Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[FiddySicks]

But that’s the thing. This isn’t pro sports we’re talking about. There are other factors to consider than just market size. I would agree with you on this one if Vegas had a more renowned institution than UNLV, but they just don’t. 
 

Let me put it this way. Nobody would even consider putting the University of Nevada Reno in the PAC 12, nor should they. But even with that, UNR absolutely DOMINATES UNLV in the state of Nevada when it comes to institutional prestige (and this isn’t just sports I’m talking about, it’s the whole package). Like, the two schools aren’t even comparable in just about everything across the board. UNR is a head and shoulders a better school than UNLV. Now, swap situations for the schools, like, put UNR’s setup in Vegas? Now you’re talking. That would absolutely be a fantastic choice for addition to the PAC 12. But that’s just not the case. UNLV would be BY FAR the smallest, most underfunded school the conference has ever had. It would take much less effort and be a bigger payoff to add just about any other western school at this point. 

[WestCoastBias]

9 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

It's still more than anything Fresno has ever accomplished. Aside from pumping out the Carr brothers, i have a hard time coming up with anything Fresno State has ever done.

 

And again, Vega$ >>> Fresneck. Fans will travel to Vegas. Nobody's going to Fresno to watch their school then party the rest of the weekend 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WestCoastBias]

25 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

It's still more than anything Fresno has ever accomplished. Aside from pumping out the Carr brothers, i have a hard time coming up with anything Fresno State has ever done.

 

And again, Vega$ >>> Fresneck. Fans will travel to Vegas. Nobody's going to Fresno to watch their school then party the rest of the weekend 

 

Also, your main argument for adding UNLV is that it'll be a good place for other fans to travel too? Not because they already have great home atmospheres or successful teams? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. 

[Gary]

reading this thread and I swear we have the highest alumni rate at ASU now that the ghost of Norm is a student. Sorry random brain

[Cujo]

1 hour ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where's the national title? Or is the top baseball pic one?

[FiddySicks]

Fresno State won the College World Series in 2008. 

[Gary]

The only time I have ever heard the UNLV have any success was 30-35 years ago during the Tarkanian era in basketball. That was a fun time to watch especially with Larry Johnson there. I remember everyone wearing the UNLV gear along side the Raider and Bulls. But thatbwas so many years ago. With Fresno State, they have a good academic college and they r0e persistent with athletic success. If the Pac was to expand I would love to see them with San Diego State and possibly SMU

[WestCoastBias]

19 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Where's the national title? Or is the top baseball pic one?

 

12 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Fresno State won the College World Series in 2008. 

 

 The 1998 Women's CWS as well

[Red Wolf]

1 hour ago, Gary said:

reading this thread and I swear we have the highest alumni rate at ASU now that the ghost of Norm is a student. Sorry random brain

 

And I pretended to be an Arizona State fan at some point. I forget why that happened. I think something embarrassing happened to Arizona. Maybe when they got their ass beat by Buffalo in the tourney?

[sportsfan7]

3 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

It's still more than anything Fresno has ever accomplished. Aside from pumping out the Carr brothers, i have a hard time coming up with anything Fresno State has ever done.

 

And again, Vega$ >>> Fresneck. Fans will travel to Vegas. Nobody's going to Fresno to watch their school then party the rest of the weekend 

Just so we're clear, you think that the PAC-12, which has a team in Pullman, Washington as well as Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon won't invite a team that plays in a city of over half a million because of it's remoteness and lack of amenities? The city of Fresno probably brings more to the table than a third of Power 5 cities. Markets very briefly mattered when conferences were trying to get their channels into as many homes as possible before cable stopped being the end all be all of television. At this point it seems like two things have replaced market size; how many committed fans are going to tune in for every football game, most basketball games, and a few baseball/women's basketball/softball/other games and how many casual fans across the country will tune in occasionally based off their impression of the school.

[FiddySicks]

1 hour ago, Red Wolf said:

 

And I pretended to be an Arizona State fan at some point. I forget why that happened. I think something embarrassing happened to Arizona. Maybe when they got their ass beat by Buffalo in the tourney?

Didn’t it have something to do with Arkansas State? 

[Red Wolf]

4 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Didn’t it have something to do with Arkansas State? 

 

Yeah, that's right. Both ASU's were held down by the political forces trying to prop up UA. In spite of that both ASU's managed to become universities. Suck it, UA (pick one).

 

Also, Sun Devils are sick as hell. Wildcats? Lame.

[TrueYankee26]

4 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a feeling that Fresno would be the new Utah and TCU if invited to the PAC or Big 12.

[WestCoastBias]

2 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:

I have a feeling that Fresno would be the new Utah and TCU if invited to the PAC or Big 12.

 

I think they could be competitive in the Pac-12. Last year, they handled  WSU in the LA Bowl and lost to 10 win Oregon State on the last play of the game. The USC game was a different story but Fresno had some key players go down with injuries. They've won their past 4 matchups against UCLA. I mean there is a reason Cal and Stanford don't schedule Fresno State, they don't want to lose and have their stadiums taken over by the Red Wave..

 

[McCall]

13 hours ago, sportsfan7 said:

Just so we're clear, you think that the PAC-12, which has a team in Pullman, Washington as well as Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon won't invite a team that plays in a city of over half a million because of it's remoteness and lack of amenities? The city of Fresno probably brings more to the table than a third of Power 5 cities. Markets very briefly mattered when conferences were trying to get their channels into as many homes as possible before cable stopped being the end all be all of television. At this point it seems like two things have replaced market size; how many committed fans are going to tune in for every football game, most basketball games, and a few baseball/women's basketball/softball/other games and how many casual fans across the country will tune in occasionally based off their impression of the school.

Oregon State and Washington State have been members since the days of the Pacific Coast Conference (if one agrees they share the same lineage), 1915 and 1917, respectively.  With the formation of the AAWC, Washington State joined in 1962 and Oregon State in 1964. In other words, these are long time members since well before the days of markets and tv deals. I've heard of very few, if any, conferences kicking members out because they're not up to the level of the rest of the league. But that is where they become picky on letting new members in. If the Pac-12 goes the way we think it is, Oregon State and Washington State could end up being conference-mates with Fresno State in the Mountain West. Or in a diluted Pac-12.

[BBTV]

34 minutes ago, McCall said:

I've heard of very few, if any, conferences kicking members out because they're not up to the level of the rest of the league.

 

I know it's from a different era, but that's basically what happened when Temple was booted from the old Big East.

[TrueYankee26]

Another college bites the dust. Iowa Wesleyan of NAIA gone after the end of the academic year

 

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-wesleyan-university-to-close-in-may-2023-mount-pleasant-iowa/43442545

[jlog3000]

Well I'll be damned. I mean, I bet no one expected that to happen, and they got an invitation to re-join the American Midwest Conference a few months ago after spending 2 seasons (including this school year) in the Independent ranks (i.e.: Continental or AII) when they re-joined the NAIA from the NCAA D-III ranks.

 

But in general, that's another school who will either discontinue its athletics program or close entirely altogether in the past few weeks, regardless of college sports level; like how St. Francis (NY) just somehow announced to remove its athletics program, leaving another blow to the D-I NEC.

[Seadragon76]

Iowa Wesleyan is another example of how the COVID-19 lock down and the aftermath from them have harmed these smaller schools. It also doesn't help that inflation has made it harder for kids to go to school and other things.

 

What sealed their fate was the rejection of a request for $12 Million in federal funds by the state's governor, who seems hell bent on making Iowa into the 'Mississippi of the Midwest', but this isn't the place for that kind of conversation.

 

In terms of conferences affected by this... the American Midwest will basically be where it is now because the move isn't happening at all now. On the other hand, the North Star gets hit *again* because Iowa Wesleyan was a football affiliate of theirs.  Along with Presentation closing, the conference is now down to five football playing schools. I personally think that these schools should merge with the Frontier Conference for football. Now, yes, there are the outlier schools in Idaho, Oregon and Arizona that would make travel a little tricky for some of the schools (Waldorf being the biggest one of the North Star schools), but the schools in Montana and the Dakotas would love to see games between their schools.

[sportsfan7]

54 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

What sealed their fate was the rejection of a request for $12 Million in federal funds by the state's governor, who seems hell bent on making Iowa into the 'Mississippi of the Midwest', but this isn't the place for that kind of conversation.

Isn't Iowa Wesleyan a private school? Why should  they be getting government money