I remember Schnellenberger mentioning FIUs move to CUSA as downgrade and explained that the plan was to establish a winning program in the belt to eventually move into the Big East. I was surprised to hear this because I'm not sure its a good move yet.

BMarkey said

The Sun Belt was probably the most stable of the non AQ conferences. It has better name teams and a stroing recent showing, plus a nice regional, affordable footprint. Its newcomers are stable and good, for the most part.

How is FAU going to pay for that stadium by hosting Charlotte, UTSA, Old Dominion and UAB?! Ugh.

+1

I agree with bmarkey, but its a done deal, guess we have to embrace it. Lets just improve so we can get out soon... Onward and upward, just passing through.

Lateral move… not great, not bad… just about the same with some better "names" in the conference…plus some more TV time and bowls.  I guess I'm happy.

Should be more appealing to recruits.

Only plus besides getting fiu back is i get to go to charlotte every other year... Bonus!

Just got the ESPN update on my phone.

but take a look at those teams and the media markets they compete in. San Antonio, Charlotte which are decent size media markets. Old Dominion is near the Richmond media Market which is a smaller media market. Yet CBS, and Fox tv deals, which helps us because we would be on tv every week and we dont really have to search for our team on the internet.

What happens to the TV time, revenue and number of bowls in a year or two when USM, MTSU, UAB and FAU are the marquee teams in CUSA, with programs like UTSA and Charlotte weighing on them like anchors? Down, down, down ...

BMarkey said

The Sun Belt was probably the most stable of the non AQ conferences. It has better name teams and a stroing recent showing, plus a nice regional, affordable footprint. Its newcomers are stable and good, for the most part.

How is FAU going to pay for that stadium by hosting Charlotte, UTSA, Old Dominion and UAB?! Ugh.

The same way we would have hosting Troy, ULM, Georgia State, Texas State, or whoever else the SBC adds.  The point was we had to LOOK like we were moving forward (even if it's just perception at this point).  The big issue here is that we couldn't fall behind FIU.  Imagine trying to recruit against them if we had stayed and MTSU and WKU were replaced by 2 more FCS schools.

Plus, being in a conference where our next closest team was in Atlanta just isn't ideal for anyone.  So, yeah, maybe this ends up being a lateral move, but it certainly isn't a move down. 

I never said moving to CUSA was horrible, but not worth it. It's a slightly downward move, with more costs and no guaranteed extra dollars. The Sun Belt has risen to the occasion while adding some decent programs. CUSA grabbed some real head-scratchers.

Haven't we already learned that media markets mean nothing to programs and conferences? North Texas, UAB, FIU, Memphis, Georgia State and many more have lots of TV sets and little to no fans! Those fans already care about another state team or don't care at all! It's the big lie.