|
A national league of the Big East 7, Dayton, Xavier, Butler, St. Louis and Creighton is a bracketbuster special if ESPN signs on to give them exposure.
If the league goes gangbusters and ropes in Gonzaga, St. Mary's to give them 14, then you get the west coast involved and it's a coast to coast league which would suck for Olympic sports, but...otherwise would give them more buzz than any other mid-major, basketball-only league.
It's precisely why they'd never all give up their juice to go join the A-10, would be more valuable to skim programs with whom they want to be aligned.
I know people think college sports are still this bastion of purity, but in a world where pro teams (and college teams) routinely fly cross-country for games, I don't see any reason for college teams not to do the same in their conferences, especially if it's a league of likeminded institutions, gives them some recruiting juice to tell kids their conference schedule is national compared to some regional mid-major league, etc. etc.
The advantages makes sense and these guys need buzz if they're going to max out their tv deal possibilities which is what fuels most of this.
|