Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Moontan, post: 180151, member: 166"] It's been discussed here many a time over the years. Following the 2003 raid, it was imperative to get to 8 football teams simply to be able to exist. Following that move it was critical to either go to 9 or 12. Either of these configurations provide for even scheduling, bring stability, improve TV revenues and guard against drastic impact by any future departures. There were never going to be any great options of attracting new conference members. All of the recognizable brand names in the collegiate world were quite settled in their current situations. The basketball side prevented initial expansion past 8. Conference leadership didn't or couldn't convince them otherwise. Once the writing was on the wall ("The conference must expand beyond 8") more difficulty lay ahead. The TCU move, albeit late, was a good one. It needed to be coupled with, or followed closely by, the move to 12. Although everyone knew it had to happen, the conference membership couldn't come to agreement. This is where the conference leadership failed once again. The C-USA gang (led by USF) blocked the addition of UCF. The only acceptable addition was Villanova. When it was clear that this was not going to work things stalled. When the non-football members (including ND) rejected ESPN's contract offer the wheels came off the cart... causing the football members to start looking for greener pasture. The aTm/Big XII squabble finally pushed the snowball down the hill... in Fort Worth, as well as in Greensboro. Had the conference followed the TCU move by offering travel partners for USF and TCU (in the names of UCF, Houston and SMU) things might've been a lot different. Isn't it funny that once the non-football membership saw everything crumble right in front of them that they agreed to add a gaggle of other schools to the conference. It was their failure to realize that this scenario was inevitable given their position that led to the current situation and possible demise of both the BE football conference and the conference as a whole. The commissioner should have been well aware of the concerns of the football membership. He failed to convey this (to the remaining football member') doomsday scenario to the basketball members. The other plausible solution would've been a split between the conference's personalities a few years following the 2003 debacle. Have an agreement to play some basketball games between the two and call it a day. A football-centric, or even simply football-aware, commissioner would've addressed the issues properly. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?