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MWC and CUSA Merge into 22 team Monster

Didn't Air Force already say they were leaving, and I heard on the radio today that there were rumors the Boise was going to leave.
 
WAC 2.0

They tried this already in the 90s with the 16 team super conference. The problem with this is that it guarantees nothing. If Big East gets AF and Boise as they probably will then CUMSAWC will just be 20 schools with no BCS berth, tiny TV revenue split 20 ways, and more 3rd tier bowls with such low payouts that the school will always lose money going. Have fun with that rammies.
 
East Carolina

Houston

Marshall

Memphis

Rice

Southern Methodist

Southern Miss

Tulane

Tulsa

UAB

UCF

UTEP


Air Force

Boise State

Fresno State

Nevada

Hawaii

Colorado State

New Mexico

San Diego State

[strike] TCU [/strike]

UNLV

Wyoming

Take all the current and future members of both leagues and you get 23. TCU is obviously gone already, so the 22 would seem to count Air Force and Boise. Wouldn't be at all surprised if AFA takes the Big East offer now, and if Boise lands somewhere else in a football only deal (which is what this deal is too...)
 
This has 0% chance of success. Consistent cross country travel and no $$$$$. Hopefully Larry Scott sees how stupid this looks.

MWC TV Deal:
The deal began in 2006 and is worth $120 million over 10 years. The contract runs through 2015-16 — meaning Boise State likely would have to play five years in the Mountain West before a reunion with ESPN would be possible.

Read more: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/20/ccripe/detailing_mountain_west_tv_contract#ixzz1aniief24

Conference USA TV deal:
Conference USA had already signed a secondary agreement with CBS College Sports. League officials told the Sentinel the CBS College Sports contract is worth about $7 million a year and runs through 2016.
The league’s total television revenue under the new agreements is estimated to be about $14 million a year, an increase from its previous contracts with ESPN and CBS College Sports worth about $9.5 million per year.
For those of you that have to look up which schools are even in these conference (I know I had to), here they are.

c-usa-map_large.gif

MOUN_territory_1011_8team2-1024x960.jpg
 
At some point the Big XII is going to want to get back to 12 so they can have a championship game. Texas thinking usually means that they start in Texas so that could mean SMU or Houston. If they want to go outside of Texas the first logical would be BYU then somebody from outside the region like UWV or Syracuse from the dying Big East. Outside of that they would look to the remainding MWC or C-USA with a Tulsa or a Tulane which are outside of Texas but not by much, further depleting the league.

TCU is already gone, take out Boise and Houston and you don't have a single ranked team but a lot of rank teams. Other than adding a championship game I don't see an advantage to this for either current league. Most of the "fans" of the MWC schools don't even care about their current "conference rivals" as shown by the number of games with well under 30K attendance, bringing in some other no name school from the C-USA isn't going to help that. How many people in Ft. Collins, Laramie, Las Vegas, or San Diego are just waiting to see Rice or UAB come in?
 
At some point the Big XII is going to want to get back to 12 so they can have a championship game. Texas thinking usually means that they start in Texas so that could mean SMU or Houston. If they want to go outside of Texas the first logical would be BYU then somebody from outside the region like UWV or Syracuse from the dying Big East. Outside of that they would look to the remainding MWC or C-USA with a Tulsa or a Tulane which are outside of Texas but not by much, further depleting the league.

TCU is already gone, take out Boise and Houston and you don't have a single ranked team but a lot of rank teams. Other than adding a championship game I don't see an advantage to this for either current league. Most of the "fans" of the MWC schools don't even care about their current "conference rivals" as shown by the number of games with well under 30K attendance, bringing in some other no name school from the C-USA isn't going to help that. How many people in Ft. Collins, Laramie, Las Vegas, or San Diego are just waiting to see Rice or UAB come in?

This is absolutely true, CSU fans care 100 times more about beating Colorado than winning their conference. Wyoming publicly said that this years Nubraska game was the most important in their entire history!:wtf:

So sad...
 
This is not the same as the old WAC and I think it is actually pretty cool.

It isn't a new "conference", hence the word "association".

Basically it re-creates the Liberty Bowl matchup between MWC Champion and Conference USA Champion and turns it into what they hope is a "play-in" game for the BCS.

The champion of the title game could be a legit BCS buster if they had a perfect season going in.

It gives both leagues a near-premiere "bowl game" for their champion to play in. Remember without a BCS invite the MWC Champ played in the Las Vegas Bowl against the #5 Pac-12 team while the C-USA champ plays the #7 SEC team.

This doen't mean that the two conferences have merged, just formed an association to share TV revenues and possibly a network deal, and a hold a title game.

Each "conference" or "division" will still play themselves, so it won't change who they play every year significantly. You might see 1 "cross-division" game per team each season, but many of those teams do that now.

C-USA really is only at risk of losing UCF, ECU, Houston, and SMU due to a potential Big East expansion. The MWC risks losing AFA and Boise.

But, in truth, the C-USA side could actually GAIN schools if the Big 12 expands by raiding the Big East, leaving between 3 and 4 schools needing a new home and the non-football members of the Big East probably separating from the leftover football schools.

In the future, if BYU can't gain a BCS guaranteed payout they could possibly be persuaded to join as football-only members of the new association.

This format could work, whether each of the two partners have 8 or 12 members throughout the chaos of future realignments.

It looks like UCF is certainly gone from C-USA so they won't have a CCG with 11 members. Either they expand or maybe UTEP moves to the MWC side of the conference to help offset the loss of AFA and Boise. I could see the MWC group inviting Utah State to help fill the void also, creating a balance of 10 teams for each "conference" or "division".

Would this then create a "ripple effect" for the WAC and Sun Belt to do a similiar arrangement? Both of those leagues have horrible TV deals and nearly non-existant bowl tie-ins. Maybe together they could help stabilize each other.
 
Name-wise, they should keep the name "Conference USA", now it truly is an accurate statement with teams from West Virginia to Hawaii, Idaho to Florida is certainly a conference that covers the USA.
 
I like your positivity, Scotty, but it feels like these conference's commishes are trying to be Larry Scott and this is going to blow up in their face.

The overall reallignment in college football is really just good teams trying to get rid of bad schools to earn more profit, and the strongest conferences will end up having the 'lucky' bad schools, like Vandy, WSU, ISU, and so on. You can't kick schools out of a conference, but you can ditch your current one and let it dissolve.

This merger basically giveswelfare to all the subpar programs that gets left out. It's funny because I think as the other western conference I thought MWC had a real chance to step up it's game and make to moves to get a BCS bid...no longer!

This will speed up the mega-conference situation, because whoever is in this new amalgam is going to be left out of the whatever new NCAA landscape is created in the next few years. They're all ****ed. but I guess they already knew that before.

Sorry Hawaii . . .
 
The funniest and dumbest thing they could have done, IMO. As others have said, it's doomed to fail. This has about as much chance of longterm success as the SWC 2.0.
 
I like your positivity, Scotty, but it feels like these conference's commishes are trying to be Larry Scott and this is going to blow up in their face.

The overall reallignment in college football is really just good teams trying to get rid of bad schools to earn more profit, and the strongest conferences will end up having the 'lucky' bad schools, like Vandy, WSU, ISU, and so on. You can't kick schools out of a conference, but you can ditch your current one and let it dissolve.

This merger basically giveswelfare to all the subpar programs that gets left out. It's funny because I think as the other western conference I thought MWC had a real chance to step up it's game and make to moves to get a BCS bid...no longer!

This will speed up the mega-conference situation, because whoever is in this new amalgam is going to be left out of the whatever new NCAA landscape is created in the next few years. They're all ****ed. but I guess they already knew that before.

Sorry Hawaii . . .

I'm not sure the good teams want to be rid of the bad teams all together,who would nebraska schedule first 3 weeks of every season?It is possible to throw a school out of a conference,the Big East did it to Temple a while ago.

Agree on the MWC having been a potential BCS conference,would have liked for CSU to be in an AQ conf every year we beat them,like you said...no longer!

This debacle could lead the "Haves" to move towards removing themselves from the NCAA and creating their own association quicker than some expected.
 
This is not the same as the old WAC and I think it is actually pretty cool.

It isn't a new "conference", hence the word "association".

Basically it re-creates the Liberty Bowl matchup between MWC Champion and Conference USA Champion and turns it into what they hope is a "play-in" game for the BCS.

The champion of the title game could be a legit BCS buster if they had a perfect season going in.

It gives both leagues a near-premiere "bowl game" for their champion to play in. Remember without a BCS invite the MWC Champ played in the Las Vegas Bowl against the #5 Pac-12 team while the C-USA champ plays the #7 SEC team.

This doen't mean that the two conferences have merged, just formed an association to share TV revenues and possibly a network deal, and a hold a title game.

Each "conference" or "division" will still play themselves, so it won't change who they play every year significantly. You might see 1 "cross-division" game per team each season, but many of those teams do that now.

C-USA really is only at risk of losing UCF, ECU, Houston, and SMU due to a potential Big East expansion. The MWC risks losing AFA and Boise.

But, in truth, the C-USA side could actually GAIN schools if the Big 12 expands by raiding the Big East, leaving between 3 and 4 schools needing a new home and the non-football members of the Big East probably separating from the leftover football schools.

In the future, if BYU can't gain a BCS guaranteed payout they could possibly be persuaded to join as football-only members of the new association.

This format could work, whether each of the two partners have 8 or 12 members throughout the chaos of future realignments.

It looks like UCF is certainly gone from C-USA so they won't have a CCG with 11 members. Either they expand or maybe UTEP moves to the MWC side of the conference to help offset the loss of AFA and Boise. I could see the MWC group inviting Utah State to help fill the void also, creating a balance of 10 teams for each "conference" or "division".

Would this then create a "ripple effect" for the WAC and Sun Belt to do a similiar arrangement? Both of those leagues have horrible TV deals and nearly non-existant bowl tie-ins. Maybe together they could help stabilize each other.

this this this... that is exactly what it is
 
I like your positivity, Scotty, but it feels like these conference's commishes are trying to be Larry Scott and this is going to blow up in their face.

The overall reallignment in college football is really just good teams trying to get rid of bad schools to earn more profit, and the strongest conferences will end up having the 'lucky' bad schools, like Vandy, WSU, ISU, and so on. You can't kick schools out of a conference, but you can ditch your current one and let it dissolve.

This merger basically giveswelfare to all the subpar programs that gets left out. It's funny because I think as the other western conference I thought MWC had a real chance to step up it's game and make to moves to get a BCS bid...no longer!

This will speed up the mega-conference situation, because whoever is in this new amalgam is going to be left out of the whatever new NCAA landscape is created in the next few years. They're all ****ed. but I guess they already knew that before.

Sorry Hawaii . . .

I don't see this as welfare at all. The BCS hasn't promised them anything. This is more like two mid-sized companies joining together so they both can compete with the big companies. They aren't trying to "be like Larry Scott" in anyway. I have a ton of respect for MWC Commish Craig Thompson, and I think so do many people within the NCAA landscape. If he were running the Big 12 they would have had stability years ago. He has done a remarkable job leading his conference through the past decade of chaos. It's not his fault he had great programs "graduate" to better conferences, but he has done a solid job of recruiting their replacements.

Agreed that the MWC was getting real close to AQ status, but losing Utah, TCU, and BYU sealed that deal IMO. Agreed that a program like Hawaii deserves better, but until we can teleport people across oceans in 5 minutes they will be hurt by geography, even though they belong in the Pac-12, IMO.

I don't think it speeds up the mega conference situation, it is just a reaction by the programs in the middle looking for stability instead of destroying the conferences below them or attacking each other for members.

To me this keeps things regional with better rivalries during the season, but still a stronger opportunity and voice for the post-season (whether that is a BCS bowl or something better than they had in the past).

Oh, and I can almost guarantee they will be playing their CCG in JerryWorld. Not only is it the geographic center between the two conferences, but Jones' will take any potential "big event" he can get his hands on.
 
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espn reported the same thing last night... air force soured on the big east when navy and army declined the big east

Awesome!

Boise in the Big East for football only is silly.

Only thing I would worry about with AFA is if they decide to go Indy and put non-football sports in the WAC or MVC.

MWC could replace them with Utah State and keep on trucking but would lose one of their best drawing teams.

If Boise and/or AFA/Navy decline the Big East that would be a hilarious blow to that conference.

You have to figure West Virginia is gone one way or another once the SEC/Big 12 dominos fall.
 
This "alliance" might be a bit premature for the MWC.

If C-USA loses UCF, Houston, SMU, Memphis, East Carolina, and/or another school (Southern Miss or Tulsa?) to the Big East then the MWC returns to being the clear-cut challenger to the Big East and probably should form the "alliance" with the Big East once they lose their BCS bid.

I would think with the loss of Houston and SMU, that UTEP would be prime for the plucking by the MWC, and would make a ton of sense for them to join. Then I would add Utah State to get back into that market. Football CCG in Phoenix, with hoops tourney in Vegas. That would be a pretty good basketball conference as well.

Western DivisionMountain Division
Fresno StateBoise State
San Diego State Utah State
Hawaii (football only)Air Force
UNLVNevada
New MexicoColorado State
UTEPWyoming

Losing 6 schools to the Big East and 1 to the MWC would kill Conference USA and they would have to either raid the WAC, MAC, and SunBelt or fold and their schools would scatter to those conferences (which would help save the WAC possibly).
 
This "alliance" might be a bit premature for the MWC.

If C-USA loses UCF, Houston, SMU, Memphis, East Carolina, and/or another school (Southern Miss or Tulsa?) to the Big East then the MWC returns to being the clear-cut challenger to the Big East and probably should form the "alliance" with the Big East once they lose their BCS bid.

I would think with the loss of Houston and SMU, that UTEP would be prime for the plucking by the MWC, and would make a ton of sense for them to join. Then I would add Utah State to get back into that market. Football CCG in Phoenix, with hoops tourney in Vegas. That would be a pretty good basketball conference as well.

Western Division
Mountain Division
Fresno State
Boise State
San Diego State
Utah State
Hawaii (football only)
Air Force
UNLV
Nevada
New Mexico
Colorado State
UTEP
Wyoming


Losing 6 schools to the Big East and 1 to the MWC would kill Conference USA and they would have to either raid the WAC, MAC, and SunBelt or fold and their schools would scatter to those conferences (which would help save the WAC possibly).

Good comments.

UTEP to the MWC makes sense for both. UTEP was a long time member of the old WAC which is now the heart of the MWC so the relationships are there. El Paso would be one of the bigger TV markets in the conference and is a good geographical fit. For UTEP, SMU and Houston leaving C-USA leaves them as a kind of outlier in the conference and removes two conference opponents that provided that in-state rivalry draw.

With the collapse of the Big East the MWC has a possibility of getting an AQ berth on their own, not highly likely but better than before.
 
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