Geoff

This gives me hope

They possibly have two. The plan, unless it has changed, is to have games at two different stadiums near the two campuses. HEB Park and Sam's Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.

That's such a terrible idea. I watched TSL but I didn't care about any team in particular. The location based teams makes it easier for fans to latch on to a team and care about that team. The only way where teams without a location have been successful in American sports is the PLL and that works earlier because it's pretty much the top of the lacrosse world. People have their favorite players and it's more of a player based fandom. No one is a hardcore fan of a D2 wide receiver trying to catch on in the NFL.

WKU and MTSU actually gives CUSA nine teams, not seven. They would have been at seven had MTSU not killed the move to the MAC. The MAC was only taking the package deal, not separate pieces. WKU, MTSU, UTEP, LTU, and FIU plus the newbies equals nine. I'm still not sure why CUSA didn't add more. EKU has been wanting to get to the FBS for years now so I'd imagine it's a slowplay on the conference's part. SEMO seemed to pull themselves out of the running. I know CUSA actually stands to potentially get better candidates if they wait a little bit but there's growing consensus that the new NCAA constitution will make the reclassification process more difficult. If I have short-term goals of being FBS, I'm jumping now if I can.

After seeing more about it (and factoring in how the City has interacted with past tenants), it's 100% they just want to kick the Growlers out because they don't want to relinquish control of the arena. I'm honestly surprised anyone thought this would end well after the City kicked out the Edge (also owned by Deacon Sports) who played in a Canadian league with cities the fans might actually care about in favor of a team in the freaking ABA. Who in St. John's is going to care about the game against a team from Beaver County or Herkimer? Also, do you want to be associated with a league whose website is realabaleague.com

I think Mobile was a backup in case Birmingham didn't happen. It did though, so ...

Invites went out.

Those new ASU jerseys are so terrible. There's so much promise there with the maroon, gold, and white and leave out the grey but they go with this :censored:.

The AAC isn't picking off Buffalo unless there's another viable option in the NE. Temple is a geographic outlier and needs some neighbors.

This makes more sense. UConn has been happy to be independent and play a schedule of mostly NE schools. If you're going to go after one of the independents up there, UMass is the one more desperate to join a conference. Also, looks like NMSU and Liberty to CUSA might be dead if it's true that Marshall's decision was the linchpin.

Looks like Bobby Petrino won't be returning to the FBS ... at least not as the head coach of MoState Also, Marshall is official. Now we just wait for JMU and we have a 14 team Fun Belt.

Chris Vannini of The Athletic is reporting that CUSA is targeting NMSU and Liberty for all sports membership and UConn for football-only. Liberty ... ew. And if you're gonna do UConn as football only, you might as well target UMass too.

Honestly, even if CUSA does survive. I think all parties involved would love a UTEP shift to the WAC when/if it moves to FBS. UTEP would essentially be the middle of the conference, have an existing rival an hour up the road become an in-conference rival. If the WAC could maintain current membership, add UTEP, NMSU is no longer independent, and UTRGV gets their program going, you're looking at 11 football teams, maybe pull up another Southland school (McNeese or UIW?) for an even 12.

Yeah, after seeming like they wouldn't be able to play in the arena this season then a last minute patch job saved it. Now it seems the city found a way to kick them out and claim they have a reason. I don't know the specifics of the allegations but from experience, there are plenty of things working in a minor league office that could be twisted into disrespectful workplace conduct. Hell, working anywhere really. Just a condescending coworker could be classified as disrespectful workplace conduct. I'm assuming the allegations are a little more serious but the phrasing is unnecessarily vague.

It's not even the size of the conference, it's the emphasis on football. Honestly, I'm surprised this has taken so long. I figured they'd be out a while ago. Schools like South Georgia State adding football and then the conference bringing in schools like App and Georgia Southern, it was clear the league was moving to football centric.

The issue isn't the ECHL. It's the owner's relationship with the arena/city. Deacon Sports didn't kick out the Growlers, Deacon Sports (owner of the Growlers) was kicked out over allegations of "disrespectful workplace conduct".

ODU's announcement might be quicker. I think they have to get the rubber stamp from the state government but any school reclassifying has to jump through more hoops than they would in another state.

Liberty just has a bigger spotlight. I wish all these trashass schools would get the death penalty, not just in athletics. It's not just Liberty/Baylor/BYU, it's just that most of these schools have the sense to operate more under the radar. But that's a topic for another thread. I wonder if it truly was "Liberty turned their nose up at the new CUSA" or "CUSA noped the hell out of there because ... ew"

Probably more to ensure the rolling average of 15k

Pretty much. They linger a little longer on the L so it's not 100% like saying Carlton.

That would be great. Problem is how many HBCU athletic departments can afford 85 scholarships, facilities renovations, increased travel budgets, etc. NC A&T and Jackson State most likely could swing it but who else? Maybe FAMU could but Bragg hasn't been renovated in 40 years and needs a lot of love. FAMU would likely need to have Bethune-Cookman come up to so they could keep the rivalry alive.

They need to find someone or someones in the Alabama/Georgia/Florida area. Miami to Murfreesboro for your closest conference foe is ... yikes.

Predicting what happens with CUSA seems damn near impossible so let's throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. CUSA-ASUN merger? It would accelerate the ASUN's plan but save the CUSA remaining schools that haven't gone independent or to the WAC/MAC

UTSA-Navy might be how you convince Navy to switch to the East by giving them at lease one guaranteed trip to Texas every two years with trips to Houston and DFW sprinkled in.