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Reports indicated that the WAC, MWC and C-USA met yesterday in an airport to discuss realignment. Does that strike anyone else as odd? It sounds like they are trying to divide themselves up in some kind of fair and equitable manner. Maybe 3 divisions based on geography will be forthcoming, but I don't trust the MWC so I doubt much will come of it.

they might as well hold that meeting at the chancellors office at TCU. They have put themselves in position of holding all the cards. They're going MWC if Espn tells them the tv contract will be substantially better than CUSA and it will be.

i have a feeling that if tcu goes mwc, all that extra $$$ from the tv contract will be eaten up in travel costs from all their sports - fall to spring!! Baseball will be the real killer with all those games in the mountain & pacific time zones!!!

tcu - don't let your ego get the best of you!

Well, there will no doubt be alot of smug SMU fans that say how stupid TCU is. Its a copout. TCU can always come back to be in a regional conference any time they want. Its not a huge risk for them to go MWC at all. If the bottom lines are anywhere close to in the same ballpark, TCU will go for better exposure and competition. They might even accept a reasonable increase in net losses because they seem to understand the concept of investment and the importance of winning to the school.

TCU to MWC ought to wait until we see if the BE reamins BCS. Howsomeever, the fate of TCU is not that important for SMU at this point other than it would be interesting to be paired against them again in conferecne play. As I have siad before, stcik with conferecne that gets Tulane because of the political advantage this will bring vs.the BCS.

i agree re / tulane...they're a player & its not just on the field.

I'd rather hitch myself up with TCU than Tulane. Tulane and Cowen pulled a Ken Pye and thought about going D-2 just a few months ago. Whether they were posturing or bluffing or not, it was still bad PR nationally. Listen to Tulane fans, they think Cowen is a paper tiger. I hope we are not counting on Cowen beating the BCS in court. That is a mistake.

I don't know where all this MWC is the next BCS conference garbage is coming from; the MWC is in a bad time zone, brings no major TV markets, and their Neilson numbers are worse than the WAC's. ESPN isn't about to give the MWC a significantly better deal than the CUSA, even if the MWC were to add Hawaii and Fresno, even with BYU. Travel costs for Olympic sports would be even higher than they were with the stretched CUSA, and the exposure won't be much if any better. The MWC is no more likely to get a BCS bid than the present WAC or even the gutted CUSA. The MWC doesn't get the east coast press, plain and simple. If TCU wants national respect, they know they need to go where the cameras are, and that isn't to the Mountain time zone.

I'm the first to pick on the old Horny Toads, but if there is one thing they have proven recently, that is that they aren't dumb when it comes to competing at the D-1 level. The only way a MWC move makes sense is if they have a BCS bid; which they don't, and I highly doubt that they ever will.

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: Greenwich Pony ]</small>

The bottom line in my mind is that the NCAA, BCS, and TV guys know that come New Years the average fan will turn on their TV's and watch a team they've heard of from the Big East rather than some obscure team from a conference where they're not even sure what the letters MWC stand for. No matter who is better. If they cared about that, they wouldn't jump at the chance to invite Notre Dame to a BCS bowl whenever given the chance.

Hey, don't shoot the dumb messenger. All of the latest reports are starting to reference the TCU to the MWC possibility. Now call me the village idiot or soothsayer, but I said on this board back in May that we better be very worried about the possiblility from SMU's perspective. What if the MWC entices TCU and Houston? TCU, and Tulsa for hoops? Now maybe this is whole rumor is some wishful thinking or PR ploy by Chuck Bell at San Jose to save the WAC, but I highly doubt it. And think about your argument about the MWC..doesn't adding TCU help them much more in the all important East than adding Fresno? Might they be willing to make a very attractive offer to TCU to make it happen? Hmmmm. As for the Nielson ratings, I've heard all that, but you cannot dismiss BYU no matter what those wacky ratings have said.

Other than ego associated with some theoretical advantage of going to MWC, I don't see how TCU benefits given:

- they would be the only Central Time member
- attendance in Ft. Worth isn't helped much
- away games will be televised late
- BB is weaker
- Non-revenue sports are hit hard with greater costs, travel times, etc.
- Academics are no better, maybe less, than Tulane, SMU, Rice and Tulsa
- MWC will not gain BCS status, if anything BE might lose their's with no replacement needed to further dilute BCS take home pay.

some counterpoints:


- they would be the only Central Time member
Not necessarily true. Houston could give them another big market if they go to 12.

- attendance in Ft. Worth isn't helped much
Ok, but is it helped much by Rice and Tulsa?

- away games will be televised late
Yea, but at least its national tv.

- BB is weaker
Weaker than the old CUSA yes, not the new. Memphis and Tulsa and 10 dwarfs are a pretty weak league overall. Utah, New Mexico, BYU and UNLV are 4 pretty strong hoop programs over the long term. Wyoming has risen quite a bit and SDSU went dancing two years ago.


- Non-revenue sports are hit hard with greater costs, travel times, etc.
Absolutely. But do we really know the revenue numbers well enough to judge the net impact to the bottom line?

- Academics are no better, maybe less, than Tulane, SMU, Rice and Tulsa

I doubt TCU really cares, they are out to win over there.


- MWC will not gain BCS status, if anything BE might lose their's with no replacement needed to further dilute BCS take home pay.

Full access, no. Partial access will most likely be granted in some form. Therefore, you need to be in the most attractive league possible with the strongest schedule strength for football. Until the BCS dies a certain death, the jockeying will continue.

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Hoop Fan ]</small>

BC move triggers Big East, Big Ten, ND, CUSA, WAC scenarios:



http://www.sportsline.com/u/partners/aol/index.html?http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/6718508

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Water Pony ]</small>

The sportsline article certainly highlights Notre Dame as the key prospective new member for either the BE or the Big 10. I think the 12 school conference is the preferred pattern for the C-USA or the WAC. The article didn't mention TCU as a deciding factor in the evential alignment of the MWC. C-USA or WAC, probably because their move is a secondary matter compared to the future of Notre Dame. Truth be known, the TV contracts are the real determining factor about who goes where.

The only way ND joins a conference is if they can keep their independent football status so that when they do make a BCS bowl, they'll get to keep all that money instead of having to divvy it up with their conference cohorts. I can't see them giving up millions just to join a conference. Then again, they could grab the BE or Big 10 by the cojones and come out with a sweet deal that will allow them to keep most, if not all that money. Another factor might be their NBC deal. I believe it comes up for renewal within the next year or two and from what I gathered, NBC is prospectively looking at the ACC for a television deal. If they aren't able to maintain that contract, I could see it. Otherwise, I expect them to remain an Indy in football but maybe join a conference for other sports.