Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[TBS_20]

MoST was on an island. The island is now gone. No need to expand south unless its for a good reason. I dont think UTA is a good reason. If they go that direction then they will probably add two southern teams. UTA and who? For the love of God I hope its no UALR or Central Arkansas. There really isnt a second decent team out of the south.

[Chuck A]

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. Little Rock came in as the #9 candidate in the Valley expansion 2 years ago that was done by D1 360. They do have a growing population but their basketball product was just a bit above ours… NOT GOOD! I wouldn’t be terribly opposed to them joining, along with NKU and Arlington. After all, Little Rock’s Women’s swim team has been a part of the Valley since the ‘13-‘14 season…and they’re an Olympic sport!

[VUGrad1314]

This is going to shock everyone given how pro expansion I've been in the past but I'd rather wait until St Thomas is interested. This landscape is different. There isn't a ready and willing home run addition like Murray State that just needs a partner to get them in. We can afford to wait and be choosy and play a 20 game double round robin if we wish. We need time to integrate our new additions and outside of St Thomas there's no single geographically sensible option that can significantly boost the profile of the league. I could stomach UMKC only if schools like ORU SFA ACU were in play by building that bridge but ORU and ACU (but especially ORU) don't fit that well institutionally. If you had to twist my arm and pick a candidate now I'd say NKU because of decent performance and bringing in a market but even they're like four hours removed from the nearest Valley school I believe so not exactly in the footprint and their performance isn't off the charts amazing. Moreover have they changed their reported stance on investment needed to compete in the Valley over the years? I remember that being an issue last time. The Dakotas are a non-starter without St Thomas as a bridge and can they compete budgetarily given how football driven they are? Do they even want an MVC invite at this point or are they still chasing FBS dreams? I say St Thomas or nobody right now. But if we must NKU.

[E-Villan]

This is going to shock everyone given how pro expansion I've been in the past but I'd rather wait until St Thomas is interested. This landscape is different. There isn't a ready and willing home run addition like Murray State that just needs a partner to get them in. We can afford to wait and be choosy and play a 20 game double round robin if we wish. We need time to integrate our new additions and outside of St Thomas there's no single geographically sensible option that can significantly boost the profile of the league. I could stomach UMKC only if schools like ORU SFA ACU were in play by building that bridge but ORU and ACU (but especially ORU) don't fit that well institutionally. If you had to twist my arm and pick a candidate now I'd say NKU because of decent performance and bringing in a market but even they're like four hours removed from the nearest Valley school I believe so not exactly in the footprint and their performance isn't off the charts amazing. Moreover have they changed their reported stance on investment needed to compete in the Valley over the years? I remember that being an issue last time. The Dakotas are a non-starter without St Thomas as a bridge and can they compete budgetarily given how football driven they are? Do they even want an MVC invite at this point or are they still chasing FBS dreams? I say St Thomas or nobody right now. But if we must NKU.

How do you figure St Thomas is a geographic fit, but NKU isn't? You do realize 9 of our 11 members are closer to NKU than St Thomas? Geographically, I don't have an issue with either one, but your statement seems a little off.

Since you get bothered by things you see on message boards, such as NKU not financially committed, why aren't you concerned by the fact people are posting St Thomas' end game is the A-10? We don't need to be a stepping stone. We need to build our league and taking in a school that really wants to be elsewhere makes little sense. NKU also draws twice the attendance of St. Thomas. 1300 a game might sound ok to a Valpo fan, but it's crap to the rest of us.

[VUGrad1314]

I don't appreciate the snark at the end of your comment at all but you do make good points in the rest of your comment about St Thomas's geography not being as friendly to the league as i orgiinally thought and NKU's not being as bad. However St Thomas isn't GETTING into the A-10. You do realize it took a Final 4 and a Sweet 16 for the A-10 to finally even look at Loyola which is in Chicago and at least makes some geographic sense given the presence of St Louis. You think they're going to be bending over backwards to get into Minneapolis which would be an even greater outlier in the A-10 than SLU was before Loyola? The best St Thomas can ever hope for (unless they somehow get into the Big East but that is a decade or two off if it ever happens) is the MVC. And with how much their new arenas and the investments they're making are I expect them to be competitive at the MVC level and quickly. And if they do get good enough to be promoted then at least hopefully the conference can make some money off of them before they go like they did with Loyola. If not we have a solid market in place for recruiting and a solid institutional fit. I think the next expansion target should be about the western schools because the western schools have been ignored for a very long time and St Thomas is the only good option out that way. I hear they're spending like $175million or something crazy. The fans don't come because who wants to come out in sub zero temperatures to watch Summit League teams but they'll come if we can put a top 25 at large contender in front of their crowd. We want that kind of upside in our league even if it is only temporary because sadly the perception of the MVC as a stepping stone league is already being established having lost four schools since 2013. For some (like Valpo) it's a dream conference for others (like Loyola or perhaps St Thomas) it's a step on their path. And if you think St Thomas is a flight risk and we shouldn't invite them what stops the A-10 from calling up NKU if they get good which makes way more geographic sense for their league than St Thomas? Your logic is every bit as flawed as mine except on the geography point but nevertheless I don't know what I've ever done to you to deserve you coming at me so aggressively.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Welcome back VUGrad1314!

Hope to see you staying engaged! Way too big of a fan not to be experiencing Arch Madness.

[VUGrad1314]

Welcome back VUGrad1314!

Hope to see you staying engaged! Way too big of a fan not to be experiencing Arch Madness.

Sorry Valpo being consistently terrible and my own mental health have kinda kept me disengaged as I work on myself. It's been quite a journey but I'm working my way back and moving forward. Super bummed about losing Missouri State because I know the program we replace them with especially in the short term won't be as good as they are especially from an all sports perspective. I wanted CUSA's callup to be Tarleton so that we could stay together and grow with the 12 we have and look for expansion opportunities should they arise but instead we're backfilling again which is never fun. It's also discouraging to see a peer league (WCC) get so much stronger. But I'm confident in the MVC to make a good decision and move forward as a strong league that can hopefully still compete for multiple bids even in the new format though it's probably going to be very hard with the bigger leagues now superconferences and the much stronger WCC.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Welcome back VUGrad1314!

Hope to see you staying engaged! Way too big of a fan not to be experiencing Arch Madness.

Sorry Valpo being consistently terrible and my own mental health have kinda kept me disengaged as I work on myself. It's been quite a journey but I'm working my way back and moving forward. Super bummed about losing Missouri State because I know the program we replace them with especially in the short term won't be as good as they are especially from an all sports perspective. I wanted CUSA's callup to be Tarleton so that we could stay together and grow with the 12 we have and look for expansion opportunities should they arise but instead we're backfilling again which is never fun. It's also discouraging to see a peer league (WCC) get so much stronger. But I'm confident in the MVC to make a good decision and move forward as a strong league that can hopefully still compete for multiple bids even in the new format though it's probably going to be very hard with the bigger leagues now superconferences and the much stronger WCC.

Happy to see you well and doing better. I can tell you attending games (or any live events) helps because of the energy those atmospheres give you and the social interaction with others. The worst thing for one's mind is to stay inside.

WSU/OSU will be in the WCC for 5 minutes. Gonzaga isn't long for the WCC. They did a good job preemptively backfilling with GCU, but there's no replacing Gonzaga. Big East contract is up for renewal and you know FOX would love to steal Gonzaga from ESPN.

[BCPanther]

Welcome back VUGrad.

Fantastic post.

While I think it's going to end up being NKU in the end, my preference is St Thomas when they're available in '27. The scheduling is going to suck for two years with 11 but it doesn't make sense to split the shrinking pie with an add that doesn't check all the boxes.

That arena they're building up there more than shows their desire to compete at the highest level.

[IllinoisState]

Glad to see you back, VUGrad!

It's nice to see your takes, I hadn't thought of it that way before. St. Thomas could be a fairly long term addition based on what you said.