We shoudl talk about some scenarios here.


-Anxiety

Dola -

Here is an example. I keep hearing about how the Big East should pick up Louisville, Cincinnati, and such. I'm wondering - why not Marshall? If the Big East needs to expands, why not go with marshall, you know that they are looking for a way out of the MAC.

-Anxiety

TV market's too small.


Nice try.

Yeah, but you need good teams too. And while the tri-state market isn't the largest ever, you want teams that are good enough to bring national attention to your conference.

And the tri-state market is, I think 57. Not that high, but there are lots smaller.


-Anxiety

Memphis should be included in the Big East Expansion before Marshall.

This is the death of the Big East .

I think the Big East could come out of this ok.

What if the Big East convinces Miami to stay, and then gets Florida State and Clemson to leave the basketball conference and go into a football powerhouse with Miami and VA Tech and then try to recruit Maryland too. If they can't get maryland, try to grab Memphis, Louisville, Cinncy, or Marshall (two of the four) and have a championship game. The catholic schools go form their catholic conference with Marquette and Xavier, and there goes Conf. USA. The A-10 might go down too if Dayton went to the catholic league. Then again, the ACC would be gone too. Down to seven, maybe six teams. Sure, the basketball heart would be there, but what else?

well...right now another news item is that the Mountain west is grabbing Hawaii and Fresno State...along with the big 10 shoping for a 12th team...apparently pitt is poppin up a lot as the "choice" as of now...makes sense with peen state being the team always left out...if you want some really good coverage, head over to:

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/

Great previews(about 2 teams a day), but some really humerous but insightful stuff about everything in the college football world.

Originally posted by Anxiety
Yeah, but you need good teams too. And while the tri-state market isn't the largest ever, you want teams that are good enough to bring national attention to your conference.

And the tri-state market is, I think 57. Not that high, but there are lots smaller.


-Anxiety

Good does not equal national attention. Marshall has a good program and they obviously produce a few very good pro prospects, but outside of their region, not many people care. That's not a slam, it's just the way it is. Teams such as Cincinnati and Louisville won't grab much national attention either, but they at least have larger TV markets to begin with.

Conference moves are more about money than prestige.

Originally posted by scooper
Good does not equal national attention. Marshall has a good program and they obviously produce a few very good pro prospects, but outside of their region, not many people care. That's not a slam, it's just the way it is. Teams such as Cincinnati and Louisville won't grab much national attention either, but they at least have larger TV markets to begin with.

Conference moves are more about money than prestige.


Exactly. But it's not simply the market size that drives the money. If the Big East loses teams, then they need to replace with quality, not simply halfway decent markets. Only with quality will they be able to maintain BCS Status. There are only two minor programs which seriously offer prestige, in my opinion.

Louisville, who has been on the cusp of a major conference many times, has better facilities, stadium, and coaching than many major teams.

Marshall, who has been the NCAA's wet dream when it comes to success stories of Div 1-AA teams competing in Div 1-A. Marshall has quite simply outgrown the MAC. It provides credibility to a conference that needs contenders to keep BCS status.


The worst case scenario for the Big East would be to lose BCS status, which would cause a loss of revenue. There are only so many teams that can keep your credibility. Frankly, Marshall could have the Smallest TV Market Ever and they'd still be viable candidates.

Because of the money.


-Anxiety