Geoff

Granted a lot can happen in 10 years but before the last round of expansion, there wasn't anything requiring them to be in the same conference. Now this is what I've been waiting for, FBS expansion shenanigans. If this happens, what happens to the Big XII. Do they implode or do they go after some AAC teams to get back to 10 or even 12?

XFL 2.0 would be humming along through year two if it weren't for the pandemic. You're looking too pessimistically at that season.

TSL supposedly continuing and Fox having an ownership stake in the new USFL tells me that the Fox-XFL relationship is no more. I wonder if the XFL will head to NBC. Yes, NBCSN is dying but NBC will have slots to fill during the spring with no NHL and they could put games on USA and Peacock.

Former AHL markets have a hard time keeping fans coming to the games when they go to the Coast. I'm sure this will go over well. Supposedly the arena has an out clause for an ECHL and AHL replacement. I just don't know iif having a Fed team for year will really be that beneficial.

Esche likely registered it just in case the negotiations with New Jersey didn't go well and they couldn't keep the Comets name.

How long until the Pacific AHL teams actually break away and form their own league. They've been given a decent bit of autonomy/preferential treatment already.

Do well for them where? They're killing off NBCSN and that's why they were lowballing the NHL, they were only gonna air a smallish number of games on big NBC and everything else would have been on Peacock.

Um ... I need one of those ... and a honey butter chicken biscuit.

No update on the name right now but the arena is on pace to start construction next month as planned.

They'd definitely be a fit when it comes to culture. The issue would be Gentile Arena would be the smallest arena in the conference. I don't know if they could go the St. John's/Nova route and play some games on-campus and big games at an off-campus arena. The United Center and Allstate Arena are both about 30 minutes from campus so it might be doable.

Atlantic Hockey is looking to expand. They might add one, two, or three teams. For those who don't keep up with NCAA hockey, AHA has 11 teams including Air Force and Army. The leading candidates are Alabama-Huntsville (currently in the WCHA but being orphaned because the other 7 members decided they wanted to jetison the Chargers so they formed a new league), Long Island U (who were in their first season this year and had a scheduling agreement with AHA this year), and Navy (they were closing to announcing a move to varsity before the pandemic and who knows what's up now). With 11 teams, I'd say one or three is more likely than two.

Did we miss this? The same day the news of the return of WAC football broke, league member UTRGV quietly started the process of adding FCS football. They'd previously done feasibility studies on FBS football. I'm assuming they saw FBS wasn't really worth it but FCS wouldn't be bad. Add in that they have a built in landing place now, makes it way easier.

Well it wasn't really a choice. There's no way in hell they could have go forward without fans.

Since I moved away from Pensacola, I haven't been paying as close attention to the SPHL. A friend of mine had to tell me this: Tonight's Huntsville at Pensacola game will be played 4-on-4 as part of the league's return to play protocols since Huntsville had to sit out some games. Knoxville had players suspended for breaking league protocols. Macon postponed their games this weekend. The SPHL is such a show right now

With the NHL's return set now, I really hope YouTube TV comes to a deal with Sinclair. I'm not really looking to getting cable again.

I doubt it. I know USCe didn't want to share the arena anymore.

The Coast has some notable alums but let's be real, for NHL teams it's really about ice time for your 5th and/or 6th goalie. The ECHL is already a mostly independent league but it'll be interesting to see what happens. Some NHL teams had been looking at the Toronto/Toronto/Newfoundland model and were considering or had already started implementing it themselves. If there's enough interest in keeping the model of having more players under contact all working under the same systems, the Coast could survive. ----- Before I moved, I was still writing for TheSinBin.net and was talking to the owner of the Pensacola Ice Flyers before the SPHL announced their plans for this season. I know how to read between the lines with him and he said the league has definitely received interested from ownership groups representing markets already in the league footprint. He didn't name markets or explicitly say that teams from other league (ECHL and FPHL most likely) have inquired but it doesn't take a genius to realize that there are a ton of teams in the league's current that could be looking to jump ship or would be forced to jump ship. I and the other writers were all expecting the Fed do go belly up and thus forcing Scott Brand to bite the bullet with Columbus and Winston-Salem going to the SP. Atlanta and Norfolk are sitting out this season and I could easily see Norfolk in the SP, if they even come back at all with how abysmal their attendance has been. I think Atlanta would stick with the Coast unless Greenville (they have abysmal attendance too) and the Florida Trio are all gone. Really the only markets in the SP's current footprint that have a serviceable venue but no team at this time would be Louisville; Florence, SC; Biloxi; Southaven/Memphis; and maybe Tupelo, MS if the T-rex wanna come back (please please, please; I know a former GM of the team was kicking the tires). I'd say cities like Lexington, Columbia, and Tallahassee are right out. There's a reason the Inferno stopped playing in USCe's arena; Rupp is a basketball specific arena so that sucks for hockey; Tally has a small permanent population with an already spread thin sports dollar. You have two D1 athletic departments, FAMU's arena wouldn't work, hockey would be third level tenant at best at the Tucker Center, and even behind some annual touring shows when it comes to dates. Even when you take away the dates issue, football and baseball are big at FSU. FSU is one of the few baseball programs that actually runs some sort of profit. I don't see the league venturing back into central Florida (Lakeland or Kissimmee) with an ECHL team in Orlando. I also doubt we'd see a Jr. team jump to the SP. The only even remotely possible team would be Shreveport and I think the league would want to bridge the gap with a team or two in Mississippi before going into western Louisiana. All that said, it seems pretty obvious that interest would be current ECHL or FPHL markets (whether that be the current teams or not). ... Or Savannah when the new arena is done.

They had. The higher ed budget situation, hell the whole state's budget situation, in Alaska is BAD. Some of the people in power in the state right now are wanting to kill public higher ed but would settle for a one university with three campuses (Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Southeast in Juneau) setup. I've kicked this idea around for a while but Fairbanks might be best served going to USports or BCIHL for hockey if not fully flipping to USports. If Simon Fraser can be NCAA, and potentially go D1 (at least in hockey), I'd love to see an American team give it a go in USports.

Nah, that’s a legit thing. UF sponsored a bid in the early 90s to get FSU in the SEC but since then, there has been a pact between UK, UGA, UF, and USC to keep their in-state rivals out. I think the most threatened of the group was UK wanting Louisville to keep “little brother” status and not being a power conference. They want to play their in-state rivals, yes, but they don’t want their chance to have bragging rights getting in the way of their conference championship odds. The last round of expansion rumors, the FSU-Clemson plus whoever to the Big 12 deal (was a legit discussion but I don’t know how close it ever got) was largely because the Big 12 was on the prowl and trying to not die but to also get back at the SEC and get into their markets. The Petty Four were definitely part of the reason none of UofL, FSU, GT, or Clemson didn’t take A&M or Mizzou’s spots but, yeah, TV markets played a large factor too.

And? Vandy wouldn’t be able to join the SEC right now either.

I believe the plan is expansion and not relo. Throw Manchester in, maybe eventually another Canadian ECHL team if there’s a suitable arena that doesn’t have or losses the QMJHL and you’ve got a great bus league of a division. Newfoundland would still be on a bit of an island but Brampton, Trois-Rivieres, Maine, Manchester, Worcester, Adirondack, and a potential new Canadian team would be a neatly contained circuit.

Cincinnati’s hang up would be Nippert’s size. I could see the SEC giving it a sniff but they’re not gonna play every game at Paul Brown and Nippert can’t really be expanded. I don’t see UCF, Houston, or Memphis simply because they don’t bring new markets. If the UVA-VT legal pairing could be ended, NCSU and VT would be great gets for the SEC. That or one of the two and WVU. Honestly, I could see the SEC picking off one or two ACC teams, the ACC going after Cinci (bring back the Keg of Nails), maybe UCONN if they can get their ish together in football, and perhaps a school like Memphis (former Metro rivals of Louisville, Cinci, VT, and Florida State; gets them into Tennessee; and they’ve already bent a little on academics with Louisville). If they needed a fourth school, maybe school like App State to strengthen the football membership and reestablish having four North Carolina schools. All of this assumes ND to the B1G obviously.

So Long Island University announced that they're adding D1 men's hockey to go with their brand spanking new women's team that debuted in 2019-20. The press release said they'd start competition in 2020-21. Problem is... they don't have a coach, they don't have a lease for a rink, they don't have a club team to draw players from to help with the transition. The two most recent additions to NCAA D1 hockey (Penn State and Arizona State) both played a transitional season with their top club players, transfers, and D1 level recruits before playing a full D1 schedule. Illinois will likely follow this route when they eventually announce. If Navy ever does transition, they'll go this route. LIU seems to be incredibly naive in this move. The recruitment questionnaire says 2021-22 but last I checked the press release on the school's athletics website still says 2020-21. Schedules are 98% set for D1 so good luck filling a full schedule. If they are planning a transitional year, good for them but nothing on their website or any media coverage mentions that. Also, the release said a national search would be done for a head coach then the next day the AD said they already had a handful of top candidates. How are you going to get a decent coach with no rink and not a ton of funding. It seems they looked at the costs of their women's team and figured they could run a successful men's team for the same amount. Supposedly the total coaching budget, for a head and two assistants, is on $150k. The HC will almost certainly have to make less than $100k and there are assistants who will make more than that. If they want to be successful, they'll need more money allocated and fast.

From what I've seen and heard, this is an "option" because the relationship between Charlotte and Carolina has deteriorated. Whether that's front office or more on the ownership side, I'm not sure but given Dundon's history, it wouldn't surprise me if he's pissed someone else off.

... I just ... I still don't like this new logo.