after talking to Clif and after seeing some reactions.

• Clif is very purposeful in what he says and when he says it. He offered this up when I went in for other stories that'll come out over the next week or so. That part is different than when all the realignment was ramped up with Texas/OU and I'd talk to Kyle specifically about it in 2021. That also differs from when there'd be a Matt Brown report and the university would deny contact. That last happened in October. MSU wanted this out there - whether it was to drive interest in funding the endzone project or whatever. It's calculated and purposeful. I don't think that's a bad idea.

• Yes, football needs the endzone project to boost football facilities. But is that all that stadium needs? That west side is not pretty and we're still seeing more and more high schools in the area with indoors. I think Plaster needs more work done than just that to be competitive- facilities-wise.

• Still a lot of people who want to point at consistent on-field success. It's not about that. It's about money. It's barely about attendance anymore - if at all. It's about potential streaming and television dollars, larger guarantee payments, more revenue streams and growth for the university. Being FBS, in most cases, raises the university profile far more than being in the FCS.

• I think Clif would love to be a part of a move - if one ever happens. His retirement is supposedly coming in the next few years.

[IllinoisState]

Missouri State needs to do something or stop talking about what might happen. It has been years at this point.

[Kip Dynamite]

I can assure you that they are serious this time. There is no way that our president would burn a bridge with the MVC by saying it’s a matter of when-not if, that we will move up. Once you open that door by saying that then you better be serious. They are.

And they haven’t announced it yet, obviously, but they already have a major donor in place for the end zone project. Just a matter of time before that announcement is made. I would imagine everything will be made public at one time. My best guess is that they already have something lined up or something that’s about to be lined up that just can’t be announced yet. There are a lot of domino’s about to start falling. Once the big 12 makes their move on the Pac12. I’ve seen a lot of speculation that could happen in the next 10 days or so. The insiders from the conference have a pretty damn good idea already who’s probably going to be going where so the internal shuffling, I would imagine, is already being lined up which includes new teams being added to conferences, across-the-board. It could very well be a situation where they’re telling us that as soon as one team is lost that Mo State is on their list to be added or something like that. All I know for sure is that something is happening.