Seadragon76

So... ESPN is still getting one game out of this? That's kind of bogus for them.

It's very obvious how it's going to work out now that Springfield is going to be St. Louis' affiliate...

Time for another experiment that doesn't fit elsewhere... MLB is talking about expanding the playoff format from 10 to 14 teams in 2022. This has me thinking "What if this format was used in the last decade?" So, here you go. The idea of teams choosing who they want to play in the first round is OUT because it's a stupid idea. Now, let's begin. 2010 American League First Round Bye: (1) Tampa Bay First Round -(7) Toronto at (2) Minnesota -(6) Chicago White Sox at (3) Texas -(5) Boston at (4) New York Yankees National League First Round Bye: (1) Philadelphia First Round -(7) Colorado at (2) San Francisco -(6) St. Louis at (3) Cincinnati -(5) San Diego at (4) Atlanta 2011 American League First Round Bye: (1) New York Yankees First Round -(7) Toronto at (2) Texas -(6) Anaheim at (3) Detroit -(5) Boston at (4) Tampa Bay National League First Round Bye: (1) Philadelphia First Round -(7) Los Angeles at (2) Milwaukee -(6) San Francisco at (3) Arizona -(5) Atlanta at (4) St. Louis 2012 American League First Round Bye: (1) New York Yankees First Round -(7) Anaheim at (2) Oakland -(6) Tampa Bay at (3) Detroit -(5) Baltimore at (4) Texas National League First Round Bye: Washington First Round -(7) Milwaukee at (2) Cincinnati -(6) Los Angeles at (3) San Francisco -(5) St. Louis at (4) Atlanta 2013 American League First Round Bye: (1) Boston First Round -(7) Kansas City at (2) Oakland -(6) Texas at (3) Detroit -(5) Tampa Bay at (4) Cleveland National League First Round Bye: (1) St. Louis First Round -(7) Arizona at (2) Atlanta -(6) Washington at (3) Los Angeles -(5) Cincinnati at (4) Pittsburgh 2014 American League First Round Bye: (1) Anaheim -(7) Cleveland at (2) Baltimore -(6) Seattle at (3) Detroit -(5) Oakland at (4) Kansas City National League First Round Bye: (1) Washington First Round -(7) Atlanta at (2) Los Angeles -(6) Milwaukee at (3) St. Louis -(5) San Francisco at (4) Pittsburgh 2015 American League First Round Bye: (1) Kansas City First Round -(7) Minnesota at (2) Toronto -(6) Anaheim at (3) Texas -(5) Houston at (4) New York Yankees National League First Round Bye: (1) St. Louis First Round -(7) Washington at (2) Los Angeles -(6) San Francisco at (3) New York Mets -(5) Chicago Cubs at (4) Pittsburgh 2016 American League First Round Bye: (1) Texas First Round -(7) Seattle at (2) Cleveland -(6) Detroit at (3) Boston -(5) Baltimore at (4) Toronto National League First Round Bye: (1) Chicago Cubs First Round -(7) Miami at (2) Washington -(6) St. Louis at (3) Los Angeles -(5) San Francisco at (4) New York Mets 2017 American League First Round Bye: (1) Cleveland First Round -(7) Anaheim at (2) Houston -(6) Kansas City at (3) Boston -(5) Minnesota at (4) New York Yankees National League First Round Bye: (1) Los Angeles First Round -(7) St. Louis at (2) Washington -(6) Milwaukee at (3) Chicago Cubs -(5) Colorado at (4) Arizona 2018 American League First Round Bye: (1) Boston First Round -(7) Seattle at (2) Houston -(6) Tampa Bay at (3) Minnesota -(5) Oakland at (4) New York Yankees National League First Round Bye: (1) Milwaukee First Round -(7) Washington at (2) Los Angeles -(6) St. Louis at (3) Atlanta -(5) Colorado at (4) Chicago Cubs 2019 American League First Round Bye: (1) Houston First Round -(7) Boston at (2) New York Yankees -(6) Cleveland at (3) Minnesota -(5) Tampa Bay at (4) Oakland National League First Round Bye: (1) Los Angeles First Round -(7) Arizona at (2) Atlanta -(6) New York Mets at (3) St. Louis -(5) Milwaukee at (4) Washington Everyone (even little Miami) has made it to the postseason at least once under this format...

I still think Kentucky State shouldn't make that jump because it is so expensive to make the leap from D-II to D-I and the two of the last three HBCU's to make that leap have fallen back to D-II (The other is Morris Brown, who had to fold their sports teams after getting busted for embezzlement) It's just WAY too dangerous for any HBCU to make the leap from D-II to D-I. Hell, I would think it's easier for an HBCU that's at the NAIA level (like Edward Waters) to go to D-II (Case in point...)

I find it odd that the two better known schools in the MEAC are leaving for greener pastures (so to speak).

The 'Sunday Rule' is something any conference has to consider if they think about adding BYU in non-football sports. Football wise, it's not as big of an issue

That is something to look at, but if I remember correctly... Boise can't jump ship until 2026. This could end up bad on their end if they try anything.

Let's remember that this is one scenario that they're working on. Another one sees everything back to normal with all 10 schools just doing well.

What @rams80 mentioned... but there's also the chance that Liberty would raise all sorts of political hell if and when they found out about this scheme to basically throw the school under the proverbial bus. They made noise by calling out C-USA and the Sun Belt for not letting them in at the FBS level.. so they can definitely cause a ruckus if the ASUN threw them out. This also leaves North Alabama and Bellarmine out in the open as well.

After reading this on the conference's website, I'm kind of glad this is one scenario they have planned... because this is some insane logic they have. How in the hell are they going to find 10 other schools to join this scheme???

It's not easy to find more people to put their money down on a sport that, more often then not, has it's fair share of failed franchises and leagues. The Arena League itself is the biggest causality of having two guys own all the teams. The IFL does have that issue, but they seem to be far smarter (I guess) about it.

Time for a project that doesn't fit anywhere else but here... an expansion of the College Football Playoff. We're going whole hog here as the playoff goes from 4 teams to 16 teams. The 10 conference champions and 6 wild card entries. A few rules to make sure before we begin... -No conference is allowed to have more then 4 teams in the playoff -The top 4 seeds are protected. Only conference champions may be in the top 4. At-large bids can fall in anywhere in between the other champions. -If a conference champion is not ranked in the final CFP rankings, then the Massey Ratings will determine where they fall in terms of seeding. -Rematches are NOT allowed in the first round. They're allowed from the Quarterfinals on -First round games are held on the weekend of December 14th at home sites with the Quarterfinals being held the following week. Semifinals are on New Year's Day and the National Championship Game is two weeks after. Now, for the actual hard work here... First, we have the ten conference champions. They are, in order... -Memphis (American) -Clemson (ACC) -Ohio State (Big Ten) -Oklahoma (Big XII) -Florida Atlantic (Conference USA) -Miami of Ohio (Mid-American) -Boise State (Mountain West) -Oregon (Pac-12) -Louisiana State (SEC) -Appalachian State (Sun Belt) As for the at-large bids, they're given out to the highest ranked teams in the final CFP rankings. They are, in order of rankings... -Georgia -Baylor -Wisconsin -Florida -Penn State -Utah Now that our 16 teams are chosen, it's time to set the field... #16 Miami of Ohio at #1 Louisiana State #9 Florida at #8 Wisconsin #13 Boise State at #4 Oklahoma #12 Memphis at #5 Georgia #15 Florida Atlantic at #2 Ohio State #10 Penn State at #7 Oregon #14 Appalachian State at #3 Clemson #11 Utah at #6 Baylor Quarterfinals Sugar Bowl: M-OH/LSU winner vs. FLA/WIS winner Cotton Bowl: BSU/OKLA winner vs. MEM/UGA winner Rose Bowl: FAU/OSU winner vs. PSU/ORE winner Orange Bowl: APP/CLEM winner vs. UTAH/BAY winner Semifinals Peach Bowl: Sugar Bowl winner vs. Cotton Bowl winner Fiesta Bowl: Rose Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl winner National Championship Game: Peach Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner

Super Bowl 48.... Nothing more needs to be said. Okay. Even though it was eight years after the fiasco that was Super Bowl XL, there were still sour feelings about that game. Hell, I still harbor sour feelings about it to this day. Yet, this game made me happy. It wasn't just a win for the Seahawks, it was a win for the entire region. It was validation for all the years of being a fan of a team that was middling at best. It wasn't just a win... it was a total beat down of a former division rival. It was a defensive clinic.

The only way that's happening is if the WAC and the Big Sky have an alliance that gives them both football. Let's just say that Dixie State, Tarleton State and New Mexico State are added to the Big Sky for football only. 16 teams is extremely difficult to pull off, so the two conferences create a plan that gives the two leagues football. The northern most schools (The Montana schools, the Idaho schools, the California trio, Eastern Washington and Portland State) make up the Big Sky and the southern most schools (Northern Colorado, the Utah schools, Northern Arizona, New Mexico State and Tarleton State) make up the WAC.

Aw, crap... Well, thanks to that, I'd have to pick another team for St. Paul to replace. Maybe Nashville???

I knew I missed something when you mentioned the Northwest League moving from short season play to full season play. I should explain how this would works. Triple A The article I read mentioned that the PCL would be a 10 team league and the IL would be 20 teams. It made it simple for me: The six teams north of Texas (Iowa, Memphis, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Omaha and Wichita) move to the IL. Now comes the hard part and one I didn't add in because in my original plan, St. Paul was going to be in the Class A Midwest League as a relocation of a current team in that league. Now? Well.. oh boy. I don't want to move a current PCL team because it would ruin the geographic plan. So, why not get rid of Wichita and put it St. Paul in their place in the IL? Double A The Eastern League has no changes, but the Southern League loses two teams. Those teams were Jackson and Mississippi. Why those two? No reason. Those two teams move to the Texas League. The Jackson franchise moves to Shreveport, where they had a team in the Texas League until 2002 when they moved to Frisco. Mississippi now becomes the new Sugar Land team. High Single A No changes here. Low Single A This is where most of the chaos would be located. The South Atlantic League becomes a 6 team league while the remaining members form a brand new Mid-Atlantic League. The Midwest League would shrink from 16 teams to 8. The other 8 teams would be the new full season Northwest League.

The talk is that they would eliminate the Rookie level teams and the short season level teams. This means these leagues would disappear... -New York/Penn League (14) -Northwest (8) -Appalachian (10) -Pioneer (8) You're at 40 teams right now if you cut out those four leagues out. Don't know where the other two are coming in. With what has been mentioned, here's what I think will happen here with the things mentioned in the article and what you have brought up: Triple A: Pacific Coast League (10) - Albuquerque, El Paso, Fresno, Las Vegas, Reno, Round Rock, Sacramento, Salt Lake, San Antonio, Tacoma International League (20) - Buffalo, Charlotte, Columbus, Durham, Gwinnett, Indianapolis, Iowa, Lehigh Valley, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pawtucket, Rochester, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Syracuse, Toledo, Wichita Double A: Eastern League (12) - Altoona, Akron, Binghamton, Bowie, Erie, Harrisburg, Hartford, New Hampshire, Portland (Maine), Reading, Richmond, Trenton Southern League (8) - Birmingham, Biloxi, Chattanooga, Jacksonville, Montgomery, Rocket City, Pensacola, Tennessee Texas League (10) - Amarillo, Arkansas, Corpus Christi, Frisco, Midland, Northwest Arkansas, Shreveport (Formerly Jackson Generals), Springfield, Sugar Land (Former Mississippi Braves), Tulsa

Yes... problem is that there's no real evidence of the school closing up shop any time soon. If they don't, they can always drop their program to a lower level. Division II has the GLIAC, which has members that aren't too far off from where they are (Purdue Northwest, for example). In the NAIA, there's the Chicagoland Conference... perfect spot for them, if you ask me.

I want Narwhals because... well, dammit, Narwhals is the only acceptable choice here.

Tarleton State's move isn't official yet, but the idea is that they're going to be in the WAC for all sports outside of football, which will be an FCS independent. This is... a strange move, to a degree. They're in danger of being under the six school limit to considered a legitimate conference next season. They're losing Cal State Bakersfield to the Big West and Kansas City to the Summit. In return, you have two D-II invites (Dixie State and Tarleton State) coming in as replacements. Cal Baptist will only be halfway through the reclassification process. The WAC is basically one move or Chicago State closure from being dead meat.

Like I mentioned before, this could give the Summit League football for the first time ever. That's a big deal. In other realignment based moves: -Tarleton State (TX) is heading to the WAC in 2020. Similar to fellow newcomer Dixie State, the Texans will become an FCS Independent program. -Purdue Fort Wayne leaves the Summit for the Horizon. This move works better for the Mastodons since they'll be in a more centrally based league instead of being the eastern most school in a league that's looking to be more Great Plains based.

It seems strange that Massachusetts, which does just fine in the NAL, wants no part of the merger. I could understand travel costs going up now that you have games in the Midwest to deal with, but they had trips to Orlando. It can't be that bad. Same for New York... In fact, either one coming back helps even the numbers for this new alliance. Maybe the Pirates are angling for a new league to join?

From the looks of it, it sounds like the IFL is trying to create a Western Division and a Eastern (even though this is all Midwest teams) Division. Oakland and Duke City (alongside Spokane and either Boise or Portland) would join Arizona, Tucson and San Diego in that Western Division Out east is Bismarck, Iowa, Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Green Bay, Nebraska and Sioux Falls

I know an easier way for people to not watch the World Cup in 3 years... at least out here: The US Men's team missing out yet again. Another good reason for people to not watch is the time of the games... Doing some basic rudimentary math here, kickoff times would probably be early morning to afternoon in Doha, which in turn makes games start in the morning for all the people on the east coast and really early for me on the west coast. Of course, it's still really, really early in the process to begin on this, but just remember that.

According to that article, today is the day that they unveil this new branding for Idaho State. Sounds like there's more then just the Bengal head for this project.