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[QUOTE="supp, post: 5425687, member: 702"]
This is a conversation that's been had on these boards for a long time but it bears repeating that major college fan bases generally rely on non-alums to fill stadiums and provide eyeballs for tv.  This is often equally the case for public schools.  Maybe more so for publics if the college team is the surrogate pro team and source of local pride for many in a state, like Alabama for example.

Syracuse may be a private school but it has a huge advantage compared to other privates in that there is no public school that can challenge it for fan loyalty in the state.  Even taking the NY metro area out of the equation where there is little in the way of state pride or sustained college sports fandom, the upstate population is greater than that of a number of SEC and southern ACC states.  This, I believe, is why SU has always been on the radar for major conference leaders during the various realignments going back to 1989.  I don't see that changing in the future.

SU has a lot of non-alum fans, myself included.  The stadium is small but SU does well on tv.  The school has had sustained periods of national prominence in both major sports in recent history.  Not many private schools can make that claim, Notre Dame included.  In a national superconference scenario, I think the marketing experts will ensure that we are very much in the conversation.
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