Conference Merry Go Round

[DieselJacks]

Murray State is the top candidate in my opinion, and Ohio Valley Conference is already down to 8 teams for next year. They will have to expand now (likely Western Illinois). Summit League could be in big trouble.

[jakejc795]

I'd bet on Murray State.

MVC isn't necessarily limiting addition to one team

[filbert]

Some discouraging news: Loyola Chicago is moving to the Atlantic 10 Conference, Missouri Valley Conference is looking at Kansas City, Murray State, and UT Arlington as replacements.

I'd bet on Murray State.

[YanktonJack7]

Time for the Summit League to call Augie

[DieselJacks]

Some discouraging news: Loyola Chicago is moving to the Atlantic 10 Conference, Missouri Valley Conference is looking at Kansas City, Murray State, and UT Arlington as replacements.

[jackdaniel]

To attract the best athletes, you have to give them the best competition to prove themselves, those are the ones people want to see. Isn't that the essence of moving up? Just asking

[jakejc795]

This is pretty crappy for JMU student athletes. They can’t compete for conference championships due to them accepting a new conference membership (doesn’t affect football).
https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/0...ealignment-caa

Should note that their inability to compete is due to a combination of their conference move AND a longstanding CAA bylaw that JMU had seen applied (and either supported or tacitly opposed) when former CAA members like ECU and ODU opted to leave the CAA, so JMU's administrators were either aware of the implications or negligent

[UWMandSDSU]

This is pretty crappy for JMU student athletes. They can’t compete for conference championships due to them accepting a new conference membership (doesn’t affect football).
https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/0...ealignment-caa

[jakejc795]

What about 2 Dakota schools, 2 Montana schools and UNI? I have no clue if they are interested, but that would make up a good half of a conference. Even if there is no conference, you could have the beginnings of a scheduling alliance...assuming of course there is a crazy influx of money into the FBS movement.

Why not four Dakota (could eventually by five with Augie within a decade), two Montana, two Minnesota (St. Thomas & Mankato), two Iowa (UNI & Drake), and two Illinois (Salukis & Redbirds)?

Some combination of Northern Colorado, Wyoming, and/or Missouri State could be added to get to 14.

[ringthebells]

What about 2 Dakota schools, 2 Montana schools and UNI? I have no clue if they are interested, but that would make up a good half of a conference. Even if there is no conference, you could have the beginnings of a scheduling alliance...assuming of course there is a crazy influx of money into the FBS movement.

[Prairiehaas]

My point is the P5 schools will likely walk away with their media $$$ leaving the G5 a poor neighborhood.

My guess is when that happens some G5 schools will jump up, e.g. Boise St, Cincinnati, USF, SMU,San Diego State, etc. The remainder will pull in the top of the FCS. I don't think the MVFC, CAA, Big Sky will get taken in as full conferences. I do think the Dakota schools are on a bit of geographic island making it harder to get pulled into an existing conference. Then again there are budget issues for several schools making it difficult to stay in FCS or FBS which might make us more attractive.

Of course I may be way off base. I just don't see advantage in jumping to FBS right now when FBS might blow up.

[mitchell]

Its unfortunate because I think moving up to FBS makes sense as the next evolution for SDSU and NDSU, but I just don’t see a conference invite due to a lack of TV market value and travel costs. Maybe the Mountain West if they lost half their teams and got desperate, but they’ve been lucky to not get poached and their commissioner just said yesterday they aren’t looking to expand.

C-USA is rumored to be vetting both Sam Houston and Tarleton St.

[JACKGUYII]

Why does it feel like a move up to a FBS G5 conference is hopping into a leaky boat?

I think the leaky boat is FCS. Won't be long and with exception of two conferences MVC and Big Sky we will have very few schools who look like SDSU. We saw how pathetic the commitment was during the pandemic with a number of FCS conferences and schools. Look at the # of quality schools who have moved up recently.

[Prairiehaas]

Why does it feel like a move up to a FBS G5 conference is hopping into a leaky boat?

[jakejc795]

Tea leaves say "Nope" unless you know of a multimillonaire SDSU donor who's willing to spend really, really, really big bucks to make it happen. I mean, it ***could*** happen, but . . . I'm going with "nope" here.

I'd prefer the Jacks remain FCS, as I don't view a move to FBS as sustainable given geographic and revenue constraints.

I could be in the minority, but I see little to no reason to follow NDSU just because both schools chose to transition to Division 1 together.