Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[Maroon]

50 minutes ago, TrueYankee26 said:

Missouri State joins C-USA in 2025. Which means the Missouri side of the Ozarks will have an FBS team. https://twitter.com/MissouriStBears/status/1788933302033789079?t=37oDBlvFp-5q4lPkY9qfkw&s=19

 

Let's GOOOOOOOO

I feel like I'm in a dream. Fantasized about the Bears joining FBS for a long while. 

[jlog3000]

2 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:

Missouri State joins C-USA in 2025. Which means the Missouri side of the Ozarks will have an FBS team. https://twitter.com/MissouriStBears/status/1788933302033789079?t=37oDBlvFp-5q4lPkY9qfkw&s=19

 

I'm a bit surprised that C-USA has chosen Missouri State as the next member school to join the conference, although not shocked because it was a potential rumored hopeful since recent years ago, especially when C-USA was being poached by the AAC and the Sun Belt.

 

As a fan of realignment, I was expecting that the league would like somehow go back west of the Mississippi River to find schools to expand; particularly in the Texas area, as it was hurt the most during the time they got poached in 2021. Many folks thought that schools like Stephen F. Austin or Tarleton would be next in line.

 

Now the questions are the following:

 

a.) Will C-USA plan on expanding a bit more and get upto 14 schools, or will it stay at 12 come post-2025?

b.) Will the MVC find a school to replace Missouri State to return back to 12? Because not only it would hurt a bit to that conference (for most non-football sports), but also the MVFC.

[Seadragon76]

41 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

Now the questions are the following:

 

a.) Will C-USA plan on expanding a bit more and get upto 14 schools, or will it stay at 12 come post-2025?

b.) Will the MVC find a school to replace Missouri State to return back to 12? Because not only it would hurt a bit to that conference (for most non-football sports), but also the MVFC.

 

1.)  Probably not. A quarter of the conference in 2025 will be schools moving up to the FBS level from the FCS level. With the $5 million price tag for moving up, that's going to scare a lot of schools away. Not to mention that the gap between the Power 4 and the Group of 5 is getting wider every day.

 

2.) A few names come to mind here - St. Thomas (MN), Omaha, Northern Kentucky. The Tommies would be a really good fit, but I think the MVC is holding off on them until their five year transition period ends.

[jlog3000]

@Seadragon76 Fair points. And prior to Missouri State as well as that insanely inflated amount to pay up to move up for FCS schools to go for FBS status, most people and analysts were expecting other schools like Stephen F. Austin or Tarleton, as C-USA had suffered a big blow on the Texas area; because adding just Sam Houston State alone is still not enough. It would had made sense for another TX school to like create some gap with SH and New Mexico State.

[jlog3000]

Grand Canyon and Seattle expected to join the WCC, effective fall 2025:

 

https://wccsports.com/news/2024/5/10/general-west-coast-conference-adds-grand-canyon-university-and-seattle-university-as-members.aspx

 

If that is official, this would spell danger for the WAC as a conference from a standpoint of stability, and lack of interest or will to explore expansion (unless if it's 'strictly and solely' within just D-I schools, which is highly impossible.)

[McCall]

1 hour ago, jlog3000 said:

 

I'm a bit surprised that C-USA has chosen Missouri State as the next member school to join the conference, although not shocked because it was a potential rumored hopeful since recent years ago, especially when C-USA was being poached by the AAC and the Sun Belt.

 

As a fan of realignment, I was expecting that the league would like somehow go back west of the Mississippi River to find schools to expand; particularly in the Texas area, as it was hurt the most during the time they got poached in 2021. Many folks thought that schools like Stephen F. Austin or Tarleton would be next in line.

 

Now the questions are the following:

 

a.) Will C-USA plan on expanding a bit more and get upto 14 schools, or will it stay at 12 come post-2025?

b.) Will the MVC find a school to replace Missouri State to return back to 12? Because not only it would hurt a bit to that conference (for most non-football sports), but also the MVFC.

Are you implying Missouri State is NOT west of the Mississippi River?

[Seadragon76]

29 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

Grand Canyon and Seattle expected to join the WCC, effective fall 2025:

 

https://wccsports.com/news/2024/5/10/general-west-coast-conference-adds-grand-canyon-university-and-seattle-university-as-members.aspx

 

If that is official, this would spell danger for the WAC as a conference from a standpoint of stability, and lack of interest or will to explore expansion (unless if it's 'strictly and solely' within just D-I schools, which is highly impossible.)

 

There will be some panic setting in because they are losing their best performing school in Grand Canyon.

 

But there will be no tears shed to see Seattle leave. The Redhawks were the biggest geographical outlier in the WAC, bar none. With them gone, the conference can shift their focus on being based in the southwest.

Edited May 10 by Seadragon76

[jlog3000]

2 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

 

There will be some panic setting in because they are losing their best performing school in Grand Canyon.

 

But there will be no tears shed to see Seattle leave. The Redhawks were the biggest geographical outlier in the WAC, bar none. With them gone, the conference can their focus on being based in the southwest.

 

Once Seattle and Grand Canyon leave, wouldnt Utah Tech, Utah Valley and Southern Utah be the next 'geographical outliers' in the conference? If not, maybe Cal Baptist, which I'm a bit surprised that they didn't yet get an invite to the WCC; as they are a religious affiliation-based private school.

[Sykotyk]

1 hour ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Once Seattle and Grand Canyon leave, wouldnt Utah Tech, Utah Valley and Southern Utah be the next 'geographical outliers' in the conference? If not, maybe Cal Baptist, which I'm a bit surprised that they didn't yet get an invite to the WCC; as they are a religious affiliation-based private school.

Hard to have 3 schools grouped together to be outliers. 

 

They most likely will schedule travel to all three for all sports and make it cost effective. 

[TBGKon]

17 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

 

Once Seattle and Grand Canyon leave, wouldnt Utah Tech, Utah Valley and Southern Utah be the next 'geographical outliers' in the conference? If not, maybe Cal Baptist, which I'm a bit surprised that they didn't yet get an invite to the WCC; as they are a religious affiliation-based private school.

 

16 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

Hard to have 3 schools grouped together to be outliers. 

 

They most likely will schedule travel to all three for all sports and make it cost effective. 

If anything, having Seattle leave "is" losing their outlier.  Now with the remaining 8, Cal Baptist is the outlier with 3 in Utah and 4 in North Texas.

[Seadragon76]

That's true. California Baptist now becomes the outlier. But, they are in the Greater Los Angeles area, so it's not too much of a stretch for the other seven schools to get there.

[Gary]

8 hours ago, TBGKon said:

 

If anything, having Seattle leave "is" losing their outlier.  Now with the remaining 8, Cal Baptist is the outlier with 3 in Utah and 4 in North Texas.

If anything you’re losing the Phoenix and Seattle market. IMO these two schools are better off as WCC than WAC. GCU and Seattle would be better playing St. Mary’s and Gonzaga of the world than what the WAC offers every year. Plus basketball standpoint the Anteloples are coming off their best season and will only get better. Baseball wise they have always been a pretty good program.

[jlog3000]

Indeed. At least for the WCC, Phoenix will be a new market for them.

 

Now will the WAC eventually implode and cease operations without having the plan to expand in case another of the remaining 8 schools would somehow look for greater pastures?

[Seadragon76]

13 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

Indeed. At least for the WCC, Phoenix will be a new market for them.

 

Now will the WAC eventually implode and cease operations without having the plan to expand in case another of the remaining 8 schools would somehow look for greater pastures?

 

There are rumblings out there that one or two of the Texas schools might want to return to the Southland, but I don't know if it's viable since that bridge seemed to be burnt down when they left.

 

I personally think the WAC is just fine at 8 members. They do lose their best program in Grand Canyon... but let's be honest here - UTRGV and Seattle weren't exactly pulling their weight in the conference as of late. Seeing those two leave will help the conference be better in the long run.

 

Now, if someone from Division II out there wants to make the move from the area, now is their chance. Otherwise, the WAC is probably at eight teams for a long time.

[jlog3000]

2 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

 

There are rumblings out there that one or two of the Texas schools might want to return to the Southland, but I don't know if it's viable since that bridge seemed to be burnt down when they left.

 

I personally think the WAC is just fine at 8 members. They do lose their best program in Grand Canyon... but let's be honest here - UTRGV and Seattle weren't exactly pulling their weight in the conference as of late. Seeing those two leave will help the conference be better in the long run.

 

Now, if someone from Division II out there wants to make the move from the area, now is their chance. Otherwise, the WAC is probably at eight teams for a long time.

 

But would they be fine at just eight on the long run? What if another team somehow follows suit like Grand Canyon and Seattle just did?

 

And from a standpoint of callups, only those that fit the WAC's footprint are technically mutually shared with the Southland's (i.e.: Texas A&M-Commerce from the Lone Star [LSC]), and that's either the Lone Star or the RMAC or the NSIC.

 

Plus, that bridge was burnt down thanks to Sam Houston State (of the Texas-4 that the WAC was aiming to expand its footprint a bit more) who decided on wanting to move to the FBS like out of nowhere.

[Seadragon76]

In a surprising move, Richmond football is leaving the CAA for the Patriot League in 2025

[leopard88]

21 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

In a surprising move, Richmond football is leaving the CAA for the Patriot League in 2025

 

That is a surprise.  It would suggest that Richmond is deemphasizing football to some extent.

 

The next question is whether the CAA will add anyone to take their place.  With Delaware moving up, they will have an even number after Richmond leaves, so maybe not.

[Burmy]

4 hours ago, leopard88 said:

 

That is a surprise.  It would suggest that Richmond is deemphasizing football to some extent.

 

The next question is whether the CAA will add anyone to take their place.  With Delaware moving up, they will have an even number after Richmond leaves, so maybe not.

I think it's more because the CAA wants all-sports members (even though CAA Football and CAA other sports are technically two distinct organizations) and the Spiders don't wanna leave the A-10 in their other sports...similar to why Little Rock and UTA left the Sun Belt, because they didn't and don't have football programs.

[jlog3000]

2 minutes ago, Burmy said:

I think it's more because the CAA wants all-sports members (even though CAA Football and CAA other sports are technically two distinct organizations) and the Spiders don't wanna leave the A-10 in their other sports...similar to why Little Rock and UTA left the Sun Belt, because they didn't and don't have football programs.

 

I was thinking  about that also, so who would be next in line to upgrade from football-only to all-sports status and become a full member of the CAA? Would it be another AmEast school that would follow the Stony Brook path (i.e.: Albany, etc.)?

 

P.S.: On the latter about UALR... I mean Little Rock and Texas-Arlington... I mean UTA, they don't and sadly won't have football programs. Hence the Trojans are in the OVC (an FCS conference) and the Mavericks rejoined the soon-to-be decayed WAC (while losing its aspirations to reinstate football).