The final Great Realignment of College Football?

[Schadenfreude]

So...lets take WKU and another decent sized directional from KY, IN, IL or TN...shouldn't be too hard to find one

I'm not sure we need to settle for a directional or a throw in. Make the additions count. For me, making it count means a North Dakota State, Massachusetts, or Stony Brook. None are perfect, but Notre Dame isn't knocking on our door, either. All would move the needle in terms of academics, markets, or football more than "[insert directional here]."

4 million to play 3 football games a year on Tuesday night in front of 1000 people. Can’t imagine it would be all that appealing.

Conference USA is a dumpster fire. Western Kentucky is said to badly want in the MAC. As for Middle Tennessee: That's an interesting insight from JPFalcon09, that for Middle Tennessee this might come to whether or not they have boosters who can help pay Conference USA's $4 million exit fee.

[MarkL]

Let me ask a couple questions to put some context to the potential MTSU move and see what everyone thinks.

1. If there were an opportunity to move BG to a better conference but we owed a $4 million exit fee to the MAC, would our donors be able to come up with that quickly?

2. Would you be willing to spend some athletic money to help offset the cost for MTSU to move? Ie the MAC fronts $1 million, or around $80k per full time member.


For me, it is maybe and no. The donors raised good money for BG baseball in a hurry, so it is plausible we would have the donor base for a move, but $4 million is a high bar. And no, not interested in paying to bring MTSU on as we already would be adding travel costs. Still want to see them join, they'd be a good addition, but not willing to help them out of their dead conference. I don't want to put that much of an investment in a new member which may may not show the kind of loyalty to the conference of the other full time members.

[MarkL]

So...lets take WKU and another decent sized directional from KY, IN, IL or TN...shouldn't be too hard to find one

MAC wants a 20-year commitment from WKU/MTSU. No way in hell they're going to offer a 20-year anything to a school who competes at the FCS level in football within the region.

Is that a pretty standard ask? 20 years feels like a lifetime in college athletics. I would have thought 10 years would be the standard.

20 years ago ...
- Urban Meyer was coaching at BG
- Nick Saban was just getting started at LSU
- Marshall was in the MAC and UCF was about to join
- Michigan was fat and happy enjoying their annual wins over Ohio State
- Kirk Ferentz was coaching at Iowa
- the SEC was just a bunch of rednecks in the south while the Big Ten was the dominant conference
- MarkL was a massive nerd
- the Big 12 was an awesome conference including national power in Nebraska and Colorado
- Toledo sucked
- the Big East was alive and well with Miami, along with powerful programs in Syracuse, West Virginia, Pitt, and Virginia Tech

Yeah ... lifetime feels right. Some things just don't change though.

[Schadenfreude]

Let me ask a couple questions to put some context to the potential MTSU move and see what everyone thinks.

1. If there were an opportunity to move BG to a better conference but we owed a $4 million exit fee to the MAC, would our donors be able to come up with that quickly?

2. Would you be willing to spend some athletic money to help offset the cost for MTSU to move? Ie the MAC fronts $1 million, or around $80k per full time member.


For me, it is maybe and no. The donors raised good money for BG baseball in a hurry, so it is plausible we would have the donor base for a move, but $4 million is a high bar. And no, not interested in paying to bring MTSU on as we already would be adding travel costs. Still want to see them join, they'd be a good addition, but not willing to help them out of their dead conference. I don't want to put that much of an investment in a new member which may may not show the kind of loyalty to the conference of the other full time members.

Good points. I could be wrong, but my sense is sometimes the new conference is so much lucrative that the new revenue can pay off the exit fee. In this situation, while our TV deal may be a bit better, $4 million is still a lot of money.

The MAC will be fine now matter how this works out.

[Flipper]

The MAC has been burned by schools outside of our traditional footprint moving in short term...nobody likes to be used like that, it diminishes the brand. That said..20 years seems like a really long time in today's environment. Maybe go for 10?

[Tony4BG]

MTSU staying in CUSA

[Tony4BG]

Lost count if CUSA needs to another FCS school or not to put this year realignment to bed..

[jpfalcon09]

MTSU is broke and can't afford to leave, plain and simple.

[Schadenfreude]

It's official. Middle Tennessee is going to stick with Conference USA.

https://mtsu.edu/president/post/1724/st ... ffiliation

[jpfalcon09]

It's official. Middle Tennessee is going to stick with Conference USA.

https://mtsu.edu/president/post/1724/st ... ffiliation

MTSU AD cites fans' wishes to remain aligned with more southernly schools, the addition of Liberty and NMSU (lol okay), and recruiting concerns.

Fact is they're hurting for money and inheriting a chunk of the buyout fees from the other schools can solve some of their problems.

Now we'll see what WKU decides...

[MarkL]

It's official. Middle Tennessee is going to stick with Conference USA.

https://mtsu.edu/president/post/1724/st ... ffiliation

MTSU AD cites fans' wishes to remain aligned with more southernly schools, the addition of Liberty and NMSU (lol okay), and recruiting concerns.

Fact is they're hurting for money and inheriting a chunk of the buyout fees from the other schools can solve some of their problems.

Now we'll see what WKU decides...

If I'm WKU I beg and plead the MAC to look at EKU, Illinois State, or another good FCS program. But don't count me interested. Let Corpse-USA be the place for FCS programs greedy to chase some dollars. We are better than that.

[BillyLP]

It's official. Middle Tennessee is going to stick with Conference USA.

https://mtsu.edu/president/post/1724/st ... ffiliation

MTSU AD cites fans' wishes to remain aligned with more southernly schools, the addition of Liberty and NMSU (lol okay), and recruiting concerns.

Fact is they're hurting for money and inheriting a chunk of the buyout fees from the other schools can solve some of their problems.

Now we'll see what WKU decides...

If they're hurting to come up with an amount to get out of a dead conference, then I have to question the fact that they are in the midst of a $66 million facilities upgrade.

[jpfalcon09]

It's official. Middle Tennessee is going to stick with Conference USA.

https://mtsu.edu/president/post/1724/st ... ffiliation

MTSU AD cites fans' wishes to remain aligned with more southernly schools, the addition of Liberty and NMSU (lol okay), and recruiting concerns.

Fact is they're hurting for money and inheriting a chunk of the buyout fees from the other schools can solve some of their problems.

Now we'll see what WKU decides...

If they're hurting to come up with an amount to get out of a dead conference, then I have to question the fact that they are in the midst of a $66 million facilities upgrade.

A lot of big time donor money went towards that project. Good luck asking for those same people to then pony up again for a change in conference affiliation. I think the MAC dodged a bullet here given their financial situation.

CUSA is set to make $18 million in buyout fees which will be evenly distributed amongst the remaining members, which if WKU stays is $3.6 million per school. MTSU sees that as a way out of their current mess.

[jpfalcon09]

Pete Thamel says WKU still has strong interest in joining the MAC so it's essentially up to the conference now.

[MarkL]

Serious question. If WKU is all sports in, how does everyone feel about going back to unbalanced divisions? It's not desirable, but we had a 6 team west division and 7 team east for 9 years and we made it. Put WKU in the west, then the MAC is 13 full members. For now, keeping the door open for someone else dedicated to join full time.