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Division 1 College Conference Realignment


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The University of Massachusetts at Amherst will announce at a press conference at Gillette Stadium tomorrow that the school's football team will be moving to the NCCA Football Bowl Subdivision's Mid-American Conference in time for the 2012 season. With the move, UMass will shift all of its home football games from the on-campus Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

UMass football press conference will announce upgrade to FBS

3 questions: What is the commute like? Is the attendance going to be like "Temple in the Linc?" Is this a temporary move pending massive stadium building or not?

Amherst is about 90 miles from Foxborough.

Last season, UMass averaged 13,004 on campus (capacity of ~17,000). They did host New Hampshire at Gillette Stadium last season drawing 32,848. The Boston Herald says that the school will expand, but they should play at least one or more games at Gillette in order to keep attendance above the FBS minimum of 15,000.

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The University of Massachusetts at Amherst will announce at a press conference at Gillette Stadium tomorrow that the school's football team will be moving to the NCCA Football Bowl Subdivision's Mid-American Conference in time for the 2012 season. With the move, UMass will shift all of its home football games from the on-campus Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

UMass football press conference will announce upgrade to FBS

3 questions: What is the commute like? Is the attendance going to be like "Temple in the Linc?" Is this a temporary move pending massive stadium building or not?

Amherst is about 90 miles from Foxborough.

Last season, UMass averaged 13,004 on campus (capacity of ~17,000). They did host New Hampshire at Gillette Stadium last season drawing 32,848. The Boston Herald says that the school will expand, but they should play at least one or more games at Gillette in order to keep attendance above the FBS minimum of 15,000.

Yeah, no one will be going to Gillette from campus. I missed the UNH game last year but the lack of a student section, although there isn't much of one now, is something to think about. (Not really -- it won't affect anything, but it won't be a great atmosphere obviously.)

Re: Temple in the Linc -- essentially. There are over 200,000 alumni who will probably be temporarily excited though, and many of them (who stayed in the NE area) live closer to Gillette than Amherst.

The article only says "a majority of home games" will be played at Gillette. And I don't know, expansion won't really help much. McGuirk is a POS. The move will happen regardless, but other than the problem of finding unused unprotected land on campus, this is a perfect opportunity to raise money for a new stadium.

I wish UMass somehow found a way to sneak into the Big East (fat chance), but this is a good start. I don't think that goal is completely dashed, either -- they could be a pretty good fit in a few years if they expand the program efficiently. Still, it's good to have more bigtime college football around here.

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The Boston Herald says that the school will expand, but they should play at least one or more games at Gillette in order to keep attendance above the FBS minimum of 15,000.

UMass-Amherst's own press release reads:

"UMass will be playing all of its 2012 and 2013 games at Gillette Stadium, a world class facility with seating for 68,756. Playing near Boston will enable UMass to to engage its large alumni and fan base in Eastern Massachusetts."

While they only mention the 2012 and 2013 seasons, I wouldn't bet on UMass football returning to an on-campus stadium any time soon.

* The MAC is primarily bringing UMass into the conference in order to establish a foothold in the Boston marketplace; Hartford/Springfield - which is the market Amherst is in - is a minor consideration. So, frankly, the MAC would rather see the Minutemen playing at Gillette as much as possible for as long as possible.

* UMass is better able to "engage its large alumni" population by playing in close proximity to Boston.

* The Krafts - who reportedly initially lobbied on behalf of UMass with Big East officials - are enamored with landing a new tenant for Gillette Stadium for as many games as possible for as long as possible.

* UMass-Amherst has bigger fish to fry when it comes to construction on campus. Reportedly, the current priority project is construction of housing dedicated to students in the university's Commonwealth Honors College. Whether there will be money, or space, remaining for an upgraded, on-campus football stadium after that project is completed is open to question.

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The Boston Herald says that the school will expand, but they should play at least one or more games at Gillette in order to keep attendance above the FBS minimum of 15,000.

UMass-Amherst's own press release reads:

"UMass will be playing all of its 2012 and 2013 games at Gillette Stadium, a world class facility with seating for 68,756. Playing near Boston will enable UMass to to engage its large alumni and fan base in Eastern Massachusetts."

While they only mention the 2012 and 2013 seasons, I wouldn't bet on UMass football returning to an on-campus stadium any time soon.

* The MAC is primarily bringing UMass into the conference in order to establish a foothold in the Boston marketplace; Hartford/Springfield - which is the market Amherst is in - is a minor consideration. So, frankly, the MAC would rather see the Minutemen playing at Gillette as much as possible for as long as possible.

* UMass is better able to "engage its large alumni" population by playing in close proximity to Boston.

* The Krafts - who reportedly initially lobbied on behalf of UMass with Big East officials - are enamored with landing a new tenant for Gillette Stadium for as many games as possible for as long as possible.

* UMass-Amherst has bigger fish to fry when it comes to construction on campus. Reportedly, the current priority project is construction of housing dedicated to students in the university's Commonwealth Honors College. Whether there will be money, or space, remaining for an upgraded, on-campus football stadium after that project is completed is open to question.

FWIW, the school is reevaluating their Master Plan, even with an open forum this evening. The announcement earlier will have people asking about facility expansion as part of that master plan.

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  • 1 month later...

The outlook for the WAC still looks bleak. Unable to get a FCS school to move up this year, they settle for non-football playing Seattle.

They really don't have many option in terms of football playing schools to attract. UL-Lafayette and North Texas for current FBS schools along with FCS teams in Sac State, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Montana, Montana State, and Cal-Poly.

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The outlook for the WAC still looks bleak. Unable to get a FCS school to move up this year, they settle for non-football playing Seattle.

They really don't have many option in terms of football playing schools to attract. UL-Lafayette and North Texas for current FBS schools along with FCS teams in Sac State, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Montana, Montana State, and Cal-Poly.

I want to say that at least a handful of those schools have already turned the WAC down.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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The outlook for the WAC still looks bleak. Unable to get a FCS school to move up this year, they settle for non-football playing Seattle.

They really don't have many option in terms of football playing schools to attract. UL-Lafayette and North Texas for current FBS schools along with FCS teams in Sac State, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Montana, Montana State, and Cal-Poly.

I want to say that at least a handful of those schools have already turned the WAC down.

I'm surprised Portland State isn't on that list. Even if their football program has been less than stellar, they are still the biggest university in Oregon, and they excel at many other sports like basketball and soccer.

b0b5d4f702adf623d75285ca50ee7632.jpg
Why you make fun of me? I make concept for Auburn champions and you make fun of me. I cry tears.
Chopping off the dicks of Filipino boys and embracing causes that promote bigotry =/= strong moral character.
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The outlook for the WAC still looks bleak. Unable to get a FCS school to move up this year, they settle for non-football playing Seattle.

They really don't have many option in terms of football playing schools to attract. UL-Lafayette and North Texas for current FBS schools along with FCS teams in Sac State, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Montana, Montana State, and Cal-Poly.

I want to say that at least a handful of those schools have already turned the WAC down.

I know that Montana and Cal Poly have said no already to the WAC. Sacramento State just doesn't have the resources availible at the moment for a jump to FBS and there's no chance in hell Montana State goes anywhere without Montana.

This leaves Sam Houston State and Lamar, both schools having ambitions to move up to FBS level play, as the most likely options for the WAC. But, what does that do to the Southland should these two schools jump ship?

 

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The outlook for the WAC still looks bleak. Unable to get a FCS school to move up this year, they settle for non-football playing Seattle.

They really don't have many option in terms of football playing schools to attract. UL-Lafayette and North Texas for current FBS schools along with FCS teams in Sac State, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Montana, Montana State, and Cal-Poly.

I want to say that at least a handful of those schools have already turned the WAC down.

I know that Montana and Cal Poly have said no already to the WAC. Sacramento State just doesn't have the resources availible at the moment for a jump to FBS and there's no chance in hell Montana State goes anywhere without Montana.

This leaves Sam Houston State and Lamar, both schools having ambitions to move up to FBS level play, as the most likely options for the WAC. But, what does that do to the Southland should these two schools jump ship?

I doubt Lamar would make the jump after having just started a football program. They are smaller than UTSA and Texas State already has a strong football program. Like I said, Portland State is probably the most sensible candidate to make the jump.

b0b5d4f702adf623d75285ca50ee7632.jpg
Why you make fun of me? I make concept for Auburn champions and you make fun of me. I cry tears.
Chopping off the dicks of Filipino boys and embracing causes that promote bigotry =/= strong moral character.
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If you're in Texas and you just started a football program, I'm pretty sure I-A is your eventual goal.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

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BTW, is Denver going to be a non-football member when it joins the WAC?

Yep. Denver and Seattle are the Non-football members while Texas State-San Marcos and UTSA are joining the WAC with football in tow.

And rams80 makes a very good point: The goal of some of these programs that have started football programs as of late, like Lamar, is to reach the FBS level. The WAC would provide a decent home for the football program and it would help satisfy Louisiana Tech from being so far out from everyone else.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, the WAC is striking again.

UT-Arlington

Football is not on the immediate table for UT-A.

They throw the idea around, but the resources aren't available.

I actually worked closely with UTA's athletic department for a marketing project. Many students aren't too terribly interested in athletics now (still a heavy commuter school).

They're looking pretty cheap at this point, but they nearly finished their new basketball arena.

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Well, the WAC is striking again.

UT-Arlington

Football is not on the immediate table for UT-A.

They throw the idea around, but the resources aren't available.

I actually worked closely with UTA's athletic department for a marketing project. Many students aren't too terribly interested in athletics now (still a heavy commuter school).

They're looking pretty cheap at this point, but they nearly finished their new basketball arena.

They are getting out of Texas Hall and in general, schools can use their money to get a higher turnout for an increase in student fees. The best company to pass student fees is Brailsford & Dunlavey

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Well, the WAC is striking again.

UT-Arlington

Football is not on the immediate table for UT-A.

I still have no idea why they don't just add Portland State. It's the largest university in Oregon, and it would give them enough football teams to have a legitimate conference.

b0b5d4f702adf623d75285ca50ee7632.jpg
Why you make fun of me? I make concept for Auburn champions and you make fun of me. I cry tears.
Chopping off the dicks of Filipino boys and embracing causes that promote bigotry =/= strong moral character.
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Well, the WAC is striking again.

UT-Arlington

Football is not on the immediate table for UT-A.

I still have no idea why they don't just add Portland State. It's the largest university in Oregon, and it would give them enough football teams to have a legitimate conference.

Because Portland State doesn't want to go I-A?

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

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Well, the WAC is striking again.

UT-Arlington

Football is not on the immediate table for UT-A.

I still have no idea why they don't just add Portland State. It's the largest university in Oregon, and it would give them enough football teams to have a legitimate conference.

I think Jeld-Win Field is not an FBS football stadium. But the old 30,000-seat stadium rule has been abolished, so who knows what qualfiies.

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