ANYTHING is possible.

I do think that the burrow is one aspect that will be a negative. Its VERY nice but VERY Small. Big East lives for Basketball I belive, Im sure they would want to see that improved.

Course the catch 22 is that we cant/wont get into a AQ confrence untill we improve facilites, but we cant improve facilites untill we get an infusion of cash flow that would come from being a AQ school.

There are literally HUNDERDS of scenarios out there and im sure all the Confrence heads and AD are going back and forth on it.

Its going to be a bumpy ride.

owlfamily said

ANYTHING is possible.

I do think that the burrow is one aspect that will be a negative. Its VERY nice but VERY Small. Big East lives for Basketball I belive, Im sure they would want to see that improved.

Course the catch 22 is that we cant/wont get into a AQ confrence untill we improve facilites, but we cant improve facilites untill we get an infusion of cash flow that would come from being a AQ school.

There are literally HUNDERDS of scenarios out there and im sure all the Confrence heads and AD are going back and forth on it.

Its going to be a bumpy ride.

Agree…if we were guaranteed a spot in the Big East it seems like it would be logical to build a nicer basketball facility. 

UCF, FAU and FIU would put the BigEast in strong competive area with both the SEC and ACC, especially in regards the TV markets. Huge need for a big TV contract for the conference. FEW other schools have this edge, the biggest and most important one.

That, together with the fact that it is also the smallest conference presently, in terms of the number of football teams, give them the biggest need. They will need five (5) (if a present school goes to the Big10) to get to twelve football schools.

But arent they REALLY full up on Basketball schools in the Big East?

I think they have several non-football schools that compete in basketball.

If they added 5 more temas ad-hoc total sports I would think that woul throw thier basketball schdeuleing completely out of whack.

Owlfamily

That is the question, are they willing to become a 20 team X-Large Basketball Conference in order to get to 12 in Football?  Is having 4 teams covering all of the big metro areas (except JAX) in Florida worth it as far as recruiting and improving the quality of players in the Big East?

It would be a friggin coup if FAU and FIU got pulled in with UCF, ECU, and Memphis to create a championship game.  The result would of course be USF hating all three of us, UCF complaining that FAU and FIU don't deserve it, and FIU saying 'It's about time!'  Meanwhile I think us FAU fans would be a healthy mix of shocked, humbled, and happy as clams.

SeminOWL2006 said

That is the question, are they willing to become a 20 team X-Large Basketball Conference in order to get to 12 in Football?

Or are they willing to dump a few teams that do not have football and have not done much of late to help the basketball conference, ie: DePaul?

How many "BCS" conferences have a bunch of non-BCS teams included in their conferences for certain sports?  None, except the Big East.  If they are going to make the move for football, it may be time to "correct" the basketball situation.

GeorgiaOwl said

UCF, FAU and FIU would put the BigEast in strong competive area with both the SEC and ACC, especially in regards the TV markets. Huge need for a big TV contract for the conference. FEW other schools have this edge, the biggest and most important one.

That, together with the fact that it is also the smallest conference presently, in terms of the number of football teams, give them the biggest need. They will need five (5) (if a present school goes to the Big10) to get to twelve football schools.

That point is dead on.  Each Big 10 school gets $22 million a year in TV Revenue alone!  The Big East would gain a huge TV market shart by adding FAU, UCF, and FIU…

I love that people want to argue that our basketball arena is what would hold us back…joke.  If the Big East invited FAU we would have guaranteed revenues coming in and in turn would sink money into those facilities no problem.

And no offense to fans of Troy or MTSU because I do respect thier schools and thier programs but West Virginia, Syracuse, Louisville, etc vs. FAU in Boca would sell a lot better than in the towns those schools are located in.  Not to be a jerk but ULL can have the nicest football stadium in the world but its still in Lafayette, Louisiana.

walty12 said

GeorgiaOwl said

UCF, FAU and FIU would put the BigEast in strong competive area with both the SEC and ACC, especially in regards the TV markets. Huge need for a big TV contract for the conference. FEW other schools have this edge, the biggest and most important one.

That, together with the fact that it is also the smallest conference presently, in terms of the number of football teams, give them the biggest need. They will need five (5) (if a present school goes to the Big10) to get to twelve football schools.

That point is dead on.  Each Big 10 school gets $22 million a year in TV Revenue alone!  The Big East would gain a huge TV market shart by adding FAU, UCF, and FIU…

I love that people want to argue that our basketball arena is what would hold us back…joke.  If the Big East invited FAU we would have guaranteed revenues coming in and in turn would sink money into those facilities no problem.

And no offense to fans of Troy or MTSU because I do respect thier schools and thier programs but West Virginia, Syracuse, Louisville, etc vs. FAU in Boca would sell a lot better than in the towns those schools are located in.   Not to be a jerk but ULL can have the nicest football stadium in the world but its still in Lafayette, Louisiana.

I couldn't agree more about your point regarding the shart.  ;D

GO OWLS!!!

While FAU is not Troy, nor is FIU even FAU, the television markets of Troy, MTSU, and the Louisiana schools pale in comparision to the FL tv markets, and that is where the bread is buttered!

This is even true of any CUSA program.

It could happen. When the first shoe drops in the conference re-alignments, there will be a stampede that we could very well be caught up in, like USF was just a few years back!

Big East Football Markets

Rank          City
1 New York, NY
14 Tampa, FL
23 Pittsburgh, PA
30 Hartford, CT
33 Cincinnati, OH
49 Louisville, KY
63 Charleston, WV (WVU is in Pittsburgh Market…benefit of the doubt here)
83 Syracuse, NY

Currently Big East has 12.1% of the US household TV market

17 Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL
19 Orlando, FL
38 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL

If they expanded to include UCF, FAU, and FIU the Big East would jump to 15.4% (~14% w/o Pitt) and add ~3.5M Households (~2.5M w/o Pitt)

Other Possible Contenders from the MAC and CUSA

4 Philadelphia, PA                        (Temple)
18 Cleveland-Akron (Canton), OH (Univ of Akron)
50 Memphis, TN                        (Memphis)
51 New Orleans, LA                        (Tulane)
52 Buffalo, NY                                (Univ at Buffalo)
73 Toledo, OH                                (Univ of Toledo)
               Market already included                 (Marshall)
103 Greenville-New Bern, NC        (ECU)

If they go by the numbers and take the top 5, then its Temple, FIU, Akron, UCF, FAU