The CUSA-MWC Merger

shaft · January 12, 2012

We are days away from the MWC-CUSA merger meetings and there are a few main issues to workout.

1. Will it be an all sports merger?

2. Will Hawaii get to bring in their other sports?

3. Will there be two division or four divisions?

These are the questions that will shape what they are looking for in a new program to add.

So my question for the board is what do you expect the MWC-CUSA to do?

forevereagle · January 12, 2012

Like anyone can even know that.

DeepGreen · January 12, 2012

We are days away from the MWC-CUSA merger meetings and there are a few main issues to workout.
1. Will it be an all sports merger?
2. Will Hawaii get to bring in their other sports?
3. Will there be two division or four divisions?

These are the questions that will shape what they are looking for in a new program to add.

So my question for the board is what do you expect the MWC-CUSA to do?

I think they will continue as separate conferences, with each adding a team or two to replace those lost to the Big East.

Harry · January 12, 2012

Someone pointed out to me a very pertinent fact that I hadn't considered. If CUSA and Mountain West merge it would turn two FBS conferences into 1 which would minimize the power of non-"BCS" conferences by turning 2 votes (CUSA and MWC) into 1 (Alliance)... that's significant and unless there is a VERY big bump anticipated in terms of TV contracts to offset it I am leaning towards thinking they will do a football only alliance, if an alliance at all.

The weird thing about all of this is, in this day of twitter etc I am shocked that they are supposed to meet on the 15th and there are no leaks...makes me think they may not have made a decision yet or plan to hold off on expansion announcements but again I could be wrong.

GrayEagle · January 12, 2012

Someone pointed out to me a very pertinent fact that I hadn't considered. If CUSA and Mountain West merge it would turn two FBS conferences into 1 which would minimize the power of non-"BCS" conferences by turning 2 votes (CUSA and MWC) into 1 (Alliance)... that's significant and unless there is a VERY big bump anticipated in terms of TV contracts to offset it I am leaning towards thinking they will do a football only alliance, if an alliance at all.

The weird thing about all of this is, in this day of twitter etc I am shocked that they are supposed to meet on the 15th and there are no leaks...makes me think they may not have made a decision yet or plan to hold off on expansion announcements but again I could be wrong.

I agree; and in addition to the loss of a vote they also stand to lose some big bucks from the NCAA. Each non-AQ conference's share is about $13 million which would be reduced to one conference's share. Losing $13M with nothing to show for it but additional travel expenses makes no sense. Even if they gained AQ status (which they won't) they would still lose $3 million dollars because the AQ conference share is $23 million.

My guess is that each conference goes to ten teams with an eye toward twelve so that they can further cut travel costs and add a championship game.

I absolutely hate conferences that have 'football only' members so I would hope Hawaii is admitted for all sports. Maybe make some concession on the non-revenue sports whereby they would only have to go to the islands once every four years but give them full membership. If the WAC teams could afford Hawaii as a member then surely the MWC can also.

Edited January 12, 2012 by GrayEagle

Arkstfan · January 12, 2012

Not only do you lose a vote, you are losing an auto bid in every sport.

Personally, I hope they merge, I think it is good for the Sun Belt if it happens but it is the stupidest idea to come down the pike in a long time.

MeanGreen61 · January 12, 2012

I agree; and in addition to the loss of a vote they also stand to lose some big bucks from the NCAA. Each non-AQ conference's share is about $13 million which would be reduced to one conference's share. Losing $13M with nothing to show for it but additional travel expenses makes no sense. Even if they gained AQ status (which they won't) they would still lose $3 million dollars because the AQ conference share is $23 million.

My guess is that each conference goes to ten teams with an eye toward twelve so that they can further cut travel costs and add a championship game.

I absolutely hate conferences that have 'football only' members so I would hope Hawaii is admitted for all sports. Maybe make some concession on the non-revenue sports whereby they would only have to go to the islands once every four years but give them full membership. If the WAC teams could afford Hawaii as a member then surely the MWC can also.

Understand that Hawaii prefers their olympic sports in the Big West. Doubt you will see them as an all sports member of the MWC

Coffee and TV · January 12, 2012

Personally, I hope they merge, I think it is good for the Sun Belt if it happens but it is the stupidest idea to come down the pike in a long time.

Knowing your track record, I'll take your word on this.

DeepGreen · January 12, 2012

Well this further confuses the issue. Is this a "merger" or a "new league". The league presidents are meeting on Sunday. Here's some fresh reading for you.

MWC-CUSA Metting On Sunday

untjim1995 · January 12, 2012

In my opinion, the very best thing that can happen for UNT in all of this is for both leagues to just stay separate. It gives our level of football a little more sway than it would if they get combined. Also, it leavs open the very real possibility to gaining admittance into CUSA or MWC, which would be huge for us.

So with all that said, considering the luck we have in this stuff, I expect them to combine in some stupid alliance that won't help their cause at all and will cost them lots of money. Meanwhile, we will stay in a reduced SBC and watch somebody else move upward. Its what I am preparing myself for...

Aquila_Viridis · January 13, 2012

In my opinion, the very best thing that can happen for UNT in all of this is for both leagues to just stay separate. It gives our level of football a little more sway than it would if they get combined. Also, it leavs open the very real possibility to gaining admittance into CUSA or MWC, which would be huge for us.

So with all that said, considering the luck we have in this stuff, I expect them to combine in some stupid alliance that won't help their cause at all and will cost them lots of money. Meanwhile, we will stay in a reduced SBC and watch somebody else move upward. Its what I am preparing myself for...

If realignment does not produce something positive for UNT this time around, don't give up. Ultimately if UNT can get enough people who have a connection with UNT and live in the North Texas region to care about the sports programs' representation of them, then UNT cannot be held down. It is within our own control and that is basically what the Neinas report said. Establishing such affinity is something that every university has to do; some are better at it than others. Baylor and TCU didn't start winning because they were winning. They started winning because enough people wanted to see them winning. Our vision and desire is not shared by enough other people yet.

VideoEagle · January 13, 2012

If realignment does not produce something positive for UNT this time around, don't give up. Ultimately if UNT can get enough people who have a connection with UNT and live in the North Texas region to care about the sports programs' representation of them, then UNT cannot be held down. It is within our own control and that is basically what the Neinas report said. Establishing such affinity is something that every university has to do; some are better at it than others. Baylor and TCU didn't start winning because they were winning. They started winning because enough people wanted to see them winning. Our vision and desire is not shared by enough other people yet.

Very true. With I could give you a plus 10!

shaft · January 13, 2012

The product of the merger won't necessary be a new league. They could easily stay with a scheduling alliance model to keep the votes, other sports auto-bids, and BCS payouts.

Both conferences need to do something proactive.

The SEC is going to go to 16, and the Big 12 is going to get back to 12, starting a whole new wave of realignment.

They have to something to make the merger more attractive to keep from losing another team to the Big East.

Arkstfan · January 13, 2012

From an NCAA standpoint, it doesn't really matter if it is a new league or a merged league. They will have sufficient continuity of membership to get auto bids in the various sports.

Question is whether the NCAA basketball units will be paid to the new league or to the schools earning the units, and chances are they will require everyone to assign their units to the new league so that is merely a minor paperwork hurdle.

This is a unique response to a raid. Normally you lose teams toward the top of your league and bring in top teams from the league below you to raise your quality from where it was post-raid but not back to where it was(ie. top team in lower conference is usually good enough to be top 1/3rd of your league pre-raid). This reduces the level of the lower league and maintains the quality gap.

They are choosing to cement in where they are post-raid. The raid has narrowed the gap between the Sun Belt (and MAC) and CUSA/MWC and they are apparently doing nothing to restore the gap by merely merging.

VideoEagle · January 13, 2012

I still don't understand what they hope to gain by doing this.The auto bid deal is not going to happen and appears to be a moot point anyway. Fans from both leagues seem to believe they will get huge new TV dollars but I don't see how losing 3 of the 4 top TV-drawing teams plus dividing the pot by an even bigger number is going to yield more dollars for each school. Yes, I can see a larger total for the combined league, but it still less per school. And it's already been discussed ad nauseum that TV money makes up only a small percentage of most schools budgets. (Obviously the LHN is an exception, but I don't see any of the combined schools coming within two orders of magnitude of that contract!)

Wasn't the reason the Mtn West was formed was because the Airport group was mad they didn't get to play each other every single year and their big money contributors were rebelling? Why is this better? Why is it even worth the expense of flying everyone to Dallas to discuss it?

cwb · January 14, 2012

I still don't understand what they hope to gain by doing this.The auto bid deal is not going to happen and appears to be a moot point anyway. Fans from both leagues seem to believe they will get huge new TV dollars but I don't see how losing 3 of the 4 top TV-drawing teams plus dividing the pot by an even bigger number is going to yield more dollars for each school. Yes, I can see a larger total for the combined league, but it still less per school. And it's already been discussed ad nauseum that TV money makes up only a small percentage of most schools budgets. (Obviously the LHN is an exception, but I don't see any of the combined schools coming within two orders of magnitude of that contract!)

Wasn't the reason the Mtn West was formed was because the Airport group was mad they didn't get to play each other every single year and their big money contributors were rebelling? Why is this better? Why is it even worth the expense of flying everyone to Dallas to discuss it?

So they can go look at Apogee during their lunch break?

ADLER · January 14, 2012

"Days Away From the Big Announcement" - Shaft.

There will be no announcement resulting from this meeting. The meeting is to present a State of the Union concerning the viability of the two conferences merging, their respective television contracts and how they'll be impacted by the recent defections, the diminished possibility of attaining BCS auto-bid status, and to discuss possible recovery plans.

About the only announcements to expect are whether the two conferences will continue to pursue the merger, and that they are currently reviewing all possible expansion options.

wardly · January 14, 2012

"Days Away From the Big Announcement" - Shaft.

There will be no announcement resulting from this meeting. The meeting is to present a State of the Union concerning the viability of the two conferences merging, their respective television contracts and how they'll be impacted by the recent defections, the diminished possibility of attaining BCS auto-bid status, and to discuss possible recovery plans.

About the only announcements to expect are whether the two conferences will continue to pursue the merger, and that they are currently reviewing all possible expansion options.

i think you are right. i read where not all of the presidents will be attending, which appears to "water down " the importance of this meeting. in my opinion, i don't see the point of a merger as 4 major t.v. markets and BSU have moved to Big East. something like the PAC 12/Big Ten football scheduling agreement makes some sense. if we are lucky, UTEP moves to MWC, which drops CUSA down to 8 football programs, and both conferences reload seperately.

shaft · January 15, 2012

I know your wrong. The number one goal of this meeting is to determine if it going to be a football only or all sports merger. UTEP AD has made that pretty public.

The sub-title of the thread maybe a bit of an oversell, but you can't deny the premise of the original post.

They will also decide what conditional next steps to take.

Like which way they will all vote on the BCS revisions. What steps to take if there are no AQs.

They aren't going to announce which team is coming in, they are going to try to resolve the keys issues about what kind of merger this is going to be, which shapes what schools they are looking to add.

wardly · January 15, 2012

I know your wrong. The number one goal of this meeting is to determine if it going to be a football only or all sports merger. UTEP AD has made that pretty public.

The sub-title of the thread maybe a bit of an oversell, but you can't deny the premise of the original post.

They will also decide what conditional next steps to take.
Like which way they will all vote on the BCS revisions. What steps to take if there are no AQs.

They aren't going to announce which team is coming in, they are going to try to resolve the keys issues about what kind of merger this is going to be, which shapes what schools they are looking to add.

we are in violent agreement.

ADLER · January 15, 2012

I know your wrong. The number one goal of this meeting is to determine if it going to be a football only or all sports merger. UTEP AD has made that pretty public.

The sub-title of the thread maybe a bit of an oversell, but you can't deny the premise of the original post.

They will also decide what conditional next steps to take.
Like which way they will all vote on the BCS revisions. What steps to take if there are no AQs.

They aren't going to announce which team is coming in, they are going to try to resolve the keys issues about what kind of merger this is going to be, which shapes what schools they are looking to add.

Your assumptions are correct. I just talked to one of the CUSA people tonight (and no, I never get any insider information) and the meeting is about the proposed merger, it's structure options, and it's impact on television contracts.

Harry · January 15, 2012

Your assumptions are correct. I just talked to one of the CUSA people tonight (and no, I never get any insider information) and the meeting is about the proposed merger, it's structure options, and it's impact on television contracts.

Good stuff as always Adler.