UAB to the MVC?

[TheAsianSensation]

Right now the Big 12 grant of rights is holding up realignment at the major conferences, I think. It's going to be too difficult for anyone to move in the top 5 for the next decade or so.

The ACC now has a similar GOR.

Man, all these guys with money ruining all the potential chaos.

At least we're still one drunk Texas rage quit away from the entire Big 12 falling apart.

[DoubleJayAlum]

UConn fans desperately want their hoops back in the Big East. If they can place their football in a different league I wouldn't rule that possibility out.

I don't think the Big East would want UCONN (state school) in a private school only conference.

I think if the football question were to be resolved, the Big East would take UConn in a New York minute.

There are plenty of UConn fans willing to give up on football right now. I think the administration will be a little more patient, but unless UConn football improves dramatically, I wouldn't be surprised to see the program dropped at some point in time if UConn doesn't get an offer from the Football 5. If football is jettisoned, UConn will have an offer from the Big East immediately.

[BirdmanBB]

Sure WSU is desireable, but their biggest dilemma is not having football. AAC won't go for a non-football playing member, neither will MWC. The big east won't want them because they are not private and the A10 is too far away for current members to travel to. Truth told, I see WSU's path as the same as Gonzaga's. They will be considered a high major team in a "mid major" conference with nowhere to go.

I think the best situation for WSU would be for the valley to go on the attack rather than wait for current football playing members to leave and weaken the conference as well as WSU's position. Make the conference stronger and a more valuable sell in regards to a tv contract. Also make the conference strong enough for current members to think twice about leaving. UAB would be a great add, but i think in order to really sell the MVC as a high major conference, we need to get behind closed doors and get multiple teams on board such as St. Louis, Dayton and someone else. It will take everyone jumping on board at the same time to make it happen.

[Wufan]

The AAC + WSU is a very good conference:

WSU
Cinci
UConn
Temple
Memphis
Tulsa

Houston
SMU

The AAC could just as easily add VCU instead of WSU.

The AAC w/o UConn, and Cinci or Memphis is still a better basketball conference than the MVC has been recently, but now other considerations become more important such as travel.

I would prefer an upgraded MVC with WSU, UNI, and Two others all being strong teams year in and year out, but we are a ways away from that as well.

[isumvc1]

this will never happen of course, but geographically, Wichita State best fits in the Summit League, even moreso than the MVC I think.

[rlh04d]

Sure WSU is desireable, but their biggest dilemma is not having football. AAC won't go for a non-football playing member, neither will MWC.

I think you're incorrect here. The AAC at this point is very likely to add a non-football school.

The AAC currently has 11 full members. Navy will be joining this coming football season as a football-only member, as Navy's other sports are not competitive enough for full AAC membership.

Which means the AAC now has 12 football members and 11 members for all other sports. The AAC is unlikely to maintain an unbalanced lineup in all non-football sports, and they're absolutely not going to add another full-member to round off the other sports, which would put their football conference at 13.

IMO, either someone leaves within the year, or the AAC will be adding a school without football.

I think the MWC is in a similar boat, although I think the MWC will add Gonzaga at some point. They also have 11 full members and 12 football members, leaving an obvious opening for a single school without football.

[rlh04d]

The AAC could just as easily add VCU instead of WSU.

I actually don't think any A10 school has any reason to join the AAC.

Unlike the MVC, the A10 has TV revenue ... and I believe TV revenue equivalent to the AAC's. And the A10 is currently a better basketball conference, and more stable overall.

The same reasons I'd prefer for WSU to join the A10 over any other (non-BE) conference are the same reasons I don't see a team like VCU leaving it. SLU and Dayton to the Big East? If the BE wants them, they're gone -- $350k a year versus $4 million. But the AAC can't poach from the A10.

If you eliminate the A10 teams as a possibility, who else is there other than WSU to fill the non-football role for the AAC?

I would prefer an upgraded MVC with WSU, UNI, and Two others all being strong teams year in and year out, but we are a ways away from that as well.

The sad thing is that if the MVC hadn't completely crapped the bed following 2006, none of this would have even been an issue. We had a chance to become THE mid-major conference. If a few teams had been able to bridge the gap to the Doug McDermott/Gregg Marshall/Ben Jacobson runs of the last five years, the MVC would have a strong TV deal right now.

[rlh04d]

Right now the Big 12 grant of rights is holding up realignment at the major conferences, I think. It's going to be too difficult for anyone to move in the top 5 for the next decade or so.

The ACC now has a similar GOR.

Man, all these guys with money ruining all the potential chaos.

At least we're still one drunk Texas rage quit away from the entire Big 12 falling apart.

I prefer watching Texas drunk with power slowly killing the Big 12 by refusing to commit to it fully.

[Rambler63]

Loyola added over 2 million TV households to the MVC footprint in replacing Creighton, almost equal to all the other MVC markets combined. Loyola improved its RPI about 180 places from its first year in the league, won a National Championship in men's volleyball, and paid to host games in the CBI tournament. That shows some genuine commitment and a down-payment on Loyola's promises and potential. If you're a media person, TV contract prospects have vastly improved as a result.

Bradley took an enormous financial hit to repair their program under a new AD, and despite terrible weakness in the bottom four programs, the MVC is neck and neck with the West Coast for the 9th best hoops conference, only marginally behind the AAC and A-10.

I just don't get how WSU thinks they'll be better off elsewhere, especially when big conference programs are throwing $3 million-plus offers at the coach who lifted them out of the MVC cellar only a few years ago. The arrow on this league is pointed up, and the ceiling is high. The media footprint has millions more households than two years ago, and once a few bad decisions are washed off the books the lower part of the league will improve.

[pafan]

Unless the MVC can monetize WSU/UNI's success lately into an improved TV deal that's bringing in real revenue. The MVC's TV contract expires in October 2016. Add UAB and another quality program and get us $2-300k a year in TV revenue, and I'm all for WSU staying. WSU will be very good again next year. If IlSt and UNI are at-large teams as well, that could be a big negotiating point.

By the time the MVC TV deal is up again, I think we'll have a pretty good idea whether these second-tier sports networks (NBCSN, FOX Sports 1, CBS Sports) will be successful. If they are, then the MVC should be able to get some cash out of one of them.

But for the moment the FS1 deal with the Big East looks like a money pit for FOX. The TV ratings for the Big East tournament were atrocious - 414,000 viewers for the championship game. The BE championship lead-in program, a Nascar Nationwide series race, had 5x the viewers.

The MVC championship game, on CBS, and lacking the conference's biggest fan base, was around 1.3 million viewers.

Colonial and A10 games on NBCSN have been doing even worse than the BE. The Colonial championship drew 90,000 viewers. The best-viewed A10 quarterfinal game drew 95,000 (The semis and champs were on CBS Sports and CBS). Those two games were beaten by Formula 1 qualifying (airing at 2 in the morning!) and Cycling. Cycling!

It is my suspicion that these networks will not be eager to bid up anything the MVC has to offer.