Should C-USA add Ark. State and ULL or Wait?

[Harry]

Should we add them now or wait?

[MeanGreen61]

Should we add them now or wait?

Why not just invite the whole conference ? (please note my sarcasm)

[MeanGreenTexan]

I think you guys are wanting to add these two due to their familiarity.

It's no secret that pretty much everyone (other than FAU & FIU administrations/fans, and the C-USA office) does not want FAU/FIU around, but that doesn't mean we need to add ASU or ULL either. Honestly, aside from us, the only schools from the Belt I'd like to see around are MT & WK, both of which joined. FAU/FIU (and ODU, UNC-C, & UTSA) can go jump off a cliff, and I'm not interested in any of the others.

If we're going to add more, let's shoot for the likes of NIU (dip into the Chicago market, which apparently, is what the new-look C-USA is all about) and try to lure Army back in.

Also, has anything OFFICIAL come from Tulsa saying they're moving?

I love Arkstfan, but he's been a little chippy lately defending ASU's credentials to get into C-USA. I wouldn't be pissed if they joined, but I'm not going to vote for them either.

[forevereagle]

My concern is that the conference is becoming very east heavy with the addition of WKU. If there is something that can be done to balance, I think it is something to explore. I don't necessarily think it has to be those two (though I think those are the leading candidates), but adding west would be good for us.

[greenjoe]

We need to at least the illusion that the new C-USA is not the same thing as the old Sun Belt Conference. I keep hoping that some team, a great team with a great tradition, in a big market area, that is a household name, that somehow everybody has overlooked, will come calling and ask to join.

How did the University of Phoenix do last season ?

GO MEAN GREEN

[Arkstfan]

I think you guys are wanting to add these two due to their familiarity.

It's no secret that pretty much everyone (other than FAU & FIU administrations/fans, and the C-USA office) does not want FAU/FIU around, but that doesn't mean we need to add ASU or ULL either. Honestly, aside from us, the only schools from the Belt I'd like to see around are MT & WK, both of which joined. FAU/FIU (and ODU, UNC-C, & UTSA) can go jump off a cliff, and I'm not interested in any of the others.

If we're going to add more, let's shoot for the likes of NIU (dip into the Chicago market, which apparently, is what the new-look C-USA is all about) and try to lure Army back in.

Also, has anything OFFICIAL come from Tulsa saying they're moving?

I love Arkstfan, but he's been a little chippy lately defending ASU's credentials to get into C-USA. I wouldn't be pissed if they joined, but I'm not going to vote for them either.

If you look at the posts I responded to, I'd have to have a lobotomy to get chippy.

[techdawg88]

wait and see, ULL & Arkansas St aren't going anywhere

[MeanGreenTexan]

If you look at the posts I responded to, I'd have to have a lobotomy to get chippy.

do you mean *not* chippy? If so, I completely understand. There are some weirdos on here.

If it's any consolation, with the financial commitment you guys are demonstrating, I'd rather see y'all than UL-L.

_{don't ban me.}

[GrandGreen]

Why add schools at this point? The Belt schools are most likely always going to be available. Any hopes of any status gain by NT in joining CUSA are already smashed. So adding almost anyone would not hurt CUSA from a perception view. However why play your cards now, wait to see what shakes out.

I would like most state at this point ULL and ASU certainly fit and would be preferrable to many schools already added.

[Side Show Joe]

I think you guys are wanting to add these two due to their familiarity.

It's no secret that pretty much everyone (other than FAU & FIU administrations/fans, and the C-USA office) does not want FAU/FIU around, but that doesn't mean we need to add ASU or ULL either. Honestly, aside from us, the only schools from the Belt I'd like to see around are MT & WK, both of which joined. FAU/FIU (and ODU, UNC-C, & UTSA) can go jump off a cliff, and I'm not interested in any of the others.

If we're going to add more, let's shoot for the likes of NIU (dip into the Chicago market, which apparently, is what the new-look C-USA is all about) and try to lure Army back in.

Also, has anything OFFICIAL come from Tulsa saying they're moving?

I love Arkstfan, but he's been a little chippy lately defending ASU's credentials to get into C-USA. I wouldn't be pissed if they joined, but I'm not going to vote for them either.

I agree with this. NIU has a solid football program. I'd go after Ohio too. They are good in football and basketball. If C-USA needed to replace two programs, these are the two I'd target. Both would help keep the conference competitive and add new markets. I like ASU but I just don't think adding more Sun Belt programs is in the best interest of UNT.

[Arkstfan]

Why add schools at this point? The Belt schools are most likely always going to be available. Any hopes of any status gain by NT in joining CUSA are already smashed. So adding almost anyone would not hurt CUSA from a perception view. However why play your cards now, wait to see what shakes out.

I would like most state at this point ULL and ASU certainly fit and would be preferrable to many schools already added.

The obvious reason to add at this point is because UAB is going to be hurt by being in the West.

The less obvious reason according to a TV executive I spoke to yesterday (over two hours on a cell phone I think I can feel the tumor growing) is two-fold.

1. He says CUSA is in for a hit on the next TV deal because of attendance at too many schools is so low it makes for bad TV.

2. His other reason is Fox. Right now CUSA has five teams in the Fox SW footprint, ASU and ULL would make it 7. They've lost the Astros and Rockets and want greater content while Comcast is nibbling around the edges and is starting to move Arkansas and Louisiana out of Comcast Sports Southeast into Comcast Sports Houston (branded SW outside of immediate Houston area) and will have the same footprint as Fox SW (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico).

When the CUSA deal expires at the end of 2016 Comcast and Fox regionals are expected to go to war over the second tier rights because Comcast is basically running Astros and Rockets and third tier CUSA and AAC with some low tier SEC. While Fox is in better shape (holding Big XII rights even if they lose CUSA) they don't want Comcast SW/Houston getting even stronger.

Remember Fox as a regional deal is paying the same as CBS despite second pick of games and much of that was on the strength of having Houston, SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane in the Fox SW territory. The rest of CUSA is so scattered among RSN's that there is no critical mass.

His belief is that CUSA is less concerned with helping UAB and more concerned about the second tier rights fee because the strength of CUSA's second tier deal is the ability to deliver games of value in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and needs to replace what was lost in Oklahoma. Well the Little Rock market is slightly larger than Tulsa and most of the Little Rock metro area is served by Comcast and ASU has a pretty good relationship with them.

He thinks CUSA is positioning to maximize bidding interest on the second tier in the Southwest between Fox and Comcast because they cannot do that in the Southeast due to the variety of service territories.

[GrayEagle]

do you mean *not* chippy? If so, I completely understand. There are some weirdos on here.

If it's any consolation, with the financial commitment you guys are demonstrating, I'd rather see y'all than UL-L.

_{don't ban me.}

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/3/26/ATHL_0326132118.aspx?id=57

Excuse me? This commitment looks pretty healthy also.

[MeanGreenTexan]

http://www.ragincajuns.com/sports/2013/3/26/ATHL_0326132118.aspx?id=57

Excuse me? This commitment looks pretty healthy also.

Great! A master plan with a budget! UNT has one of those! Would you still say we have issues raising money via MGC donations and such?

I'm talking about ponying up over $600k/yr to get Gus Malzahn on campus, then $850k/yr to get Harsin. This means they have some serious private backing.

[Arkstfan]

Great! A master plan with a budget! UNT has one of those! Would you still say we have issues raising money via MGC donations and such?

I'm talking about ponying up over $600k/yr to get Gus Malzahn on campus, then $850k/yr to get Harsin. This means they have some serious private backing.

Actually the Gus and Harsin packages were identical in dollars, Gus took $850k and had a war chest of some amount that escapes me now that I've popped a migraine pill but I think it was around $600k or $700k because I remember that when Gus was offered $1.3 million before leaving for Auburn that I thought it would gut the war chest if we didn't get hard after the fund-raising, and Harsin took $100k or $150k less provided that it went to the war chest for assistant salaries.

[UNT90]

wait and see, ULL & Arkansas St aren't going anywhere

Not that I want any more Sun Belt teams in this conference, but why are you guys so threatened by LaLa?

[untjim1995]

Both of them would be fine additions. Neither of them are going to make cusa worse than it already is with the AAC defections. Seriously, if you could've said that we would leave ULM, South Alabama, and Troy behind, but would be in a conference with the current SBC Teams (including ASU and ULL) in CUSA and would add La Tech, Rice, UTEP, UAB, Southern Miss, and Marshall to the mix, most of us would've been onboard with this. That list would be WKU, MUTS, FAU, FIU, Ark State, ULL, La Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, Marshall, Rice, UTEP, UNT, and UTSA would make a nice 14 team league that is a hybrid of old WAC, SBC, and CUSA teams into a better league for UNT, at least. I suspect that having them both with Charlotte and ODU would make for a decent league, even though I think Banowsky added Charlotte and ODU way too soon, as he thought he was buying off ECU to stay. He basically got played. To me, that was worse than watching Tulane or Tulsa leave after the other defections to the AAC had been announced. Losing those two programs was bad, but adding two teams that aren't even FBS programs yet just to placate a university (ECU) that had made it clear that they would take a nano-second to leave CUSA to go to the Big East is as poor a move as I can ever remember a confernece commissioner making. No one here in Texas was clamoring for UTSA to be added--but their situation made sense to take advantage of as a conference member. Maybe Charlotte and ODU will be that way, too, but they were simply added to placate ECU and its place as the big dog in the new CUSA to get closer travel mates in the conference. If you had just that 14 team league I listed earlier (including UTSA), that would be pretty stout. Charlotte and ODU would be nice adds for the new SBC, especially with Ga Southern and Appy State being added to the league. But we are stuck with them now. ULL makes for a nice replacement for Tulane and Arky State makes for a nice replacement to Tulsa, in my opinion. Bigger schools that have better attendance and support than those two small private schools, even if they are in bigger markets. I will say this, though. If you are still in CUSA, at this point, its because you couldn't find any other place to land. A 16 team league with more geographic rivals would be a smart plan.

We all wanted CUSA with SMU, Houston, Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis, UCF, UAB, USM, Marshall, and ECU. But they didn't want us. Once SMU left, then we had our chance to get into the league. But SMU, UH, UCF, Memphis, and, eventually, ECU, Tulane, and Tulsa wanted to remain together. If UConn and Cincy do leave soon, and I think they will within the next year or two, I think their replacements will come from the MAC, in the form of some combination of Ohio, Northern Illinois, or UMass. The 14-16 we have now should be in CUSA for a while, at least until the MWC decides to come back to Texas again. Rice won't get in with the AAC unless UH is gone since they are in the same TV market. Only way I see UH moving is if the MWC talks them into moving over with UTEP at some point in the future. RIght now, the MWC is better than the AAC, and if that continues to be that way over the next few years, as I suspect it will be, then a move upward for a school like UH will look better, even if gets better treatment right now in CUSA over most of the others. TCU and Utah proved that you can make your way to big time prominence in the MWC. Boise State probably will, too. UH will be very tempting to the MWC, but they'll need a travel partner. If that travel partner is SMU, for example, nothing about CUSA will ever change. But if its UTEP, or gasp, UTSA, then things in CUSA become less stable. If that ever happened, UTEP could be replaced by NMSU and UTSA could replaced by Texas State, but that's about the only possible changes I could ever see to the current mix of CUSA now. Its a stepup for our program from where we were in the old SBC, however you want to look at, from conference affiliation to stability in its membership within the league for years to come, if for no other reason than the fact there really won't be any other suitors knocking on the door anymore to the current members in our league. If you are still here, its because you either wanted to be or because there was nowhere else to go.

[wardly]

Add A-State,ULL,Texas State,NMSU, and form our own conference.[ "Conference of the Southwest"]

[VideoEagle]

Add A-State,ULL,Texas State,NMSU, and form our own conference.[ "Conference of the Southwest"]

Going to eight team divisions effectively makes each division it's own conference.

[wardly]

Going to eight team divisions effectively makes each division it's own conference.

Agreed.