Arkstfan

It is unless your team gets relegated and the loss of income forces selling off the stars and then you suck for real and go down another level. 24 Premier league teams relegated ended up falling two steps, seven of those going down three steps, and one going down four steps. Very common for relegated teams to end up going into administration (bankruptcy court) to reorganize their finances. Some smaller clubs have been folded, one relocated. Portsmouth FC barely escaped being folded.

That's not EXACTLY true. The Pacific Coast Conference cracked up after the 1958 season with Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington leaving and over the next few years let the other three back in and they really only let them back in because the proposed Airplane Conference that would include those five didn't get off the ground. So three of the five who formed the second big time western conference in hopes of joining a cross-national conference in 1959 got their wish this year in joining Big 10 along with Oregon and the other two got their wish by joining ACC. Meanwhile Arizona and Arizona State get rejoin their old Border Conference foes Texas Tech. Old Skyline members Utah, BYU and Colorado get back together as well. Sometimes you break up and get back together.

ULM is now 5 games ahead of you on consecutive loses to AState 😜

Conference membership is like getting married, most folks go in thinking this is till death do us part, and Lord help those hitchin' up till something better comes along. Do you really want to marry Army because they have a really good 56 year old coach who will either eventually retire or catch the attention of an AD with a much fatter budget? 10 of the 13 schools who got together in 1933 to form the SEC are still there. Six of the eight who kicked off the MWC 25 years ago are still there. Army makes a lot of sense because there's just no one who might be willing to join in the eastern and central time zones who brings more TV value or helps home gate more. Land Army and who knows, maybe AFA becomes willing to defect if the whole Oregon State / Washington State thing doesn't go well and someone like Colorado State is willing to come along. Just never know which stop is going to be the last stop.

1997-2015 had one winning season. In that stretch had a winless season and two seasons with one win.

Army isn’t about raising power ratings, they are about TV ratings. With the US not engaged in any major conflicts, recruiting may get easier for them.

🙂 In the last six years their worst loss to a P5 was 7 points to Penn State in OT and went 7-0 vs the schools currently in AAC. Get about 5 games a year picked up for linear TV. Really curious what about that makes them a NO 🙂

Now if we are just insistent on keeping amateur(ish) football the idea situation is kill the NCAA and have different governing bodies for the various sports. Men’s college soccer is less relevant to MLS than it once was because of the NCAA practice and development rules and NCAA has some rules differences though nothing dramatic. Simpler rules for playing in summer leagues like NPSL and USL2 would help as well as making things easier to be in academy play without fretting over losing eligibility. Rules that work for soccer might not work as well for golf where USGA can provide a good framework. Basketball? Can work under USA Basketball or take hoops to the AAU where the colleges with their billion dollar tournament become the beast of AAU hoops and can use that influence to get AAU club basketball under control.

I’ve said before that dropping football and licensing the operation of football to private operators is probably the best way forward for FBS football. Say you have some millions you can afford to lose on a speculative investment. You don’t have NFL money, not even MLS money. Would you rather buy into XFL or USFL or North Texas football? Brand is established. Facilities are in place. Have an established ticket buying base and sponsorship agreements. You are seeking profit and your licensing deal to use the school facilities and intellectual property involves some upfront cash and a percentage of gross so you are looking to slash expenses. You want a union, College Football Players Association to get a salary cap and smaller rosters. It’s professional player development, maybe you cut deals so players can attend college, but that’s not going to be a requirement. Maybe you work out housing and meals as part of the player contract and licensing requirement. Million dollar coaches? Not hardly, think more like the half million of XFL. You can end up with a nice little business. College is rid of its biggest Title IX headache and gets out from under a monster that has a tendency to suck up every available dollar that could fund other sports

Think network wanted some assurances before bumping their money.

CUSA did. Sun Belt has not.

If TV folks believe they can gain audience in DFW, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston not just for the local team's games but get that audience to watch Oregon State at Nevada because it's a conference game then there are deals to be made. The question is are the deals large enough to convince the members to put up with the hassles.

It is usually the only college game available to watch. Move it to say Thanksgiving and let's see how it does.

Army is the ONLY football brand of significance east of the Great Plains left in play. If it ain't Army the pool is a bunch of programs that are median AAC quality or worse. Sun Belt has Georgia State and ODU and hold your head right you can put Texas State in the pool. CUSA has FIU and can good faith argue MTSU/Nashville. Liberty is the biggest brand though not an urban(ish) state school like most of the league. MAC has Buffalo (who is in the AAU), Toledo and well sure NIU is technically in the Chicago TV market. Can sort of claim Indianapolis with Ball State or Ann Arbor/Detroit with Eastern Michigan but yeah it's Buffalo and Toledo that actually fit the model. No one in the is anything more than a spot filler and question is the spot in the middle or somewhere down at the bottom.

It's gut check time for Washington State and Oregon State fans. Pullman is so freaking remote, I'm not sure it has a huge impact. They are 4 1/2 hours from any major pro team, yeah 8 miles to Idaho who is now FCS and 90 minutes to Gonzaga the nearest highly successful athletic program. Not sure that fans don't just go ahead and show up because there's nothing else to do.