Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[PretzelDawg]

I still think the Missouri Valley is missing the boat in not jumping as a conference to the FBS. I know this would be an unprecedented move, but we are in unprecedented times with college athletics. The Missouri Valley in football would automatically be ahead of Conference USA and the Mid-American. They would be in quality competition with the Mountain West and Sun Belt.

[Buxcies]

St Thomas is no stranger to MVC teams seeing as they are a member of the PFL.[/quote]

Does St. Thomas eventually plan to move up to scholarship football or do they intend to stay in the Pioneer League for the foreseeable future?

[BCPanther]

St Thomas is no stranger to MVC teams seeing as they are a member of the PFL.

Does St. Thomas eventually plan to move up to scholarship football or do they intend to stay in the Pioneer League for the foreseeable future?[/quote]

They're staying non-scholarship. Their long term goal is the A10 and hooking up with the East Coast.

[Aces44]

St Thomas is no stranger to MVC teams seeing as they are a member of the PFL.

Does St. Thomas eventually plan to move up to scholarship football or do they intend to stay in the Pioneer League for the foreseeable future?

They're staying non-scholarship. Their long term goal is the A10 and hooking up with the East Coast.[/quote]

I don’t think you are wrong about their aspirations, but imagine a team from Minneapolis thinking that they fit in with a bunch of east coast schools.

[ReZyNeZy]

I still think the Missouri Valley is missing the boat in not jumping as a conference to the FBS. I know this would be an unprecedented move, but we are in unprecedented times with college athletics. The Missouri Valley in football would automatically be ahead of Conference USA and the Mid-American. They would be in quality competition with the Mountain West and Sun Belt.

Most CFB teams are run at a loss, and the cost to join the FBS increased from 5k to 5 million per school. A lot of MVCFC schools simply cannot afford that high price tag to jump. Not to mention the reason the P4 are profitable in football is because of their media rights deals. The media deals are actually what makes the money. I do not know what station would be willing to make a deal with a conference like the MVCFC. This even extends to MBB, the NCAA makes most of its basketball money off of the media rights deal for March Madness (Which is distributed to the competing schools depending on success in the tournament).

In reference to C-USA, their media deal only generates 750k for each member school. THat is pocket change in the grand scheme of running an FBS program. THe only channel I see making a deal with the MVCFC if they were to make this jump is NBC Sports Chicago. Seeing as Jerry Reinsdorf and Wirtz want to pull their teams from NBC Chicago in order to make their own channel much like the Cubs did with Marquee Sports. (I also could see a deal with Marquee sports seeing as the Cubs want to extend their broadcast options with Marquee)

[E-Villan]

St Thomas is no stranger to MVC teams seeing as they are a member of the PFL.

Does St. Thomas eventually plan to move up to scholarship football or do they intend to stay in the Pioneer League for the foreseeable future?

They're staying non-scholarship. Their long term goal is the A10 and hooking up with the East Coast.

I don’t think you are wrong about their aspirations, but imagine a team from Minneapolis thinking that they fit in with a bunch of east coast schools.

I doubt St Thomas shares their aspirations with a UNI fan, but if this is remotely accurate, then we need to stay far away from them. I would hope our league has a little more self-worth than to be a feeder for the freaking A-10.

[ReZyNeZy]

I don’t think you are wrong about their aspirations, but imagine a team from Minneapolis thinking that they fit in with a bunch of east coast schools.

I think the A-10 and the MVC need to partner for a "challenge" much like the MAC and Sunbelt Challenge. Both were the top mid majors last year. Would generate a lot of buzz for both conferences. The only hiccup is who are the 4 teams on the bench for the A-10.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

I don’t think you are wrong about their aspirations, but imagine a team from Minneapolis thinking that they fit in with a bunch of east coast schools.

I think the A-10 and the MVC need to partner for a "challenge" much like the MAC and Sunbelt Challenge. Both were the top mid majors last year. Would generate a lot of buzz for both conferences. The only hiccup is who are the 4 teams on the bench for the A-10.

The hiccup is the A-10 isn't interested. If they do a conference challenge, it would be with the MWC.

[ReZyNeZy]

I don’t think you are wrong about their aspirations, but imagine a team from Minneapolis thinking that they fit in with a bunch of east coast schools.

I think the A-10 and the MVC need to partner for a "challenge" much like the MAC and Sunbelt Challenge. Both were the top mid majors last year. Would generate a lot of buzz for both conferences. The only hiccup is who are the 4 teams on the bench for the A-10.

The hiccup is the A-10 isn't interested. If they do a conference challenge, it would be with the MWC.

I dont think the MWC would be interested in any challenges, they would most likely just schedule games against the P5. I am a firm believer that the MWC replaces the PAC as a power conference. The A-10 also has some real stinkers in their conference that are competitive with the stinkers of the MVC.

[TylerDurden]

No one is replacing the Pac 12.

Power conferences are based on the member schools and their resources. There's no promotion system to become a power conferences. The Mountain West doesn't get elevated because the Pac 12 doesn't exist. Fresno State still isn't UCLA.