UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

[UNI83]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

With the likelihood of Iowa State moving down a level in competition, everything that they do will be altered....If you don't think that this will affect UNI's recruiting, especially in football, then I will politely disagree...


The fact that Iowa State will be signing the same type of player to play at the D 1 level, that we do can not possibly help UNI...

They are going after the same level of talent that UNI has been..

[sportstalkmatt]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

Everyone in the Valley should watch the Big East and A-10. Depaul, Xavier, Dayton, Marquette will be looking for a midwestern conference if they have to...Creighton, Wichita, Southern, and St. Louis would be targets....

Doug Elgin told me that rumor at the MVC tournament this year.

[Kyle]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

The talent gap between UNI and ISU is nearly non-existent. The MVC only stands to benefit from this conference shake-up, as we might be able to pick up a few high quality mid major programs (Butler, Dayton, SLU)

As much as I hate NDSU, I think they are a natural fit for the MVC and will probably join the league in the next 5-7 years, thereby giving WSU some competition in most delusional fan base category.

[Kyle]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

Everyone in the Valley should watch the Big East and A-10. Depaul, Xavier, Dayton, Marquette will be looking for a midwestern conference if they have to...Creighton, Wichita, Southern, and St. Louis would be targets....

Doug Elgin told me that rumor at the MVC tournament this year.

Kick Evansville to the curb and add 3-5 high quality teams to make a 12-14 team league.

[UNIpanther99]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

Everyone in the Valley should watch the Big East and A-10. Depaul, Xavier, Dayton, Marquette will be looking for a midwestern conference if they have to...Creighton, Wichita, Southern, and St. Louis would be targets....

Doug Elgin told me that rumor at the MVC tournament this year.

I doubt SIU would be invited (or accept) to go anywhere. Football really prevents that from happening. If the football schools agree to stick together, we will be fine.

WSU fans are the only ones who think they are too good for the Valley, and honestly they are really stuck without having football and being in the middle of nowhere.

[UNI83]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

I doubt SIU would be invited (or accept) to go anywhere. Football really prevents that from happening. If the football schools agree to stick together, we will be fine.

WSU fans are the only ones who think they are too good for the Valley, and honestly they are really stuck without having football and being in the middle of nowhere.

They could make the location work, but without football they are f-ed. In order to make their location work and "move up" from the Valley they would need to have had football that was at the level of Montana/App St in the FCS or at least as good as Kansas/Utah/BYU at the FBS level already.

[cydave]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

They are going after the same level of talent that UNI has been..

In the 2010 recruiting class for football, ISU signed 20/28 kids from either Texas, Florida, or California.
For the 2010 recruiting class for UNI football, they signed 1/21 kids from those 3 states.
Now, you can say that they have been going after the same "level" of talent, but it is coming from a different area. IF the Big 12 disappears and ISU is left in a lower level conference, they lose those valuable pipelines from the south. ISU will then, more than likely, have to resort to recruiting harder in the midwest, where UNI gets most of their kids. That will have an impact on UNI.

[sportstalkmatt]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

The new conference would be for schools that play high level - non BCS basketball. It would be, again, about market sizes. Wichita, Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cinn., Dayton, St. Louis, Kansas City .... that's a pretty good league for basketball TV money.

Sure, I could see the DIAA football schools sticking together. Just a rumor - probably would never happen - right along with the Jesuit Conference that has been out there for years.

[Newsbreaker]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

Newsy, remember that Fox owns 49 % of the network...They are there to make money...The conference can say all that they want, but the 20 + million dollar checks that the athletic departments received this year go a long way towards relaxing the academic requirements. Nebraska brings nothing to the table academically for the Big 10/11....But they do bring a lot of untapped televisions throughout the state of Nebraska, Colorado, and South Dakota that will gladly pay for the privilege of subscribing to the Big 10/11 network as long as they get to watch their beloved Huskers...

But with this shift of power of conferences there will be a true bottom line that will have to be adhered to in the not so distant future....As the population continues to shift to the South, it's going to leave schools in low population vulnerable...

I will be most interested to see the impact this all has on UNI, particularly the football program....

I understand Fox's stake in all this, but nobody has been able to point to a single shred of tangible evidence - and I've read a lot on this subject - to indicate Fox is pulling the strings here.

So far as Nebraska goes, they are an AAU member. They aren't a slouch of a University by any means (though they are less highly regarded than ISU or Iowa, who are less highly regarded then the rest of the Big Ten).

The new conference would be for schools that play high level - non BCS basketball. It would be, again, about market sizes. Wichita, Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cinn., Dayton, St. Louis, Kansas City .... that's a pretty good league for basketball TV money.

Sure, I could see the DIAA football schools sticking together. Just a rumor - probably would never happen - right along with the Jesuit Conference that has been out there for years.

This "new conference" talk is created by people who see national realignment, hear words like "apocalypse" and "paradigm shift" and figure it has to include them. It does not.

Assuming the Big East "blows up," that is unlikely to touch the basketball end of the league. The Big East is unique in that it lives and dies on basketball, not football. money. It might be a stripped down version with some of the lower-tier schools (I'm looking at you, Keno) being purged, but the likes of Xavier, DePaul, Marquette, etc, are so attractive that they will find a way to keep them in the fold. Those schools know they can't find another home where they will have the easy path to the tournament and statute they have now.

This "midwestern" league, like this laughable "Catholic" league, just isn't going to happen.

Engaging in the thought experiment and pretending it was an actual possibility, it isn't about TV markets like you claim. Otherwise you'd hear Drake talk as well. Des Moines is a market exactly on par with Dayton, Wichita and Omaha. This tips the 'ol hand.

[SteinPizza]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

I understand Fox's stake in all this, but nobody has been able to point to a single shred of tangible evidence - and I've read a lot on this subject - to indicate Fox is pulling the strings here.

Assuming the Big East "blows up," that is unlikely to touch the basketball end of the league. The Big East is unique in that it lives and dies on basketball, not football. money. It might be a stripped down version with some of the lower-tier schools (I'm looking at you, Keno) being purged, but the likes of Xavier, DePaul, Marquette, etc, are so attractive that they will find a way to keep them in the fold.

I agree with News. I haven't seen anything which would indicate Fox is pulling the strings here. They probably supply all the infrastructure in exchange for equity, although I'm not a broadcast expert. The studios being used by the BTN are in the same space formerly occupied by the old Fox Sports Net Chicago, which are also the same studios used by Comcast Sports Chicago. I could be wrong in that, but pretty sure it's accurate. There's a ton of telecom infrastructure running in and out of that building, so it makes sense (Chicago Sun Times is HQ'd there too). I also remember the Big Ten hiring a local guy here to run the operation, not some exec Fox shipped in from New York or LA.

As far as Xavier, DePaul and Marquette leaving the Big East, hard to say. The only way that happens is if their hand is totally forced. I can't speak for Xavier or Marquette, but I know the DePaul people would view a move to the MVC or any other league as a big step down and a big blow to prestige. Guessing that Xavier and Marquette feel the same way. The factor working against them though is that a basketball only super league isn't as economically viable as a league containing football. Football drives the bus, and it's economics are probably 3/4 of the reasoning behind any realignment. Basketball is kind of along for the ride, although not in the same way as baseball, wrestling, etc.

[Newsbreaker]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

The factor working against them though is that a basketball only super league isn't as economically viable as a league containing football.

I agree with this, and not knowing how the Big East is structured financially (I can't believe the non-football schools get any football money) it is hard to tell what effect changes will have on the situation there.

The Big East Basketball contract is separate from the Football contract, however. If, in the most apocalyptic scenario, Syracuse, Rutgers, UConn and ND all bolt for the Big Ten, and several other football teams are picked off by the ACC, the remaining Big East teams still have that separate basketball contract (though there may be an out for ESPN upon realignment). That is a significant reason to stay together.

[CincyPanther88]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

As far as Xavier, DePaul and Marquette leaving the Big East, hard to say. The only way that happens is if their hand is totally forced. I can't speak for Xavier or Marquette, but I know the DePaul people would view a move to the MVC or any other league as a big step down and a big blow to prestige. Guessing that Xavier and Marquette feel the same way.

Xavier's in the Atlantic 10 not the Big East.

[DomeRanger Posse]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

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[SteinPizza]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

Xavier's in the Atlantic 10 not the Big East.

Duh, my bad. Maybe I'll start a thread with speculation on the impact of Xavier leaving the Big East, and the MVC losing Appy St.

Cincy, what's the latest on Big Ten expansion via news from Ohio St? I ask because some of the radio stations around here are mentioning recent reporting done by some of the Ohio papers. These papers have been filing open records law requests to obtain emails from Ohio St.'s AD. There was some mention of the Big Ten continuing to pursue Texas a couple of days ago.

[cydave]

Re: UNI to join a conference with Kansas and ISU?

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