Even if

[Nacho]

Even if only 1-3 teams from C-USA go into the BE, 3 C-USA teams are in real financial trouble. Tulane may fold next week. UAB is on some kind of Alabama state financial probation and may not field a team in the near future. Houston is reeling from financial losses.

I'm not sure what my point is other than I don't see anything clear-cut with C-USA right now but I think we are going to align with at least some of them in some kind of way.

[Roach]

I think the fact that Tulane is teetering on the edge of folding and that UAB is in whatever trouble they're in can only help SMU. I still believe that C-USA is where we'll end up. Like I said in another post, I hope no school has to fold its athletic program or drop down to D-II or D-III.

However, if teams leave the conference to go to the Big East, and if Tulane and/or UAB bow out, then that means there are more spaces open in C-USA, which with all due respect to the WAC has better TV and bowl packages.

Maybe the demise of those schools could signify a boost for SMU.

[ponyte]

We are not attractive from a football standpoint (poor record and poor attendance).

However, if financial challenged institutions start dropping out of the football scene, then we may have a very attractive asset. We are financial sound.

We are not in trouble of folding out program due to money concerns and a program that can be financial sound may be attractive as it provides a higher level of security to a searching conference.

Just trying to find a silver lining in our otherwise uncompetitive portfolio.

[Nacho]

Louisville and then 1-3 of Cincy, Memphis, EC, SF may also go to the BE. With Houston Tulane and UAB all on the ropes C-USA may be left with only 3 schools left standing in a couple of years--those being TCU, USM and one of the beforementioned. The future is not exactly beaming with brightness at this point.

My feeling is that Tulane and UAB along with Houston will try to hang on for a couple more years to see if they can make a go of it.

It may be best for SMU to sit tight and wait it out and then pounce at the right situation.

[93Mustang]

I agree with you for the most part, but I think the financial problems at Tulane, UH, and elsewhere are just the begining of the D1 football weeding out process. I agree that Tulane and UH will hang on as long as possible, but ultimately some schools will give up. I think this is a scary prospect for SMU because these two schools are arleady in C-USA and are dying on the vine, so why should we believe we'd be doing any better? Tulane is very similar to SMU - private school in metropolitan area with serious attendance issues. The difference is that Tulane has actually been competitive in fooball during the last decade while we've been awful. If they can't make it, then how will we. Likewise, if Miami, another private school like SMU and Tulane, runs a deficit in its sports budget in a year that it made a BCS bowl game and made the NCAA basketball tournament, how can we expect to survive playing D1 football in a non-BCS conference where we average around 15,000 fans a game?

[EastStang]

One thing that is better for us than Miami is that our stadium now generates revenue whereas Miami has to pay rent to the Orange Bowl. Moving on campus was a big plus for us economically. Tulane on the other hand has a stadium on campus and is more like us in that way. They don't even have baseball and hockey in New Orleans to compete with.

[93Mustang]

Good point about the off campus stadium, but actually Tulane also plays off campus at the Superdome.

[Nacho]

In the long run I think the only way a non-BCS program can make it is to tightly control expenses by playing in a regional conference and playing OOC money games. At some point the blessed 64 may realize that they need us poor folks and give us some extra bucks.

[Charleston Pony]

SMU is financially sound??? Guys, the "commitment" was all about the administration simply agreeing to underwrite our athletic losses for 4 more years. The expectation at that point in time was that we would run a "break even" program.

To my knowledge, the Mustang Club has never generated as much as $2 mil/yr. We have no promise of any conference arrangement that will afford us any significant revenue sharing, and our attendance in the two "revenue producing" sports is barely over the Mendoza line (for those of you who don't get that reference, the Mendoza line is hitting .200 in baseball).

We have major challenges ahead if SMU is going to continue to compete at the highest level. Mustang Club membership numbers less than 5% of our living alumni. I don't see revenue from CUSA justifying/offsetting an entrance fee into what might become another watered down, far flung conference with high travel expenses.

I continue to believe our best hope is for radical change that opens the door to formation of a new regional conference where we can reunite with TCU & Houston and stay with our WAC east brethren (with the possible exception of UTEP, which last time I checked is still 600 miles from Dallas). I like stretching out to Memphis at 400 miles moreso than aligning with UTEP simply because they are in Texas. UTEP is a lot closer to the MWC schools and I just hope the mid-majors align with a reduction in travel expenses playing a big part in whatever decisions are made.