Conference Realignment
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Lol
Kramerica Industries
- Greenville, SC
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Wait, there's still a Pac 12?
Technically yes, for 2 more years. OSU and WSU have 2 years to put a league together and they have a lot of money that the departing schools don't get. If they could pull in Boise St, Nevada, San Diego St, Fresno, Wyoming, Colorado St. San Jose St, Hawaii, Utah St and Air Force, they just might survive. The key is being allowed to keep the PAC-12 brand and I'm not sure the Mountain West would be willing to accept that. Still it should be more money for a conference under the PAC-12 brand than the Mountain West.
Honestly, I wish them well, they really got the shaft in the destruction of the PAC.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
she has a tough row to hoe
Autonomy Five? First time I've heard that.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
stupid name
means nothing
they are now in the Group of 5
it is what it is - Land of Misfit Toys
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
That would be bad enough, but it's not even that. The Pac Anything doesn't exist.
So to call this the first female commissioner of whatever is ultimately just an insult to females.
Gould is just the deputy commissioner, and this is basically just keeping the lights on for the time being.
Whether OSU and WSU join the Mountain West or most or all of the Mountain West joins the Pac 12 is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it's not meaningless if you're the Vice President of Sales or something of one of those two leagues.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
FIFY...............
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
the 4 PAC schools coming in ?
imo, there has never been that much difference between the B1G and the PAC. very similar academics for the most part .
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Culturally, as far as fanbases, you’ll have one new Ohio state/Michigan in USC, one devoted but not too obnoxious and probably overall friendlier Wisconsin/Penn state in Oregon, one apathetic Indiana in UCLA (except in basketball), and one fan base that won’t particularly stand out in Washington.
I think I get what you're saying, arrogance with Ohio 'State, Mich and USC. Not sure I totally know or understand the Wisc p state oregon comparison. Definitely understand the UCLA and Indiana comparison. I think you might underestimate the husky fans, I think they fall in the ohio st/ mich/ usc category better
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I feel like UCLA’s hoops fan base is pretty (a)pathetic, too … their ratings are very average, and their attendance is terrible. I couldn’t believe that we had 20x more fans than them in Las Vegas…
In my experience (I’ve lived within 7 miles of UCLA for over 30 years), fans fill Pauley only for Arizona, USC or when the team is Top 10 ranked. Definitely fair weather.
There now are four decades of fandom that feel like the program has under performed its potential. And with “only” five Final Fours and one title since 1980 … they’re probably right. With the location, tradition, recruiting geography and alumni/booster wealth, they absolutely should be doing better.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Genuinely interested if there are any perspectives here on this question:
I totally get why schools that have always been FBS don't want to drop down. But for schools, like UMass, that have a decorated history of success in FCS, why on earth are they harming the rest of their athletic department and joining conferences they don't care about in order to play on Tuesday nights and dreaming of an Armed Forces Bowl appearance?
Forget that it's cheaper, isn't it WAY more fun to be Montana rather than like Old Dominion?
That arena had more Illini in it than a lot of the games of the Groce era.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
Dropping from the A-10 to the MAC for basketball is a pretty big downgrade
Hey now, don't be hatin' on mid-week #MACtion.
In all seriousness though, this is more of a football move for UMass. They've been an independent in football for awhile now and this gives them a bit more stability in that area.
They're going to the MAC for most sports. Their hockey program will stay in Hockey East since the MAC doesn't sponsor hockey. They will request to stay in the A10 as an affiliate member for men's and women's lacrosse. UMass had also reportedly been engaged in talks with Conference USA as well.
This move means that UConn and Notre Dame will be the only remaining independents in college football with Army joining the AAC this fall. UMass will play five current MAC members in football this fall.
With this move, I wonder if the MAC kicks the tires on MTSU or WKU as their 14th member.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the A10 started to shed some of their FCS football things as things continue to evolve.
If it were me, I’d look for A10 basketball/Coastal (formerly Colonial) FCS football schools Richmond and Rhode Island to broker a merger of the two leagues where the football schools go to one league and the non-football schools to another.
As an outsider who roots for a Big Ten team, it's easy for me to say that there isn't a gap between CAA and MAC football or to argue why the CAA would be better for them. Especially since NE really doesn't seem to care about high school or college football like the rest of the country.
But it could be as simple as a belief that to be a high profile university you need FBS football or it could be a little brother complex with BC.