Villanova still wants a seat at the BE football table

[Rumrunner]

http://m.philly.com/phillycom/pm_21411/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DoT4HDNX

"A presidential meeting is scheduled for this weekend, where Rev. Peter Donahue of Villanova is expected to reiterate the university's desire to be a part of all this. In April, Villanova was set to vote yes to make the financial commitment and move up from FCS. But at the last moment the conference had the vote tabled, to take more time for due diligence."


Looks like no Temple, unless Nova looks at BE football as incubator for their desired move to the ACC.

 

[epark88]

"ACCESS: DENIED" ...

 

[upstater]

What in the world is this deranged lunatic asking for?

The whole concept was iffy even when it looked like the BE was about to bag $11 million per team. Now that the cost is even more prohibitive, he still wants to go ahead with it?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

He had a chance to be part of the league in April, but he thought the next TV deal would be huge and tie the league together, so he submitted a joke of a proposal which seemed to indicate they weren't serious about upgrading. Now he wants to upgrade? Is he going to change his mind again?

villanova to D1 is a non-starter at this point, not because of the school or anything else, but because of the Administration at that school.

 

[SAMCRO]

Nova should still upgrade FB regardelss of a seat at the BE table or not. I'm fairly certain they could get a spot in the MAC as a FB only (similar to UMass), and work on building up their program to one day being a viable option for the ACC. Why wouldn't they. It might be 5-10 years down the road, but it's not a terrible move if they do.

 

[nadav]

Why wouldn't they.

Because they cannot afford it. Maybe the Big East and Johnny Marinara would let them play in an MLS stadium seating 20k people in the middle of a war zone, but the ACC is never going to let that happen.

 

[ctchamps]

No matter what the intentions were for Villinova's past actions, the framework for what works for the remaining BE football teams is radically different than existed when the proposal was first made to consider an upgrade of Villinova's football program.

The time frame to get the program to 1A status is too long given recent events. So the seriousness of Nova's intentions are irrelevant. The remaining six BE football universities will have to weigh options in what they do without regard to Nova's actions if they are intent on acting in unison.

Nova has less control of it's destiny than UConn and will be a follower of events rather than a creator of events.

 

[upstater]

Nova should still upgrade FB regardelss of a seat at the BE table or not. I'm fairly certain they could get a spot in the MAC as a FB only (similar to UMass), and work on building up their program to one day being a viable option for the ACC. Why wouldn't they. It might be 5-10 years down the road, but it's not a terrible move if they do.

Because for other schools that joined the MAC out of D1AA, the whole thing has become one huge money sink. Compare Buffalo's budget in 2000 to Buffalo's budget in 2010 and you'll see why schools like Nova and Umass that are making these decisions are out of their minds.

I read an article yesterday about Buffalo starting a D1 Hockey team with a league already in place to accept them. It's a natural for them. and if they do get it going, and if it does become a success, it would give them some room to reconsider their support for football, since the whole point of going D1 in the first place was to establish some campus cohesion through sports.

 

[Mr.Phat]

Because they cannot afford it. Maybe the Big East and Johnny Marinara would let them play in an MLS stadium seating 20k people in the middle of a war zone, but the ACC is never going to let that happen.

They are not even close to affording it. They want everyone else to finance their BCS dreams.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Unless Nova can come up with a stadium solution that seats more than 35K, just say NO to NOVA.

 

[Rumrunner]

If Villanova had upgraded in 2000-2003, there would be no question that they would be in the ACC right now. As bad as we think we have it right now, given conference uncertainity, put yourself in Nova's shoes. They let a once in a generation opportunity pass them by. Teams like UCF, ECU, Boise State would kill for an AQ slot. Very strange that such an expensive school has such a small endowment, especially when compared to TCU, SMU.

 

[Robertelamin]

Can they even afford this? Seems like a complete waste of time at this point.