Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

[Redacted01]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

I'm skeptical about the author's methodology. To cite an example near and dear to my heart, he contends that the University of Houston (with approx 250,000 alums) has significantly fewer fans than either Rice or Tulane (maybe 50,000 alums apiece). That would seem to fly in the face of both common sense and actual attendance figures for last season:

CUSA Football Attendance 2010

CUSA Leaders in Football Attendance for 2010

1. ECU 49,665
2. UCF 39, 614
3. Houston 31,726
4. Southern Miss 29,400
5. UTEP 29,350
6. Marshall 27,046
7. Rice 25,571
8. Memphis 23,918
9. SMU 23,515
10. Tulane 23,220*
11. Tulsa 20,379
12. UAB 18,360

* Tulane's figures should be taken with a grain of salt, it's my understanding that they include their entire student body and faculty when calculating attendance because they receive free tickets. Anyone who has attended a TU home game in recent years will testify to the fact that most of those folks must be coming to the games disguised as empty seats.

I'm pretty sure his basis isn't just on who goes to what school. My parents are Arkansas fans and never went to the University of Arkansas. My grandfather was an Army fan and was in the Air Force. Read the article. He says what info he used to determine fanbases and the only way it has anything to do with alumni is if those alumni voted in the poll that Houston was their favorite football team. Hell, Ohio State is more popular here than the school's team.

[leppercut]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

By the end of this year, NCCAF will be a totally different animal.

[Brandwin]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...er-report-says


Big East and Big 12 talking merger.

Who's going to be left?

[dickey1331]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Theres a small rumor going around that SMU goes independent with Notre Dame and form some sort of alliance. Obviously its a long shot and I highly doubt it would happen but it is interesting.

[DonkeyJote]

I did that in NCAA once. Did an all-religious affiliated conference. Notre Dame, SMU, Tulsa, BYU, Baylor, TCU, Boston College, etc.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[Cardot]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

I did that in NCAA once. Did an all-religious affiliated conference. Notre Dame, SMU, Tulsa, BYU, Baylor, TCU, Boston College, etc.

Which religion won?

[TripleCrown9]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Which religion won?

Jesus never loses.

[coogrfan]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

I'm pretty sure his basis isn't just on who goes to what school. My parents are Arkansas fans and never went to the University of Arkansas. My grandfather was an Army fan and was in the Air Force. Read the article. He says what info he used to determine fanbases and the only way it has anything to do with alumni is if those alumni voted in the poll that Houston was their favorite football team. Hell, Ohio State is more popular here than the school's team.

You mean the article where the author claims that Georgia Tech has approx 600,000 more fans than Georgia? Where Rutgers owns the New York market? Where Texas Tech has almost as many fans as UCLA?

The piece is a complete joke, imo. His methodology is so utterly flawed as to be useless.

[br329]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Jesus never loses.

[Tovarich]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Oklahoma President Boren today:

“I don’t think you build trust and I don’t think you build stability in a conference by the threat of litigation,” Boren said. “If it takes the threat of litigation to keep a conference together, that’s not the right way to proceed. Stability is based upon trust.”

Well said.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/09/syracuse-jim-boehiem-expansion-big-east-acc/1

You can count Jim Boeheim among the group opposed to conference expansion, and the Syracuse coach isn't shy about his feelings with his school poised to leave the Big East for the ACC.

Speaking at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, Boeheim places the blames on the people running the leagues that are raiding other conferences.

"If conference commissioners were the founding fathers of this country, we would have Guatemala, Uruguay and Argentina in the United States," Boeheim said. "This audience knows why we are doing this. There's two reasons: Money and football.

In regards to money, he implied the extra few million dollars earned by some schools make little sense considering the budgets are near one billion.

And Boehiem, who has coached Syracuse for seasons after playing at the school, said the result of the movement may not be positive. He lamented the loss of rivalries with St. John's and Georgetown, which have been played for more than 40 years, though was hopeful the series could continue.

"We're going to end up with mega conferences and 10 years from now either I'm going to be dead wrong - and I'll be the first to admit it - or everybody is going to be like, why did we do this again? Why is Alabama playing Texas A&M this week and going to Texas Tech next weekend? And why is Syracuse going to Miami in basketball this week and next week they're going to play Florida State?"

He also commented on the possibility of the ACC tournament being played in Madison Square Garden, the site of the Big East tournament since 1983.

"It's a great place for a tournament," he said. "Where would you want to go to to a tournament for five days? Let's see: Greensboro, North Carolina, or New York City? Jeez. Let me think about that one and get back to you."

[br329]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

According to a source close to Notre Dame, the Irish's first choice is to remain as an independent in football and stay in the Big East in all other sports.

If the Irish decide they can't remain as a football independent then the choice would be to pursue the ACC before the Big Ten.
But the latter is not the ideal scenario for the fiercely independent Irish. The Irish don't want to give up independence unless forced.

Looks like we'll be heading south then because there's no way Notre Dame can stay Independent anymore.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

If Notre Dame moves to the Atlantic Coast Conference...

Of course, geography means nothing nowadays.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n-f9O0eZjUI?hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[DonkeyJote]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

If Notre Dame moves to the Atlantic Coast Conference...

Of course, geography means nothing nowadays.

As someone else has said, they may be located in Indiana, but Notre Dame is much more Eastern than Midwestern.