Another Expansion/Realignment Thread

[TylerDurden]

The aforementioned pool, in my opinion, includes Wichita State, Oral Roberts, St. Louis, St. Thomas, as well as the previous MVC expansion candidates.

SLU and the MVC is not going to happen for a multitude of reasons. But please stop listing them as a candidate.

Same for Wichita State.

[VUGrad1314]

I want to say you're wrong Tyler RE Wichita State returning but you're probably correct. Even if the AAC loses Memphis North Texas Tulane and UTSA for example they could still probably pretty easily backfill with some combo of WKU Middle Tennessee Liberty (if they can stomach the association\academics) Louisiana Tech New Mexico Air Force (for the Academy Prestige) UNLV or Nevada and be in a similar spot in terms of basketball power. It's not the league they signed up for but it's still pretty good and they're still collecting $2million+ until 2031 when that may very well drop and then maybe there are considerations to be made but until then there's likely no chance and come 2031 there probably isn't much chance of a return either.

[BCPanther]

I think this reinforces the next that we can be patient and wait. We've got a solid 11 and we don't have to make a move just to make a move.

The one to keep an eye on for me is Air Force. Seems like a no brainer that they're going to do football only to the AAC to meet up with Army and Navy. The Valley is the perfect place for them as an all sports league with that setup and we've heard rumors in the past that there have been discussions between the two sides.

Wichita and SLU are never happening, ORU adds nothing and we don't have to reach for a Horizon League school.

[unipanther99]

Also, in the short term both the new Pac-?? and MWC will have fewer teams in their conference than usual - and with some animosity toward each other could be ripe for scheduling some decent non-conference games.

[IllinoisState]

I think this reinforces the next that we can be patient and wait. We've got a solid 11 and we don't have to make a move just to make a move.

The one to keep an eye on for me is Air Force. Seems like a no brainer that they're going to do football only to the AAC to meet up with Army and Navy. The Valley is the perfect place for them as an all sports league with that setup and we've heard rumors in the past that there have been discussions between the two sides.

Wichita and SLU are never happening, ORU adds nothing and we don't have to reach for a Horizon League school.

Air Force is probably the only possible realistic school I'd be okay with being outside of our current footprint for.

And Wichita is the only school I'd be willing to cut off my nose to spite my face for.

[squirrel]

One of the stranger recent moves was Richmond football announcing a move to the Patriot League next year. I wondered if that didn't signal an alignment with the academies, and foreshadowed that the academies would have a seat at the table when an eventual split happens.

Otherwise, an odd move for them.

[TylerDurden]

I want to say you're wrong Tyler RE Wichita State returning but you're probably correct. Even if the AAC loses Memphis North Texas Tulane and UTSA for example they could still probably pretty easily backfill with some combo of WKU Middle Tennessee Liberty (if they can stomach the association\academics) Louisiana Tech New Mexico Air Force (for the Academy Prestige) UNLV or Nevada and be in a similar spot in terms of basketball power. It's not the league they signed up for but it's still pretty good and they're still collecting $2million+ until 2031 when that may very well drop and then maybe there are considerations to be made but until then there's likely no chance and come 2031 there probably isn't much chance of a return either.

You are free to say I'm wrong. My wife does all the time.

The G5 shuffling around is kind of silly. There are a handful, maybe two handfuls, of schools who aren't already at the table to have any chance of making the cut once football finally blows the current paradigm to shreds.

Mountain West schools joining the 2 Pac is pointless. They just swapped commissioners.

[ReZyNeZy]

You are free to say I'm wrong. My wife does all the time.

The G5 shuffling around is kind of silly. There are a handful, maybe two handfuls, of schools who aren't already at the table to have any chance of making the cut once football finally blows the current paradigm to shreds.

Mountain West schools joining the 2 Pac is pointless. They just swapped commissioners.

Not to mention the sheer amount of money the MWC now has to be paid by the PAC and the schools leaving. 18 million per school exit fee and a 40 million poaching fee as per the PAC-2 MWC scheduling agreement. When all is said and done, the MWC will have over 110 million dollars to work with to recoup their losses. The question then becomes, what additional schools leave and/or what schools will be added to recoup the losses. At this point UTEP and NMSU are no brainer picks for the MWC. I do not think any valley schools or FCS schools are on the picking list for the MWC, but there is a potential chain reaction throughout the G5 that could extend to FCS schools looking to make a move up.

I know twitter is really wanting NDSU or SDSU to make a move up, but that travel budget increase and the need to improve both of their domes to met FBS standards is too high a price tag for schools already on a geographical island with relatively low budgets to work with.

[BCPanther]

You are free to say I'm wrong. My wife does all the time.

The G5 shuffling around is kind of silly. There are a handful, maybe two handfuls, of schools who aren't already at the table to have any chance of making the cut once football finally blows the current paradigm to shreds.

Mountain West schools joining the 2 Pac is pointless. They just swapped commissioners.

Not to mention the sheer amount of money the MWC now has to be paid by the PAC and the schools leaving. 18 million per school exit fee and a 40 million poaching fee as per the PAC-2 MWC scheduling agreement. When all is said and done, the MWC will have over 110 million dollars to work with to recoup their losses. The question then becomes, what additional schools leave and/or what schools will be added to recoup the losses. At this point UTEP and NMSU are no brainer picks for the MWC. I do not think any valley schools or FCS schools are on the picking list for the MWC, but there is a potential chain reaction throughout the G5 that could extend to FCS schools looking to make a move up.

I know twitter is really wanting NDSU or SDSU to make a move up, but that travel budget increase and the need to improve both of their domes to met FBS standards is too high a price tag for schools already on a geographical island with relatively low budgets to work with.

Neither school would have to do a thing to their stadium to be ready for the FBS.

I'll be pretty surprised if they don't make the jump.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Not to mention the sheer amount of money the MWC now has to be paid by the PAC and the schools leaving. 18 million per school exit fee and a 40 million poaching fee as per the PAC-2 MWC scheduling agreement. When all is said and done, the MWC will have over 110 million dollars to work with to recoup their losses. The question then becomes, what additional schools leave and/or what schools will be added to recoup the losses. At this point UTEP and NMSU are no brainer picks for the MWC. I do not think any valley schools or FCS schools are on the picking list for the MWC, but there is a potential chain reaction throughout the G5 that could extend to FCS schools looking to make a move up.

I know twitter is really wanting NDSU or SDSU to make a move up, but that travel budget increase and the need to improve both of their domes to met FBS standards is too high a price tag for schools already on a geographical island with relatively low budgets to work with.

There is no longer any attendance (or capacity) requirement for FBS. Kennesaw St moved up with an 8k seat stadium. Both of NDSU/SDSU's stadiums are more than adequate for FBS and are better than quite a few G5 stadiums. SDSU plays in a very nice brand new outdoor stadium.

NDSU/SDSU's issue is getting university presidents of an FBS conference to admit schools far out-of-their footprint that are in low-population states. It has nothing to do with their football, fan support, budgets, or facilities -- all of which greatly exceed (football) or are adequate (fan support, budgets, facilities) for success in FBS.