WSU and MSU fans, how bout we make a new league?

[DoubleJayAlum]

Objectively look at North Dakota vs Evansville.. or NDSU vs Drake. Tell me which programs have greater upside. I get that the Dakotas are in no man's land, but Evansville, Terre Haute, and Normal are not adding much to TV contracts even though they are close to bigger markets.

Agreed.

However, when you are looking to add a team, you evaluate their resume against other potential additions, not against the teams already in the conference.

[Turner]

Objectively look at North Dakota vs Evansville.. or NDSU vs Drake. Tell me which programs have greater upside. I get that the Dakotas are in no man's land, but Evansville, Terre Haute, and Normal are not adding much to TV contracts even though they are close to bigger markets.

Agreed.

However, when you are looking to add a team, you evaluate their resume against other potential additions, not against the teams already in the conference.

I'm not sure there is an addition worth a damn then. Which makes a new conference like this seem almost preferable.

[jwa123]

Objectively look at North Dakota vs Evansville.. or NDSU vs Drake. Tell me which programs have greater upside. I get that the Dakotas are in no man's land, but Evansville, Terre Haute, and Normal are not adding much to TV contracts even though they are close to bigger markets.

Agreed.

However, when you are looking to add a team, you evaluate their resume against other potential additions, not against the teams already in the conference.

I'm not sure there is an addition worth a damn then. Which makes a new conference like this seem almost preferable.

When are you leaving? Don't wait too long or you will miss the bus.

[Haha]

Fargo is only 40 miles closer to Wichita than Nuevo on the Mexican border.

[Jet915]

Objectively look at North Dakota vs Evansville.. or NDSU vs Drake. Tell me which programs have greater upside. I get that the Dakotas are in no man's land, but Evansville, Terre Haute, and Normal are not adding much to TV contracts even though they are close to bigger markets.

Agreed.

However, when you are looking to add a team, you evaluate their resume against other potential additions, not against the teams already in the conference.

I'm not sure there is an addition worth a damn then. Which makes a new conference like this seem almost preferable.

Unfortunately, I think you are right. The Butler and SLU ships have sailed. I don't really see any other teams worth adding...

[Dean Wormer]

Objectively look at North Dakota vs Evansville.. or NDSU vs Drake. Tell me which programs have greater upside. I get that the Dakotas are in no man's land, but Evansville, Terre Haute, and Normal are not adding much to TV contracts even though they are close to bigger markets.

Objectively, both Drake and Evansville have a much higher upside than NDSU. Drake has a decent size metropolitan area and decent name recognition. Evansville also has a decent sized metro area, brand new arena and a history of large crowds when the team is playing well. I would also suspect they have more name recognition than NDSU.

When you look at TV markets, that is our weak point. None in the top 50. Wichita is the largest at #68, followed by:

Des Moines #73
Springfield #74
Omaha #76
Evansville #103
Peoria-Bloomington #116
Terre Haute #152

For comparison, Fargo is #120

I didn't find Cedar Falls in the top 200, but may have overlooked it. Actually, Carbondale is #80, but it is part of Paducah/Cape Girardeu. A very large geographic area with the bulk of the population in MO, KY and TN. Southern Illinois is very rural and the actual SIU households wouldn't be all that large.

Everyone in the conference is capable of drawing decent crowds, our strong suit. Which is more attractive, a decent arena and a good crowd in a mid sized market, or a UIC type program with 500 fans in a large market?

[MoValley John]

I wish when people used media market information they understood exactly what they were talking about. The significance of the term °media markets" or TV markets has been diluted with advances in technology and media delivery. In fact, going back to the FCC rules on "must carry" that is also much, much more loosely regulated. In a nutshell, TV markets are not accurate indicators of population centers, and the further away from the center of the media market in which yo travel, the less accurate the numbers. On the east coast, you have population centers that actually share media territory, while in the Midwest you will have rural areas designated to a media market in which they have motioning in common and can't possibly receive transmission. As for the Dakotas, I would have a really hard time even remotely gauging the accuracy of the numbers.

[Haha]

Omaha is by far the largest market then Wichita, Des Moines, Springfield, Peoria, Evansville, then the rest are all really similar then Carbondale.

One thing I don't know is Normal-Bloomington basically same as Peoria or are they separate? If Separate then I got it right. If they intermingle with each other then the Peoria/Normal/Bloomington area comes around 550K and would put that in front of Springfield. I just assume that 30 miles or whatever it is keeps everybody in their respective metros for the most part, maybe not. Do people in Peoria commute to Normal/Bloomington daily and vice versa?

Wichita's T.V. market is the largest because basically it covers 2/3 of the state. Which really doesn't represent Wichita's market.

[glm38]

With the way that some of our fans act (Bear Nation honks), you would think that we would have made an NCAA tournament appearance at least once in the last say....13 years.

We suck at football, our basketball program is stuck in constant mediocrity. Baseball and volleyball, and (gasp!) the Lady Bears are the saving graces.

Oh come on. Will you stop it with the woe is me routine already? What a sorry, self defeatist attitude right there. Mediocre programs don't win outright league titles which we did just a year ago. Being a contrarian is your thing but come on man (say the last three words in Cris Carter's voice).

Isn't it crazy to think that there are two Bear boards now and one is led by a blind homer who cannot allow an ounce of criticism because apparently Moats and Lusk will personally call him out. And the other one is administered by a guy that cannot say anything postitive about the program he is allegedly a fan of. Sheesh. Happy medium. Find it fellas.

Very good post Casey. Although I do think bearnation has mellowed out quite a bit in the past 6 months or so.