It's quiet, too quiet...

[hthusky74]

It's amazing how quiet this site has gotten since we were whipped by Buffalo. How depressing. However, I must admit that all the bizarre conjecture before was a bit ridiculous at times. Yet in a strange way I miss it. Maybe a nice winning streak will prime the pump again.

 

[Fishy]

The biggest problem is that this is a conference realignment board and the conferences have all realigned.

 

[huskymedic]

NCAA mandated quiet period.

 

[Hoophound]

Just wait until November or December, then all the rumors will fire up again.

 

[woomba]

Realignment talk is mostly done in the off-season anyway - expect discussions to heat up around January with the NCAA governance discussions.

 

[UC990411]

This board is a lot like SMU's stadium right now...empty

 

[thatguyed]

BIG and Big 12 and ACC are all fighting over us as we speak but it's all hush hush, double secret probation kind of stuff. We should know in about 20 minutes.

 

[geordi]

Actually there is a rumor that a new conference is forming to challenge the B1G, Big 12, ACC, etc. it will include Maine, UNH, UVT, URI, UMass, BU, and us. They're going to call it the Yankee Conference. It's all hush, hush. don't tell anyone.

 

[hthusky74]

Actually there is a rumor that a new conference is forming to challenge the B1G, Big 12, ACC, etc. it will include Maine, UNH, UVT, URI, UMass, BU, and us. They're going to call it the Yankee Conference. It's all hush, hush. don't tell anyone.

No you got it wrong. It is being called the Yank Me Conference!

 

[jostar1]

Well, Dodds was against the Big 12 expanding. Maybe with him retiring, the Big 12 will expand.

 

[BlueHen]

I don't think CR is over, but the GOR agreements have slowed things down. There are conferences that would like to expand, if they can get the right additions, but finding the right additions is the hard part right now.

I think the B1G would add UConn today if there were a suitable partner available (the B1G is not going to add UConn and have an odd number of teams).

The ACC could add UConn and Cincinnati at any time, but there is no immediate reason to do so. The aren't going to add 2 more mouths to feed unless the $ is right, and they may think that there is still a chance that Notre Dame will join in which case they only need to add 1 school instead of 2. If the Big XII decides to expand, the ACC may grab UConn and Cincinnati as a preemptive move, this may be UConn's most likely path out of the AAC.

It may take a few months, or it may take a few years, but I don't think CR is done. Keep in mind that the GOR's have expiration dates. It may be too costly to break a GOR agreement right now, but a few years down the road the price may be right.

 

[buddy]

The biggest problem is that this is a conference realignment board and the conferences have all realigned.

Unfortunately we missed the boat.

 

[Fishy]

I dunno.

We missed a boat, not the boat.

A lot of scrapple has made it onto the lifeboats over the past decade - UConn's will come.

 

[Sleepy]

I dunno.

We missed a boat, not the boat.

A lot of scrapple has made it onto the lifeboats over the past decade - UConn's will come.

That's surprisingly optimistic of you; you were much more doom & gloom about this previously. What's changed?

 

[Fishy]

That's surprisingly optimistic of you; you were much more doom & gloom about this previously. What's changed?

1) I'm thinking about the long game. In the short game, I don't see much movement. That has nothing to do with UConn, it's just that the parts that might move are encumbered by grants and I think the network checkbooks are exhausted. The is the exhale to the inhale that started with the ACC grabbing SU and Pitt and ending with UL replacing Maryland.

2) I think buddy has some troll in him - I'm not feedin' him.

 

[jdubct]

SMU and ECU are forming their own league, The Small Ten. Alaska and Hawaii are joining the AAC.

 

[billybud]

1.

I think that the possibility of CR starts with the Big 12...

....They may feel disadvantaged in making the 4 team playoff by not having a conference championship game while other conferences have a big face-off game. The Big 12 footprint is awkward...with WVU sticking out in the east. An eastern pod would ease some of that awkwardness.

2.

I think that the ACC is less likely to expand. If the Irish find that they can not access the playoff as an independent and join the ACC (very slight chance), I'd expect the ACC to add #16.

3.

The B1G could go to 16....for TV money in upcoming contract negotiaitions. I don't think that they do, but it is a real possibility.

4.

The SEC is hemmed in by the ACC's GOR and with less then competitive teams left in the states in which they want to expand their footprint.

 

[billybud]

FSU's President (Dr. Barron) recent "take"...

"If significant changes are in store, Barron said, it's likely to be nationwide, rather than conference specific. As the monetary gap between the power five conferences (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12) and other FBS programs grows, it's increasingly difficult to find a universal set of guidelines for both sides to live with. The end result could be an official split for the top-tier conferences.

"That's an important question mark and something that we really should think through," Barron said. "If we're applying sets of rules and conditions to such a broad range of schools that are very, very different, I think you end up with a situation in which, every time you make a proposal on a rule change, they get voted down, because one group or another group votes them down because we've got so many different apples and oranges that are there."

That's a scenario Florida State continues to monitor, but following Maryland to a potential payday beyond the ACC is essentially a dead issue, Barron said -- not just at FSU, but around the country.

"I think you may see some things change," Barron said, "but I guess I'm going to be surprised if the power five conferences change much."

 

[HuskyHawk]

FSU's President (Dr. Barron) recent "take"...

"If significant changes are in store, Barron said, it's likely to be nationwide, rather than conference specific. As the monetary gap between the power five conferences (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12) and other FBS programs grows, it's increasingly difficult to find a universal set of guidelines for both sides to live with. The end result could be an official split for the top-tier conferences.

"That's an important question mark and something that we really should think through," Barron said. "If we're applying sets of rules and conditions to such a broad range of schools that are very, very different, I think you end up with a situation in which, every time you make a proposal on a rule change, they get voted down, because one group or another group votes them down because we've got so many different apples and oranges that are there."

That's a scenario Florida State continues to monitor, but following Maryland to a potential payday beyond the ACC is essentially a dead issue, Barron said -- not just at FSU, but around the country.

"I think you may see some things change," Barron said, "but I guess I'm going to be surprised if the power five conferences change much."

FSU is "monitoring the situation"...they are doomed.

 

[billybud]

FSU is "monitoring the situation"...they are doomed.

FSU is monitoring the Power Five split....and is in favor of it according to the Prez...

Doomed? LOL

I get it..."Doomed" is the mantra of this thread line. The raison d'etre. All things doomed.

I do think that the continuance of a 120 team Division I is doomed.

 

[billybud]

Wow....I'd like to go to the Bahama Bowl!

"Because of limited future bowl opportunities, the five smaller FBS conferences are starting three new bowl games in the Bahamas, Boca Raton and Miami in 2014, sources told ESPN.
The bowls will be unique in that the five conferences (American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) will provide the teams as part of a coalition, sources said. The bowls and five conferences will work together to determine which teams will play in the bowls each year."

It looks like a separation....but how can Div. I maintain 32 bowls if they pare down? My guess is that the best of the non Power Five will not be going to the new bowls but the 32 now in place.

 

[ctchamps]

Nothing is etched in stone! Let's just say the power 5 go their own way leaving the remaining detritus high and dry. Looks good for the power 5 and bad for the rest of the schools. So what happens if 8-10 teams outside the power 5 (with or without the backing of the detritus) decide they will form their own cluster, leave the NCAA and pay recruits. There are boosters in these schools who would be willing to go this route and donate money. A network or two will most certainly bid for this. So the big guys and the networks that have contracts with the big guys will have to do something because they will be losing talent to these programs otherwise. Thus they match or out bid this renegade group for recruits. This will be the beginning of the end of college sports as we know it. A minor league will form outside of universities and the system, as it stands today, will end. The sham of giving these athletes an "education" will be removed.

Just one more thing for Dr. Barron to monitor!

 

[billybud]

Nothing is etched in stone! Let's just say the power 5 go their own way leaving the remaining detritus high and dry. Looks good for the power 5 and bad for the rest of the schools. So what happens if 8-10 teams outside the power 5 (with or without the backing of the detritus) decide they will form their own cluster, leave the NCAA and pay recruits. There are boosters in these schools who would be willing to go this route and donate money. A network or two will most certainly bid for this. So the big guys and the networks that have contracts with the big guys will have to do something because they will be losing talent to these programs otherwise. Thus they match or out bid this renegade group for recruits. This will be the beginning of the end of college sports as we know it. A minor league will form outside of universities and the system, as it stands today, will end. The sham of giving these athletes an "education" will be removed.

Just one more thing for Dr. Barron to monitor!

Yeah...so you have a handfull of schools who will be isolated and not able to schedule except among themselves? I don't think anyone will lose sleep monitoring this scenario.

 

[ctchamps]

Yeah...so you have a handfull of schools who will be isolated and not able to schedule except among themselves? I don't think anyone will lose sleep monitoring this scenario.

It would be the shot across the bow that would send shivers to those who have the power and money currently. They would lose a lot of star players to this grouping and hence viewership. It is the model the BCS power brokers hived off the NCAA going one step further! Less people watch FCS because the quality of players is substandard to the major conference players. If those players go to this hypothetical new league, it reduces the quality of the so called power teams. It would be the new power paradigm. It is not out of the realm of possibility. Heck it's possible this will happen anyways even if the P5 plays nice with the university landscape ending the University paradigm for bb and football. It's just a lot less likely and something that has to be considered by the P5.

 

[billybud]

The Dude would like you to discuss this on his radio show....

You can't really pick the show up unless you are wearing a special tin foil hat that directs the voices to speak directly inside your head. Obviously you have the hat already.