Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[jlog3000]

11 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

WKU would likely block any attempt to join by EKU. I doubt UMass would be willing to leave the A-10 for non-football. Tarleton certainly has the ambition, but personally I think SFA makes more sense from CUSA's perspective.

 

I hear ya, and you're not wrong. SFA would make sense as a member, plus it would reunite the rivalry with Sam Houston as a yearly conference game.

[Burmy]

Something tells me that WKU and MTSU feel like they've made a big mistake and are gonna want back in the Sun Belt soon.

[GDAWG]

18 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

 

I hear ya, and you're not wrong. SFA would make sense as a member, plus it would reunite the rivalry with Sam Houston as a yearly conference game.

 

SFA would be interesting but it would be a lot like Sam Houston in that if they were to be a home team against a school like Baylor or Texas Tech or any of the other FBS schools in Texas with a large alumni base, they would probably play those games at NRG Stadium in Houston and designate SFA as the home team.  

[WillLanigan]

11 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

SFA would be interesting but it would be a lot like Sam Houston in that if they were to be a home team against a school like Baylor or Texas Tech or any of the other FBS schools in Texas with a large alumni base, they would probably play those games at NRG Stadium in Houston and designate SFA as the home team.  

I’m in the band at Tech, and I would absolutely LOVE to play in Nacogdoches.  I still remember the Lufkin-Longview playoff game a few years ago.  We packed 25-30K in Homer Bryce Stadium.  It’s a little stadium, but with the berms surrounding it, you can really cram a ton of people in there.  
 

Of course, I’m sure they would never do it. 

[Burmy]

In FCS news, Robert Morris is rejoining the NEC as a football affiliate member in 2024.

 

The fact that the NEC is more willing to accept football-only members kinda gives me hope that Merrimack and Sacred Heart will still have a conference home even as the rest of their sports teams move to the non-football MAAC.

[jlog3000]

That was a surprise move to be honest. I wonder if this would affect the so-called OVC-Big South partnership. Plus, the OVC side has 11 full members and about 6 or 7 of them with football; while the Big South side has 10 full members and like 2 or 3 of them with football.

 

Would the Big South stop sponsor that sport so that those members become OVC fb. affiliates? And to be fair, if the OVC would add one more full member with the sport, it would give them 12 total, 8 with that sport.

[Seadragon76]

11 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

That was a surprise move to be honest. I wonder if this would affect the so-called OVC-Big South partnership. Plus, the OVC side has 11 full members and about 6 or 7 of them with football; while the Big South side has 10 full members and like 2 or 3 of them with football.

 

Would the Big South stop sponsor that sport so that those members become OVC fb. affiliates? And to be fair, if the OVC would add one more full member with the sport, it would give them 12 total, 8 with that sport.

 

I think it does. The Ohio Valley is doing the heavy lifting here and I get the feeling that the Big South might pull the plug on football so both Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern join the Ohio Valley as affiliates. I mean, let's face it... Presbyterian isn't going back to the Big South for football anytime soon.

[jlog3000]

5 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

 

I think it does. The Ohio Valley is doing the heavy lifting here and I get the feeling that the Big South might pull the plug on football so both Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern join the Ohio Valley as affiliates. I mean, let's face it... Presbyterian isn't going back to the Big South for football anytime soon.

 

And with Campbell, Hampton and NC A&T leaving in the past few years (all to the Coastal, I mean CAA), that didn't help any matters. Hence the 'two-conference' partnership system in my opinion doesn't work at times ; and I believe that every conference should sponsor football, as long as its core/full members could sponsor the sport for conference championships and automatic bids and it reaches the minimum amount for such.

 

More power to those like the MVFC by having more membership just to fight for one spot (being the auto bid) instead of having 2 conference with at least 7-8 within their cores (i.e.: the MVC and the Summit w/ fb.) for more participation in the FCS tourney. Or even the UAC.

[sportsfan7]

14 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

More power to those like the MVFC by having more membership just to fight for one spot (being the auto bid) instead of having 2 conference with at least 7-8 within their cores (i.e.: the MVC and the Summit w/ fb.) for more participation in the FCS tourney. Or even the UAC.

I'm not sure what you mean here, the MVFC only has 11 teams (once Western Illinois leaves) : 6 from the MVC, 4 from the Summit, and 1 from the Horizon. This is impossible to split into 2 conference of at least 6 (the minimum number of schools required for the auto-bid). Also, the MVFC has had at least 3 berths to the playoffs each of the last 5 years, so they're not exactly hurting for bids.

 

The UAC on the other hand, only has 9 teams (11 in 2025 once UTRGV and West Georgia join). This is also impossible to split into 2 conferences of at least 6.

[Burmy]

14 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

I'm not sure what you mean here, the MVFC only has 11 teams (once Western Illinois leaves) : 6 from the MVC, 4 from the Summit, and 1 from the Horizon. This is impossible to split into 2 conference of at least 6 (the minimum number of schools required for the auto-bid). Also, the MVFC has had at least 3 berths to the playoffs each of the last 5 years, so they're not exactly hurting for bids.

 

The UAC on the other hand, only has 9 teams (11 in 2025 once UTRGV and West Georgia join). This is also impossible to split into 2 conferences of at least 6.

But all either conference needs to add is one more...who would that 12th school be for 'em both?

[jlog3000]

@sportsfan7 - My point was that it would make a bit more sense to have more a few more conferences than more at-large bids, when it comes to the FCS. Besides, will we ever see an actual superconference like how things are going in the FBS?

[sportsfan7]

1 hour ago, jlog3000 said:

@sportsfan7 - My point was that it would make a bit more sense to have more a few more conferences than more at-large bids, when it comes to the FCS. Besides, will we ever see an actual superconference like how things are going in the FBS?

But why? If the goal is for conferences to be as close to 6 without going under that would be incredibly unstable. For example, the MVFC has 12 schools this year. According to you, they should split into 2 conferences: the MVC with Indiana St, Illinois St, MO St, Murray St, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and the Summit with UND, NDSU, USD, SDSU, Western Illinois, Youngstown St. Once Western Illinois leaves after this year, then Summit would have to scramble to find another team to replace them and get back to 6 members, something the MVFC doesn't need to worry about since they are only down to 11.

[TrueYankee26]

On 11/17/2023 at 2:09 PM, TrueYankee26 said:

It is really trending towards a 2Pac-Mountain West scheduling alliance and then merger https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2023-11-16/oregon-state-washington-state-eye-alliance-with-mountain-west-san-diego-state-aztecs-football

And it has been announced, the football scheduling alliance.

 

All MW teams will play Oregon State or Wazzu. It will still be treated as OOC games and the 2Pac are ineligible for the MW Championship Game

[Germanshepherd]

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-statue-university-northeast-conference-basketball-teams/14145649/

 

Chicago State finds a future home in the NEC

[jlog3000]

Finally, Chicago State will have a conference home. However, will it last in the long run? I mean, I can understand why it was needed, as the NEC is a core member school shy to losing the automatic qualifying bids.

 

But at the same time, it reminded me of how the A-Sun added NJIT due to a similar predicament back in 2015, and it took nearly years for that conference to rebuild after having losses of schools from an expansion standpoint, especially after NJIT left to join the AmEast in 2020.

 

So I wonder if it eventually happen for the NEC, when it comes to keep stability and later get some expansion schools until those schools fully transition from D-II to D-I, and later Chicago State would eventually move into another fitting conference, as long as they will rebuild themselves to be somewhat competitive.

[Dilbert]

I mean if California and Stanford can be in the Atlantic Coast Conference then why not? I thought Chicago State was on the brink of collapse awhile back.

[Burkell007]

On 11/27/2023 at 11:55 AM, jlog3000 said:

If that is official, I wonder who would be that potential 12th member school. If it would be SFA or Tarleton or EKU next in line. Before 2023, C-USA had a presence in Texas with many schools (like 3-4), now it has one with Sam Houston.

I thought I heard that UT Arlington was adding football? Would fit perfectly, was in the Sun Belt but did not have football at the time so it & UALR left. But C USA would be a great fit for them. 
 

edit:  https://fearthefcs.com/2023/04/07/first-hurdle-cleared-in-bid-to-bring-back-football-to-ut-arlington/

 

yep from April. 1st hurdle cleared.

[Seadragon76]

12 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

Finally, Chicago State will have a conference home. However, will it last in the long run? I mean, I can understand why it was needed, as the NEC is a core member school shy to losing the automatic qualifying bids.

 

But at the same time, it reminded me of how the A-Sun added NJIT due to a similar predicament back in 2015, and it took nearly years for that conference to rebuild after having losses of schools from an expansion standpoint, especially after NJIT left to join the AmEast in 2020.

 

So I wonder if it eventually happen for the NEC, when it comes to keep stability and later get some expansion schools until those schools fully transition from D-II to D-I, and later Chicago State would eventually move into another fitting conference, as long as they will rebuild themselves to be somewhat competitive.

 

It might. This is a marriage of convenience for both sides: For Chicago State, it's a home after two years of wandering the wasteland that is being an Independent outside of football. This also means that the teams that do have homes as associate members now get a true home.

 

For the NEC, it's a school that's already in Division I that can help them stay afloat as both Sacred Heart and Merrimack leave. It also gives them access to the Chicago media market (what little they can get from it, anyway).

 

The wildcard in all this? Chicago State's plan to add football. By joining the NEC, Chicago State has a home for the planned football program they want to launch.

[GDAWG]

5 hours ago, Burkell007 said:

I thought I heard that UT Arlington was adding football? Would fit perfectly, was in the Sun Belt but did not have football at the time so it & UALR left. But C USA would be a great fit for them. 
 

edit:  https://fearthefcs.com/2023/04/07/first-hurdle-cleared-in-bid-to-bring-back-football-to-ut-arlington/

 

yep from April. 1st hurdle cleared.

 

So the scuttlebutt has been for a long time is if UT-Arlington gets football back, they would play home games at Choctaw Stadium if they went to a G5 Conference right away.  If it's the FCS (Southland Conference), it's their very own UTA Maverick Stadium, which is currently used by Arlington Independent School District in football.  

[DCarp1231]

Would there actually be a PAC-2-PAC conference default championship game until WSU and OSU can find a permanent conference?