Conference Realignment - May 1

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

I'd love to get back into Oklahoma and specifically Tulsa. I saw ORU as the way to get this done, but TU would work just the same.

So DU isn't a good enough vessel for you to pull in the Denver market, but ORU would bring in the Tulsa market? What kool-aid are you drinking?

Yeah. You see Tulsa is a college town. OU, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, and ORU dominate the headlines. Occasionally they have a US Open golf tournament too. Denver is a pro sports town you see. They on the very periphery care about CU and Colorado State. They don't care about the Denver Pioneers. They don't even know they exist.

[MoValley John]

Who are the Denver Pioneers?

[Khan4Cats]

Who are the Denver Pioneers?

They're the folks who headed west 150 years ago but couldn't figure out how to get over the Rockies so they've been drivin' their wagons in circles ever since.

[Bluejay09Bear06]

Your heads are all buried in the sand. DU is an excellent school. It is ranked as a national Top-100 university by U.S. News. Its endowment is matched in the MVC by only Creighton. Yes, its athletics have not been prominent nationally, but that school has all the ingredients to be a success = money, academics, market. Oh forget it, let's just add a school from a bottom-tier Arctic Circle media market that's just transitioned to D1.

[TheAsianSensation]

If Tulsa and New Mexico St approach the Valley for non-football sports, I have to at least sit down and analyze it.

[uniftw]

Why add Tulsa? When was the last time they were good at anything?

Doesn't matter....they have football, that's what matters.


It doesn't even matter if the are good....the fact that they have it is what does.

[valleychamp]

ACC voting on Louisville tomorrow morning.

[MoValley John]

ACC voting on Louisville tomorrow morning.

And Cincy is semi- publicly pushing hard for the ACC as well. If this happens, a Catholic League goes from a Long shot pipe dream to a little plausible. The Big East is looking more and more like a big train wreck. Not that it didn't look like a train wreck before, but now it looks like a fully loaded Amtrak just ran into a 100 car train transporting toxic waste. Get out your billfolds, the Red Cross will soon be soliciting donations.

[Kyle]

Why add Tulsa? When was the last time they were good at anything?

Doesn't matter....they have football, that's what matters.


It doesn't even matter if the are good....the fact that they have it is what does.

Unfortunately, this is the truth.

Football is everything in the world of college sports right now. The money from football based TV contracts is becoming unbelievable. The Big-10 contract is up for renewal soon with many of the major networks, and rumors are the deal will give each school a $35MM-$45MM check per year. The Big-12 contract with ABC/ESPN was just announced and it will net each school $20MM/year.

If you don't have football or you're not in a major media market, be prepared to be on the outside looking in. Just look a a school like UNC-Charlotte. They are the 25th biggest TV market, won't even play an FCS game until 2013, and have already announced they are moving to the FBS. Eyeballs, football, and money. Nothing else matters.

[TheAsianSensation]

Big East will lose somebody tomorrow. As far as a Big East split goes...it doesn't even matter. Pick a team. Maybe UConn has the most sentimentality towards the old Big East so maybe their leaving is a bigger detonation than Cincy or Louisville. But it doesn't matter.