Seadragon76

Jumbo Shrimp? Really, Jacksonville? The city already had a laughing stock of a football team, don't throw in the baseball team now... oh, too late. This name change did that.

Where's the love for odd shaped flags like Nepal and Switzerland? In fact, I suggest a name change for this thread... Fun with Flags, anyone?

I say 12 personally. With the Pac 12 at 12 teams, at least the Big 12 would have enough members to have a championship game. Not to mention that the name would finally make sense!

Now that we know what teams are in for the AHL, time to realign the league to get a better fit. Eastern Conference Northeast Division -Albany -Binghamton -Bridgeport -Hartford -Providence -St. John's -Springfield -Syracuse Atlantic Division -Charlotte -Hershey -Lehigh Valley -Rochester -Toronto -Wilkes-Barre/Scranton -Utica Western Conference Central Division -Chicago -Grand Rapids -Lake Erie -Iowa -Manitoba -Milwaukee -Rockford Pacific Division -Bakersfield -Ontario -San Antonio -San Diego -San Jose -Stockton -Texas -Tucson

Probably not... There are two ways the Big 12 can go with this. Plan A: Split into two five team divisions (with the round robin). This is what the SWAC does Plan B: Don't split into divisions, and let the top two meet in the title game. This is what the D-II Northeast 10 did for sometime.

That can be easily fixed, though.

With the D-League season over and plans to hit 22 teams, time for a simple plan for them... Eastern Conference Atlantic Division -Delaware -Greensboro -Long Island -Maine -Raptors 905 -Westchester Central Division -Canton -Erie -Fort Wayne -Grand Rapids -Windy City Western Conference Midwest Division -Austin -Iowa -Oklahoma City -Rio Grande Valley -Sioux Falls -Texas Pacific Division -Los Angeles -Northern Arizona -Reno -Santa Cruz -Salt Lake City

Time to rev up the carousel folks... Why? Because there are 4 teams lobbying for two spots in the Big 12.

That has been the rumor.. either drop down a level or get rid of football altogether. Part of this issue is on the team itself. This program has had absolutely no success whatsoever. What little success they had was back in the 80's... and in today's age, no sane recruit is going to want to play for a school that has no winning tradition, let alone any. If they can start winning on a regular basis, that can help take some of the edge off. There is the money issue as well, but I would rather defer to dfwabel on that since he knows that far better then I do.

Exactly. The only FCS conference that does a conference title game is the SWAC, which already abstains from the FCS Championship (alongside the MEAC and the Ivy League). The idea of the Big Sky splitting into two 7 team division comes from, as dfwabel mentioned, getting more teams into the FCS Championship. If there was a way, I'm sure the Big Sky would petition the NCAA to have both division champs earn automatic bids to the FCS Championship starting in 2018.

The article did say they'll go to a divisional format when Idaho joins. This is probably going to be the setup: North -Eastern Washington -Idaho -Idaho State -Montana -Montana State -North Dakota -Portland State South -Cal Poly -Northern Arizona -Northern Colorado -Sacramento State -Southern Utah -UC Davis -Weber State As for New Mexico State, there is two options... -Beg the Mountain West to let them in as a football only member -Drop to the FCS level and join the Southland (Makes sense in a regional standpoint)

Well, Tucson it is then. It makes sense, I think... Tucson can serve as the middle point to connect the California teams with San Antonio and Texas in the Pacific Division. BTW, they should all play 76 games... is it really that damn hard to have the California teams play another eight games? Damn wimps.

To be honest, CLEstones, your source smells of total BS. Why in the world would the Big Ten need to expand at this point? What schools out there would be worthy to join the league? What schools would be good enough for them to justify this?

One thing to add on football wise and it was passed over... The Sun Belt is giving the boot to Idaho and New Mexico State after the 2017 season. At least Idaho has a back up plan for football as they have an open invite to the Big Sky. New Mexico State... ugh... they are in no man's land. You can't survive as an Independent (unless your name is Notre Dame or BYU) and the only viable option in the area, the Mountain West, really nothing to do with them.

Problem is that they're really the only Independent program in D-1 ice hockey. They would need to find a home and if the Big Ten is the one that gives them the home, they aren't turning that down. Although I think the NCHA might be a better option because of it's smaller travel footprint.

It's only one of the logos... Here's the rest of them:

Guess I didn't get to it earlier, but the new Gresham team in the West Coast League has a nickname and logos now... I present to you, the Gresham GreyWolves.

That's not bad for the Texas League. Personally, myself.... I'm waiting for the new entry for the West Coast League. If anyone has followed, two teams have left (Klamath Falls and Medford) and added one team in Gresham (who will be in the new South division with Bend, Corvallis, Cowlitz, Kitsap and Yakima Valley. The North has Bellingham, Kelowna, Victoria, Walla Walla and Wenatchee). I hope for a decent nickname and logo set from the Gresham team.

Pure dumbassery. They should have been trying to get an ECHL team for at least the last year. That I agree with. The ECHL wants to have 30 teams so that every NHL team has an AHL affiliate and a ECHL affiliate. Peoria would perfect for the league.

I'd go with the second option largely because the A-Sun can't survive another raid at this point. Not to mention they've done a partnership with the SoCon for lacrosse... why not a partnership here and, in the case of the Big South, throw in Campbell from the Pioneer to boot? Now, you get a Big South with 5 current members (Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Liberty and Presbyterian) and 4 associate members (Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Monmouth and Stetson)

Well, college wise, here is how I see it... It's mostly what if, so take it with a grain of salt. FBS 2016: Army and UMass join the American to give the league 14 members. UMass is placed in the East Division and at the request of Army, the Black Knights are in the West Division. The only trade off is that now the Army-Navy game is played on Thanksgiving weekend instead of the 2nd weekend in December. BYU relents on it's half assed attempt at independence and becomes a football playing member of the Big XII. 2017: UAB returns to Conference USA 2018: Cincinnati moves from the American to the Big XII giving that conference the needed 12th football member to stage a championship game. To keep the conference at 14 members, the American convinces Louisville to come back after a few so-so years in the ACC. What this does is allow the biggest move yet to come to happen.... 2019: Sensing that the walls are closing in, Notre Dame relents and finally joins the ACC in football. It brings the league back up to 15 teams. FCS 2016: East Tennessee State joins the SoCon 2017: With the money of Warren Buffet behind the rebirth of Nebraska-Omaha football, the Summit League begins on it's plan to sponsor football. Omaha is joined by North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Western Illinois in the league's first season. 2018: The success of the Summit League's first season has convinced fellow league schools IPFW and Denver to start football programs giving the league 7 schools. The Atlantic 10 follows the lead of the Summit League by bringing in football with it's members (Davidson, Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, Rhode Island and Richmond) 2019: The Missouri Valley is reborn as the five MVFC schools add Drake (Current member) and associate school Youngstown State. The Pioneer disbands as the following members find new homes: -Campbell joins the Big South -Butler and Valparaiso join the Summit League -Jacksonville and Stetson join the Southern -Marist joins the NEC -Morehead State joins the OVC -San Diego joins the Big Sky for football

With the NHL looking into teams in Las Vegas and Quebec, why not make the NHL like the NFL.. in the sense of realignment that is. Eastern Conference Canadian Division Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto Northeast Division Boston, Buffalo, New York Islanders, New York Rangers Atlantic Division New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington South Division Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay Western Conference Canadian Division Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg Central Division Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Minnesota Southwest Division Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, St. Louis Pacific Division Anaheim, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Jose 74 Game Schedule (18 against division rivals, 24 against other conference teams, 32 games the other conference) Playoffs: Top two in each division advance. Division winners earn seeds 1-4 while runner ups earn seeds 5-8. All series are Best of 7.

My take: BYU should be option number 1 no matter what. Yes, travel will be a little difficult. But, as of now, the Cougars are in the literal no man's land in terms of playoff hopes. Being in the Big 12 for football can easily give them a chance to compete for a New Year's Six game on a yearly basis. Plus, the Big XII is just going to ask for football membership so any issues on the 'We don't play on Sundays' front can be deflected. As for the other team... I think Cincinnati is a nice option. Gives West Virginia a nearby rival.

Is it really that hard to play eight more games there, California teams? Either you guys play 76 like the rest of us or the rest of us can play 68 games like you twits are.

I'm happy they found a conference...but were the NEC's expectations too lofty for them? That's not the case... this is easily a marriage of convenience. NJIT needed a home and the Atlantic Sun were a raid or two away from death. This works out big time for both parties.