Doug Snyder Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 West Virginia looking into putting their Men's Soccer program into the MAC or C-USA.If they joined they would be the second-closest team to Akron in terms of travel, behind only Bowling Green.Topdrawersoccer shows 5 teams from Conference USA being ranked for the playoffs. With Marshall and Kentucky, you'd think that Conference USA is their likely destination. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soc...nce-usa/cfid-10 Is there any benefit in combining with CUSA for soccer?? Both conferences have soccer only memberships Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 West Virginia looking into putting their Men's Soccer program into the MAC or C-USA.If they joined they would be the second-closest team to Akron in terms of travel, behind only Bowling Green.Topdrawersoccer shows 5 teams from Conference USA being ranked for the playoffs. With Marshall and Kentucky, you'd think that Conference USA is their likely destination. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soc...nce-usa/cfid-10 Is there any benefit in combining with CUSA for soccer?? Both conferences have soccer only membershipstravel budget could be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 btw, there is a topic on West Virginia and Louisville soccer's future on BigSoccer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1841165 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted October 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 I don't see travel as an issue. There's nothing close either way. In the MAC you have to send your team to places like Boca Raton, Florida and Oneonta, New York.I bet it all comes down to WVU not wanting to be in the C-USA simply because that's where Marshall is and they would never stand for being an equal with Marshall even for something like Men's Soccer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Well there's certainly an opportunity in all of this football and basketball realignment for the creation of a soccer power conference, and UA is not a bit player in that world. I would expect Coach Porter to be all over this opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 Well there's certainly an opportunity in all of this football and basketball realignment for the creation of a soccer power conference, and UA is not a bit player in that world. I would expect Coach Porter to be all over this opportunity.Great idea! Many schools have a lot of flexibility when it comes to soccer and who they associate with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZZZips Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 AP Newswire 2:30pm, 11/1/11..PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A person familiar with the decision says the Big East will invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the conference was not ready to announce which schools its members had voted Tuesday to extend invitations to in the upcoming days.Commissioner John Marinatto declined to give specifics of the Big East's plan after meeting with the league's presidents at a Philadelphia hotel. He did say he expected the schools to accept.He acknowledged the league is moving west and reiterated that Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia will not be allowed to leave for their new conferences until July 2014... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 2, 2011 Report Share Posted November 2, 2011 ..PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A person familiar with the decision says the Big East will invite Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.I wonder if the invitation would read something like this if it was a fraternity party.Dear Athletic Director,You are invited to a party at the Big East house this coming Friday as we are trying to attract more losers to our fraternity. We have been voted "Most Unattractive" by all University publications five year running and hope to extend that streak with your attendance. Please be advised you must bring you own beer and food. However, a DJ will be playing all the classic hits from the 70s on his vintage Sony 8 track player. In addition, you are encouraged to bring a date (if you can get one) and one for our members as they can't get their own dates.Best wishes,Big East Comm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 On Tuesday, USA Today had a cover story on ESPN possibly being the cause of the conference shake ups. They also ran a story in the sports section about what the new Super Divisions might look like to maintain regional games. Having trouble finding the stories on the internet. Maybe someone could give a helping hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 USA Today doesn't make it easy to find stories more than a day old on their website, but I managed to dig it up through Google search. Good read.Is ESPN the main force behind realignment in college sports? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 Very telling is the USA Today realignment plan for Div I BCS. The MAC completely disappears (except for Temple) as does the C-USA (except for four schools).http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo...nterstitialskip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZipster0305 Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 I don't understand why Army is even in the conversation...they are MAC-esque in football. Temple is yet to win the Football MACC, and may be out of the running for this year too. And if this is about all sports and not just football, why isn't Memphis in the picture? East Carolina has been good in football recently but isn't included either. Southern Mississippi is nothing special.If it plays out this way, I'd like to see Akron, Toledo, Miami, Ohio, Can't (I hate to say it, but the rivalry is good), Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Marshall, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, East Carolina, and UTEP. Two divisions based primarily on geography leaves CUSA-MAC rivalries in tact with SIU and NIU joining the remnants of CUSA. For us, this amounts to dropping the dead-weight that exists in the MAC. Then again, in football we are the deadweight right now.Kentucky and South Carolina would be affiliate members for men's soccer (they are with CUSA now). Therefore, the men's soccer members would include WMU, SIU, NIU, Marshall, Memphis, UAB, Tulsa, Akron, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Solid!I think we are a basketball arena and a respectable football program away from being in this conversation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 Does anyone else see the issue of ESPN's influence over the landscape of college football as a classic example of what happens, for better or worse, in an unregulated free market system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 Does anyone else see the issue of ESPN's influence over the landscape of college football as a classic example of what happens, for better or worse, in an unregulated free market system?I don't fault espn as much as the ncaa and its member institutions. There is plenty of opportunity to watch college football on TV beyond espn. For example, VS, NBC and CBS all carry football. The Big Ten Network, ACC Network, etc. also exist.Also, to say the ncaa is not regulated isn't exactly true either. They have a 450 page manual. I'm not opposed to the government requiring schools to pay for lingering health issues an athlete has as a result of playing sports for the rest of their lives. The government is also the court system (a branch of government)...I'd love the ncaa to lose one of these law suits against it so some financial justice can come upon college athletics as well. The government should not be involved in telling schools which conferences they can playing.For me, the question is, "Who is the biggest scumbag?". There really isn't just one. THEY are the Athletic Directors and university Presidents who are making a grab for as much money as possible. They build stadium after stadium, bring in scummy people to pay for them and then wonder why players are getting in trouble with the same people. Nobody likes to look at the sleaze in college athletics and actually call it for what it is, sleaze, because university presidents and ADs are supposed to above it all. They aren't...they are the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted November 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 It's finally official: Missouri has been accepted to the SEC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 @GP1, the point I was making about an unregulated free market is the impact of TV revenue on college football.Perhaps I should not have focused it all on ESPN, though they are apparently in a leadership role in terms of driving conference realignments. Let's include all the TV networks who pay schools and conferences to televise their sporting events.And perhaps I should have said lightly regulated, as both broadcasting and college sports in the U.S. are regulated to some degree.The key point is that I believe there are only minimal regulations on how much influence TV revenue can have on the landscape of college football. Therefore, the situation is roughly akin to an unregulated free marketThis type of market is driven by supply and demand. TV viewers demand college sports by virtue of tuning into games. TV networks make money from sponsors wishing to market to these viewers. The greater the demand, the more important it is for TV networks to have control over the supply, so they bid up the costs. To amortize the increased costs, they try to manipulate the supply to create more demand.What you're seeing now in college sports is, for better or worse, what you get from this type of arrangement.In a free market system with minimal regulation, everyone grabs for the money and the power with little regard for moral scruples. The strong come out on top and the weak fall by the wayside. To say that any of these people are "scumbags" sounds like an indictment of the free market system. All of these people are only doing what the free market system encourages them to do.If you want it to be different, you need more regulation. If you don't like regulation, there's no room to complain about what happens in the absence of regulation. That's the way the free market system works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 The key point is that I believe there are only minimal regulations on how much influence TV revenue can have on the landscape of college football. Therefore, the situation is roughly akin to an unregulated free marketI respectfully disagree and it goes to this sentence. ESPN should not and cannot be regulated as they are a media outlet and they have First Amendment rights. All the do is broadcast games and it is up to the consumer to watch the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Of course media outlets can be regulated. They are, in fact, regulated by the FCC.Media outlets also do more than just "broadcast games." They are actively involved in influencing the planning and scheduling with their "partners" (schools and conferences) of the games that are broadcast. That element appears to be totally unregulated, and it appears to be part of the driving force behind the conference realignments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Of course media outlets can be regulated. They are, in fact, regulated by the FCC.Media outlets also do more than just "broadcast games." They are actively involved in influencing the planning and scheduling with their "partners" (schools and conferences) of the games that are broadcast. That element appears to be totally unregulated, and it appears to be part of the driving force behind the conference realignments.I'm not sure why they need to be regulated. Because a bunch a crappy conferences like the MAC can't play at the same level as other conferences? That isn't the fault of espn, that is the fault of the crappy conferences. They were all crappy long before espn came along and will all be crappy long after espn is gone.Lack of competition would be a good reason, but with espn, nbc/vs and cbs, there seems to be plenty of competition.How would the federal government regulate individual state schools? State schools are a state matter and not a federal matter. Seems to be a lot of work for no reason.Do we really want the idiots who brought us the current state of our Federal government to start regulating college athletics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 OK, so now we're back to the original point that the current college conference realignment is likely being influenced by a free market system that has television networks competing for the best TV sports packages in the absence of any significant regulation that would discourage this from happening.The Big East rejects a $1.9 billion TV contract from ESPN as it shops around to see what it can get from other TV networks.Shortly thereafter, schools defect from the Big East to the ACC, making the Big East less attractive to other TV networks.The athletic director of a former Big East school that jumped to the ACC several years ago is quoted as saying: "We always keep our television partners close to us. ... TV -- ESPN -- is the one who told us what to do." This statement is later denied.Making the reasonable assumption that all the other schools and conferences are also consulting with their "television partners" to assure that they put together the best alignments to have the best possible monetary deals, the old adage of "follow the money" seems more than ever to define the current state of college sports -- especially football.So, those who believe that the market works best with minimal regulation should be pleased with everything that's happening, as it's nothing more than than the free market system doing what it does best.On the other hand, those who believe that the market works best with a reasonable measure of fair and balanced regulation might argue that there's something inherently wrong with the current situation that could be improved upon.This makes for interesting discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 I'm not sure why they need to be regulated. Because a bunch a crappy conferences like the MAC can't play at the same level as other conferences? That isn't the fault of espn, that is the fault of the crappy conferences. They were all crappy long before espn came along and will all be crappy long after espn is gone....besides the fact ESPN shows MAC games nationwide. What other network does that?If it wasn't for that, and STO looking for off-season filler, the MAC couldn't sniff TV.It's all supply and demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 I can say now that that the Big East is done in Football.Will Winters have the Zips ready in 2014? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpsjugglerdude Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 When I think of the Big East I think of Boise, Idaho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 When I think of the Big East I think of Boise, Idaho. If you mean it is an easily forgettable wasteland, I would agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyzip84 Posted December 8, 2011 Report Share Posted December 8, 2011 THIS provides a glimpse into why Boise State's decision to join the Big East was extremely short-sighted. The commissioners and presidents who control the BCS are in the early stages of determining the future of major college football's controversial postseason system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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