CUSA got raided and this is what remains...

[patdog]

Everyone who bitches about us playing the occasional road game at LA Tech, USM or Troy needs to read that article. Buy games are outrageous. 2-for-1s are much more budget friendly.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

The raiding is officially official...

 

[Raiderdawg.sixpack]

So my other ties are to MTSU and given their leadership, they really should consider it.

Their AD makes LT look like Greg Byrne. They currently subsidize athletics with over 70% from student fees. Losing conference support will further put them in the whole. Without a football conference, MT won’t get the 30% revenue they are getting and they currently schedule 2 to 3 pay games already. If they go independent, they will increase road pay games to offset the little money they get, which are just more losses.

The donations and attendance have dwindled in football because they have allowed a mediocre HC stay way too long. The facilities are worse than local

I would much rather see MT playing Southern Conference or OVC teams and having a chance at FCS playoffs over a schedule like what UConn puts together.

If MT can’t land in the MAC, I hope they drop.

 

[Dawgg]

The raiding is officially official...

So I guess now the battle is between Conference USA and Sun Belt just like the Big 12 and AAC a few months ago.

 

[Dawgg]

So my other ties are to MTSU and given their leadership, they really should consider it.

Their AD makes LT look like Greg Byrne. They currently subsidize athletics with over 70% from student fees. Losing conference support will further put them in the whole. Without a football conference, MT won’t get the 30% revenue they are getting and they currently schedule 2 to 3 pay games already. If they go independent, they will increase road pay games to offset the little money they get, which are just more losses.

The donations and attendance have dwindled in football because they have allowed a mediocre HC stay way too long. The facilities are worse than local

I would much rather see MT playing Southern Conference or OVC teams and having a chance at FCS playoffs over a schedule like what UConn puts together.

If MT can’t land in the MAC, I hope they drop.

Ah, "Raiderdawg"... name checks out.

Ok, I get that you feel they have a better shot at winning in the FCS and that's probably true, but we're talking about a million dollars per road game they would lose if they go FCS.

Here's an article describing Ole Miss's $1.5 Million guarantee to play MTSU:
https://fbschedules.com/ole-miss-host-new-mexico-state-2019-middle-tennessee-2020/

and here's a list of FCS vs FBS payouts:
https://herosports.com/football-2020-fcs-vs-fbs-payouts-bzbz/

The top was Eastern Washington essentially crossing the entire continent to go to Gainesville for $750,000. There's a reason that only one team (Idaho) has ever willfully downgraded itself to FCS.

 

[Dawgg]

Everyone who bitches about us playing the occasional road game at LA Tech, USM or Troy needs to read that article. Buy games are outrageous. 2-for-1s are much more budget friendly.

Yep. We're paying Northern Illinois $1.4 Million to come here in 2025.

https://fbschedules.com/niu-to-play-at-mississippi-state-in-2025-at-iowa-in-2029/

For comparison, that's almost as much as 3 of our future FCS opponents combined:
https://fbschedules.com/mississippi-state-adds-three-fcs-opponents-future-football-schedule/

 

[Raiderdawg.sixpack]

It’s a bad time for MT to suck at football and basketball.

If this happens 5 years ago, MT is in the middle of a bowl run coming of an 8 win season and mbb just beat Michigan St in the NCAA tournament. Plus you are located in the Nashville metropolitan area.

Instead mbb is one of the worst teams in D1 and football is on track for 3rd straight losing season.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out for schools like MT and La Tech.

 

[11thEagleFan]

It’s at least arguable that the new Sun Belt will be a better football conference than the new AAC. To be fair, I think that could also depend on whether UAB and UTSA are “here to stay” as football programs or if they’re headed back down to earth. In the Sun Belt, Appalachian State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Coastal Carolina have been solid programs. I would also argue that the bottom of the Sun Belt is better than the bottom of the American.

Also, USM will have some natural regional rivalries with respectable programs like Troy and a team on the upswing in South Alabama. It’ll be a fan-friendly conference for road games, which is something Memphis won’t really have. To echo another poster, the Sun Belt seems like a much more stable conference than the American. Basketball will still be better in the American, I’ll give them that. That’s why I think it’s at least arguable that USM will be in a better situation than Memphis.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

MT's best alternative could be the ASUN. They're starting up at the FCS level next year and have made noises about going FBS.

They have an ally in the WAC with the alliance they've got going on this year & Liberty is also an all-sports member.

Link: Here.

 

[Drebin]

It’s at least arguable that the new Sun Belt will be a better football conference than the new AAC. To be fair, I think that could also depend on whether UAB and UTSA are “here to stay” as football programs or if they’re headed back down to earth. In the Sun Belt, Appalachian State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Coastal Carolina have been solid programs. I would also argue that the bottom of the Sun Belt is better than the bottom of the American.

Also, USM will have some natural regional rivalries with respectable programs like Troy and a team on the upswing in South Alabama. It’ll be a fan-friendly conference for road games, which is something Memphis won’t really have. To echo another poster, the Sun Belt seems like a much more stable conference than the American. Basketball will still be better in the American, I’ll give them that. That’s why I think it’s at least arguable that USM will be in a better situation than Memphis.

I hope it works out that way eventually, but I just don't see it. I get the urge to want to be critical of the AAC, but even losing Cincinnati and Houston, the AAC is a tier above the Sun Belt. They've got a better TV deal. They're the more desirable conference to be in. Otherwise the Big 12 would be raiding the Sun Belt.

 

[patdog]

AAC is definitely a tier above the Sunbelt. But AAC got a lot weaker with the 3 they lost and added virtually nothing with the schools they added other than more travel and more ways to split the revenue. They appear to be repeating CUSA's mistakes from a few years ago, in some cases with the same schools. Sunbelt has definitely gotten a lot better in the last few years. I think they're making a mistake by not taking LA Tech though. I know ULL and ULM would ***** about it, but what are they going to do?

 

[Smoked Toag]

AAC is definitely a tier above the Sunbelt. But AAC got a lot weaker with the 3 they lost and added virtually nothing with the schools they added other than more travel and more ways to split the revenue. They appear to be repeating CUSA's mistakes from a few years ago, in some cases with the same schools. Sunbelt has definitely gotten a lot better in the last few years. I think they're making a mistake by not taking LA Tech though. I know ULL and ULM would ***** about it, but what are they going to do?

Agree, that's exactly the type of heated rivalry and passion the Sun Belt needs. The conference was built on proximity and less travel, so roll with that. Heated games may generate some TV eyes and bigger crowds.

No idea why they are looking at Marshall, Old Dominion and James Madison. Makes no sense.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Exactly. We've seen aTm get all upset about Texas and to a lesser extent Oklahoma but the Aggies are playing ball. LT/ULL/ULM could be the Sun Belt equivalent but Tech wants to cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

[PirateDawg]

Sunbelt is missing a Mississippi team. They have teams from Arkansas, Louisianna and Alabama.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

No idea why they are looking at Marshall, Old Dominion and James Madison. Makes no sense.

They're looking to sweeten the pot for Marshall to join with less travel time but ODU is reluctant to make the move from CUSA.

Southern Miss is willing to not ask much and work with the Sun Belt-- plus their AD used to be at Troy so he's a known quantity to the conference.

 

[wpmusm]

I have no interest in disparaging Southern. I have a lot of respect for the program and have a lot of friends who went there. But I gotta ask: what is the argument that puts Southern in a better position than Memphis in any way?

I wouldn't say we're in a better position than Memphis but we're in a better position than we were before and they're in a far worse one if they can't get in the Big 12.

On the Sun Belt vs. AAC thing, there's a part of me that would like to go back to playing old school rivals like Memphis, ECU, and Tulane but there was no real chance of us getting in that league. We don't fit the institutional model and we would have had to commit to growing our budget dramatically ---- basically impossible since we can't generate tons of $$$ off student fees like the FAUs and UTSAs.

The new Sun Belt TV contract is rumored to be in the $1M+ range. The new AAC members will get $2M in TV but we'll save a ton on travel compared to if we were in the AAC and flying to Philadelphia and Wichita. So it's not *that* much of a difference conference distribution wise. Plus, the AAC won't be the dominant G5 in terms of the NY6/playoff bid without UCF, Houston, and Cincy. It'll be much more competitive for that spot now.

To me, it's a "you can't always get what you want but sometimes you get what you need" situation. We had wanted to be in the AAC forever but it probably will work out best for us to be in a geographically sensible alignment with other like-minded institutions.