Whether ACC expands or not, watch Mt. West, etc.

[Water Pony]

With the Big East fighting for survival this weekend by adding Louisville and spinning off BB only school, the ACC action is at least suspended for a couple of days, if not longer, for Miami to rethink the ACC deal and sweeten its' Big East arrangement.

On the left coast, Mountain West is looking to strip off 4 WAC schools, e.g. Fresno State, Boise State, Hawaii and Nevada, in order to get to twelve. See article:

<A HREF="http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20030518-9999_1s18graney.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20030518-9999_1s18graney.html</A>

It says BYU is not going anywhere (e.g. PAC10) and Utah won't leave them behind, if PAC 10 wants to expand. I have noticed that the Big Ten and Pac Ten don't appear all that crazy about getting to the magic of 12. Maybe this goal is over-stated for the Super Conferences, but not the Mid Majors, who need the revenue and visibility more.

The problem for us would be more acute with the WAC at greater risk and the idea of a Conf. USA-West/SWC model yet to emerge.

My emotions want the ACC to get the BE3 in order to create the chaos needed to refill and create a 12 Team/2 Division for Conf. USA.

My head says that the larger ACC only makes the revenue chase worst for all of college sports. Status quo in not a option, but the cards are still being held close to the chest, especially in Miami.

[Hal]

I hadn't read where the MWC was thinking about stealing teams from the WAC, other than Fresno. If they were to take all 4 of those teams you mention, what would the WAC do? Fold? Steal teams from other conferences? There are teams out there (Tulane?) that seemingly would fit in with the remaining WAC schools, but it would be a hard sell getting them to leave the CUSA financial packages behind.

[Charleston Pony]

Let's face it. If nothing happens in the east and the MWC decides to expand to 12 and pick apart the WAC, that would leave UTEP & SMU hoping NMSU & UNT would welcome us as conference mates in the SunBelt, or trying to convince NMSU, UNT, Ark St & La-Laf to join the WAC east group to form a watered down version of a new SWC.

We've put ourselves in this position and are now fighting for our I-A survival.

[bhop]

I reserve a special place in Hell for the MWC. I will never forget how those schools which were formally the backbone of the WAC decided to expand their conference, and then simply bolted when things didn't turn out how they expected. What kind of bull**** is that!? Now the MWC's expansion plans threaten to tear apart the rump WAC that those traitorous bastards left behind. Forget the ACC and whatever eventual fallout its expansion may have. The fact is that the MWC is a serious and immediate threat to SMU and the future of the WAC. I wish them nothing but abject failure, both on and off the field.

For those who say that SMU made its own bed and now must lie in it, that is definitely true. But let's not forget the midnight stab in the back from the current MWC schools that left us in the lurch. No one really saw that coming.

[This message has been edited by bhop (edited 05-19-2003).]

[This message has been edited by bhop (edited 05-19-2003).]

[EastStang]

I still think it comes down to what the Big East does. If it picks up 3 CUSA teams in all sports and 2-3 CUSA basketball only schools, then we have a chance to work out a regional conference to our liking especially if four WAC west schools have a home as well. It should be an interesting summer.

[ClassOf81]

Well said, bhop - VERY well said.

[Southland]

1. MWC has a moratorium on expansion through 2004; with 4 new university Presidents, nothing is going to happen in the next year.

2. MWC doesn’t accept partial-qualifers

3. It is questionable as to whether or not CSU Fresno is able to maintain Division 1A status. Fresno cut two sports this week to drop to the NCAA Division 1A football status required minimum of 16 varsity sports. If the Valley Soccer Federation does not raise $2.7M by January 15, 2004, Fresno will cut soccer and swimming/diving at the end of May 2004, dropping Fresno to 14 varsity sports. They will add women’s golf next year, but that is still below the minimum required.

The VSF had 6 months to save soccer and swimming this year by raising $680K… they only raised $540K, but the university gave the sports a reprieve on the condition that they meet the January 15 deadline. CSU Fresno sports operate at a $700K loss annually, and the university still owes $1.33M on its new arena. Don’t look for the State to bail out Fresno, it stopped saving athletics 15 years ago, and let football programs at CSU Fullerton and CSU Long Beach die… Fullerton, just one year after building a new stadium. Bottom line, it is up to CSU Fresno’s donors.

The last thing the MWC is going to do is give an invitation to a questionable academic school, which accepts partial qualifiers, and may not be able to stay in Division 1A football. Also, Fresno is not tied to a bowl game, nor are they in a strong media market… the ABC affiliate would probably choose to air Pac-10 games anyway, because they pull in stronger ratings.

4. Hawaii: they are attached to a bowl game, but the revenue from the bowl game doesn’t cover the added travel expenses. Add to that, questionable academics, partial qualifiers and an insignificant media market.


If the MWC expands look for them to take on Boise first, because they are attached to a bowl game; then if Fresno gets itself together, expand with Fresno, Nevada and UTEP

[Charleston Pony]

I agree it is highly possible we will see a lot of 9 member conferences come out of all of this. It's the next best thing if you can't put together a blockbuster group of 12, as the ACC is tring to accomplish.

Again, everything rides on Miami's decision and assumes if they accept the ACC's invite, Syracuse & B.C. have no choice but to follow. The next question is whether the Big 10 looks to expand? Does the Big East cease to exist as a football conference? Does CUSA (or some other name) become Va Tech, Louisville, W.Va, Cincy and the best 4-5 conference mates they can assemble (Memphis, S.Fla, ECU, TCU, So Miss)?

If groups of 9 become popular in an attempt to build conference strength while preserving bowl tie-ins, I agree Boise St might be the MWC's 1st choice.

Regardless of how this all plays out, SMU and the WAC are vulnerable to sink even lower than we currently stand.

If the BE loses 4, then look for Va Tech & W. Va to go into survival mode. Do they stay with football weaklings UConn, Rutgers & Temple or look to create the strongest combo football/bball conference available by talking to Louisville, Cincy, ECU, S.Fla, Memphis, So Miss & TCU?