Here's how it affects soccer recruiting...
Recruit: "Hey Coach Embick. I've heard of your program - impressive history. Who do you guys play typically on your schedule?"
Coach Embick: "Our conference has Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Bowling Green, and whoever else the MAC can find. Right now it's Chicago State. But hey, we do play a lot of Big Ten and some ACC schools in the out of conference portion. We do need to win those to have any sort of respect since our conference blows."
Versus...
Recruit: "Hey Coach Embick. I've heard of your program - impressive history. Who do you guys play typically on your schedule?"
Coach Embick: "In conference, we have 2 divisions. Our division contains Creighton, Butler, DePaul, Marquette, and Xavier. Then we'll face a few from the other division, which has UConn, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova. On top of that, we'll face some Big Ten, ACC, and other highly touted programs in the out of conference portion. You'll have a full schedule against the top talent in the country, plus a chance at a National Championship every year."
Otherwise, recruiting won't change much. We have quite the footprint to begin with.