2026-2027 Schedule

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

This upcoming season is the last year of the agreement. Will be curious to see if there's an extension announcement over the summer. If not, it's likely over after this season. Quite frankly, I wouldn't hate to see it end. I don't know how much it benefits either conference as the top matchups have typically been lopsided NET wise. It would be better if they expanded it to include other mid major conferences to put more big fish in the pond. The goal should be for the top matchups to be Q1/high-end Q2 opportunities and that isn't happening enough.

 

I feel part of the problem is with between NIL, freedom of players to move frequently, and realignment there are just fewer top ~75 mid-major programs than there was 5-10 years ago. It makes it challenging to find Q1 match-ups against other mid-majors unless you have a crystal ball to know specifically who will be good.

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

If we're not good enough to get Dayton to come to Akron, then why are we trying to big time Youngstown State and Cleveland State?

Because there is clearly a hierarchy outside of the P6 despite you trying to claim one doesn't exist.

[exit322]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I feel part of the problem is with between NIL, freedom of players to move frequently, and realignment there are just fewer top ~75 mid-major programs than there was 5-10 years ago. It makes it challenging to find Q1 match-ups against other mid-majors unless you have a crystal ball to know specifically who will be good.

 

Which is why scheduling home games against local teams that might interest a few people versus "maybe [insert SoCon team here] is good this year but no one knows what state they're in" is more important than worrying whether being in the fourth tier of mid-majors means we shouldn't play fifth-tier teams like Youngstown State or Cleveland State.

None of it matters much if the athletic department doesn't significantly upgrade its marketing, but giving them as many bullets as possible to generate interest is all I'm asking for.

 

And yes I am firmly in the camp of "YSU should be on the football schedule every year" as well.

[zippy5]

that's an even worse idea

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I feel part of the problem is with between NIL, freedom of players to move frequently, and realignment there are just fewer top ~75 mid-major programs than there was 5-10 years ago. It makes it challenging to find Q1 match-ups against other mid-majors unless you have a crystal ball to know specifically who will be good.

 

Create an event based on the winningest programs in the last X amount of years. Call it the Mid Major Blue Bloods or something like that. Year to year doesn't matter when it's programs people care about. The issue with the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge is outside of James Madison, Marshall, and MAYBE a couple other programs, fans don't care about the Sun Belt. Same with Sun Belt fans about most MAC programs. 

 

I don't know what the exact solution is, but giving the P4s the middle finger is the best path the mid majors can take. 

[kreed5120]

10 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Which is why scheduling home games against local teams that might interest a few people versus "maybe [insert SoCon team here] is good this year but no one knows what state they're in" is more important than worrying whether being in the fourth tier of mid-majors means we shouldn't play fifth-tier teams like Youngstown State or Cleveland State.

None of it matters much if the athletic department doesn't significantly upgrade its marketing, but giving them as many bullets as possible to generate interest is all I'm asking for.

 

And yes I am firmly in the camp of "YSU should be on the football schedule every year" as well.

 

You greatly overestimate how much people care to play YSU or CSU. We played them in the past as part of the Coaches vs Cancer event the 4 NEO schools took part in. Attendance wasn't good. Joe Akron doesn't care about those programs.

 

Hell, CSU hosted a Horizon League tournament game in their home arena in March, which I watched on ESPN+ as I'm a college basketball junkie, and it looked like there were only a few dozen fans in attendance. If CSU "fans" don't even care about CSU basketball why would Akron? Make it make sense.

 

Now you want Akron to play H&H with YSU football? Yeah, no point in continuing this discussion if that's how you really feel.

[kreed5120]

17 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Create an event based on the winningest programs in the last X amount of years. Call it the Mid Major Blue Bloods or something like that. Year to year doesn't matter when it's programs people care about. The issue with the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge is outside of James Madison, Marshall, and MAYBE a couple other programs, fans don't care about the Sun Belt. Same with Sun Belt fans about most MAC programs. 

 

I don't know what the exact solution is, but giving the P4s the middle finger is the best path the mid majors can take. 

 

Something like this would probably work best as an early-season MTE. If the top mid-majors can no longer get into tournaments that now only accept high-majors, then mid-majors should create their own versions of events like the Battle 4 Atlantis or the Maui Invitational.

[exit322]

2 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Create an event based on the winningest programs in the last X amount of years. Call it the Mid Major Blue Bloods or something like that. Year to year doesn't matter when it's programs people care about. The issue with the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge is outside of James Madison, Marshall, and MAYBE a couple other programs, fans don't care about the Sun Belt. Same with Sun Belt fans about most MAC programs. 

 

I don't know what the exact solution is, but giving the P4s the middle finger is the best path the mid majors can take. 

 

I like this.  I'd go as far as to say "giving the P4s the middle finger" is the only path mid majors can take.

[exit322]

3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

You greatly overestimate how much people care to play YSU or CSU. We played them in the past as part of the Coaches vs Cancer event the 4 NEO schools took part in. Attendance wasn't good. Joe Akron doesn't care about those programs.

 

Hell, CSU hosted a Horizon League tournament game in their home arena in March, which I watched on ESPN+ as I'm a college basketball junkie, and it looked like there were only a few dozen fans in attendance. If CSU "fans" don't even care about CSU basketball why would Akron? Make it make sense.

 

Now you want Akron to play H&H with YSU football? Yeah, no point in continuing this discussion if that's how you really feel.

 

Well, not "now."  I've definitely said that before.  I know I'm in the minority there, though YSU does generally outdraw Akron on the gridiron.

 

But yes, I think best to agree to disagree.

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Something like this would probably work best as an early-season MTE. If the top mid-majors can no longer get into tournaments that now only accept high-majors, then mid-majors should create their own versions of events like the Battle 4 Atlantis or the Maui Invitational.

 

Or it's scheduled later in the season with NET-based matchups. 

 

Determine a win percentage threshold over X number of years. Randomly draw 8-16 teams from the list. Match those teams up in February based on NET. Call it the "Bracket Booster" instead of Bracket Buster. Voila. 

[mrelegazna]

I just pop in here every few weeks in the offseason, and when I saw how big this thread is, I was like, "Wow! The schedule must be coming together early, and/or there are some really interesting opponents!"

 

But no, just Tulane and Bucknell so far, the rest is people arguing whether we should schedule Cleveland State and Youngstown State or not.  

I personally don't really care, with a slight lean towards "yeah, let's do it" for the following reasons, particularly with respect to Cleveland State:

1) Easy road game, and if Cleveland State's fan support is as bad as it apparently is, we can perhaps outnumber them in their own home, which is always great.

 

1a) As little interest as a CSU/Akron game or series might engender right now, I guarantee we play 3-4 OOC games each year that is even less interesting to both markets. At least.

2) Things change.  10 or 20 years from now, we might suck and CSU might be great. Especially with the fluidity you see in mid-major conferences. If you're not nice to people on the way up, they won't be nice to you on the way down. 

2a) Cleveland State of course made an elite 8 appearance in the 80s, and wasn't it around that time that games against them and Mouse McFadden were breaking JAR attendance records for Zips MBK that still stand? (Fact check me on that).  Maybe we can build that magic again, and it'd be helpful to lay the foundation for it now.

3) Some of you seem to be saying we should tell high majors to go to hell, while also espousing us to behave like mini high majors with respect to other mid and low majors.

3) Observations like "We can't give that CSU a home-and-home because that'd legitimize them" is way overthinking it IMO.  It's highly unlikely our fates are gonna hinge on whether we scheduled the 2nd- or 5th-best Horizon League to a home-and-home, and it ain't all up to us anyway; these would all need to be two-party agreements, to state the obvious.

 

[Ham]

@mrelegazna I'm kinda like you except I visit here most days.  For me, it's like reading the funnies.  It's nice learning about people coming and going, but that's about it.

[GP1]

How many games are played now vs 10 years ago?  Since the players are professionals now, shouldn't we expect them to play many more games?

 

Class AA baseball plays roughly 20% fewer games than MLB and many minor league baseball players at that level are the same age as CBB players. I don't think asking a low paid professional basketball player to play 50-55 games a year is out of the question. Start the season earlier and end it later. 

 

Want more money flowing into your program?  Load up on big conference teams on the road. 10-15 games sounds about right. The MAC is a one bid league regardless of the regular season results. All the Zips need to do is win the Championship. 

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, GP1 said:

How many games are played now vs 10 years ago?  Since the players are professionals now, shouldn't we expect them to play many more games?

 

Class AA baseball plays roughly 20% fewer games than MLB and many minor league baseball players at that level are the same age as CBB players. I don't think asking a low paid professional basketball player to play 50-55 games a year is out of the question. Start the season earlier and end it later. 

 

Want more money flowing into your program?  Load up on big conference teams on the road. 10-15 games sounds about right. The MAC is a one bid league regardless of the regular season results. All the Zips need to do is win the Championship. 

 

I would say the one restricting item is it's in NCAAs basketball interest to keep March Madness in the calendar spot that it is currently. They fill a clear void in the sports calendar. Pushing it later would start making it interfere with other sports, like the Masters, start of MLB season, NHL/NBA playoffs. That would hurt ratings and diminish their cash cow.

 

I do think there is room to add another 7-10 games though. Usually 1-2 times a year there are stretches where the Zips don't play for 7-10 days. They can also play in a 3rd game a few weeks. 

Edited 3 hours ago by kreed5120

[exit322]

2 hours ago, GP1 said:

How many games are played now vs 10 years ago?  Since the players are professionals now, shouldn't we expect them to play many more games?

 

Class AA baseball plays roughly 20% fewer games than MLB and many minor league baseball players at that level are the same age as CBB players. I don't think asking a low paid professional basketball player to play 50-55 games a year is out of the question. Start the season earlier and end it later. 

 

Want more money flowing into your program?  Load up on big conference teams on the road. 10-15 games sounds about right. The MAC is a one bid league regardless of the regular season results. All the Zips need to do is win the Championship. 

 

The only issue is that NCAA rules limit the number of games, but otherwise that point of more games isn't wrong.

 

And the Kent State Football scheduling method isn't necessarily an awful idea, either.  The MAC champion is locked into a 12-13 type seed (noting that things will change with more P6s getting bids in the new 76-team format), so if you add a bunch of money games...maybe even win one somewhere...it's not going to change that seeding a whole lot.

[Captain Kangaroo]

An extra 30-40% more games means an NIL $$ increase of 30-40%. I'm guessing the players are ok with that. 

 

There is the issue of going to college and passing classes while playing 50-55 games. You don't have that concern in minor league baseball. I'm guessing players would not be big supporters of that extended grind. 

 

I also wouldn't care to watch 50 Zips basketball games. 35 is plenty.

[exit322]

9 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

There is the issue of going to college and passing classes while playing 50-55 games. You don't have that concern in minor league baseball. I'm guessing players would not be big supporters of that extended grind. 

 

I also wouldn't care to watch 50 Zips basketball games. 35 is plenty.

 

And that would be the reason not to do it.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, exit322 said:

 

And the Kent State Football scheduling method isn't necessarily an awful idea, either.  The MAC champion is locked into a 12-13 type seed (noting that things will change with more P6s getting bids in the new 76-team format), so if you add a bunch of money games...maybe even win one somewhere...it's not going to change that seeding a whole lot.

 

College basketball guarantees pay peanuts compared to football. Not that I'm in disagreement on playing more games at high majors. I think it would better prepare us for March. I'm more pointing out how it's not as lucrative as you might think it is financially.

 

Someone on Miami's board shared a link to a large number of their game contracts. In football you get $1M-$1.3M per game. In basketball a program like OSU pays Miami $90K-$100K, which sounds like a lot. Miami was paying low major programs (UMass Lowell, Maine, etc.) Miami was paying $60K-$70K. High majors don't really pay that much more than mid-majors do. A difference of maybe $30K/game. We would probably only get $20K playing @ Kansas than we would against a Nevada, UNLV type program. That's not the case in football.

 

The non-D1 schools can be scheduled very cheap. I saw Miami paid some school I never heard of $4,500 for a game. That explains why you see so many of those type of opponents on poverty struck programs, like the directional Michigan's, schedules.

Edited 7 minutes ago by kreed5120