Mark Gommesen

Sunbelt is a tough conference with great competitors and deserves respect. I suspect the conference will only continue to improve. The biggest slam with the Sunbelt was the lack of media exposure. I think Texas State is in for a big surprise when they big to compete in the SB in "big boy" sports. The Sunbelt was a great place for UNT to mature and go through it's growing pains (both figuratively and literally). I am confident that is feelings of most FIU fans.

There are approximately 120 teams BCS schools, a super conference of 24 or more of these teams would have a major impact on any future BCS selection process. Size does matter. You can ignore a regional conference of 10 or 14 teams. You cannot ignore a national conference of 24 teams. Especially if the super conference has major media contracts. We can figure out who plays in the east or west later.

If the MWC/CUSA are to compete for media contracts with the Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and PAC 12 they must merge. Like it or not, it is a money game, all other concerns are almost irrelevant. This is the unfortunate truth of modern college sports.

Some sort of merger is inevitable because of the changing media market. The issue of automatic tournament bids is not insurmountable for a 24 or more member super conference in the NCAA with major media contracts. The new conference will represent nearly 10% of the Division 1 schools and a huge share of the media market from Hawaii to the East Coast. We're not playing little boy ball anymore. I believe the first phase was expansion, second media alliance, third merger.

One of the reasons that this major issue right now is because the Federal Attorney General has issued an opinion that the current BCS structure may violate Federal Restraint of Trade Laws. You have develop and structure that allows every school an opportunity. Change is coming the nice way or the hard way.

The C-USA is one the college conferences that dominates baseball. If UNT is to gain inevitability in this conference it must develop a baseball program.

NMSU only saving grace is baseball. It is currently ranked 20th in the country. CUSA baseball is far superior to the Sunbelt. The CUSA currently has five teams ranked in the top 25. The CUSA is right up there with the Big 12 and the SEC. UNT needs baseball!

I think NMSU to the Sunbelt is less than a sure thing. I doubt that current Sunbelt members are willing to incur the traveling expenses and time to compete with a school that has so little to offer. It is apparent from the recent expansion candidates considered by the SB that the conference wishes to remain more regionally based. It is with that backdrop that New Mexico State president Barbara Couture and athletic director McKinley Boston issued an open letter to fans. It read in part: “This is truly a new day when the sports, primarily football, are ruled by the potential for TV coverage. We all understand that. Now we are beginning to better comprehend just how far-reaching this new reality can be. Of course, New Mexico State University has no major media market to bring to the table. Without that market our "value" as a conference member appears to be less than other schools with less successful programs but that are located in areas with a greater population. The same thing appears to be the case for the University of Idaho.” Hurd acknowledged that it might not be as easy for the league to rebuild as perhaps it would have been in the past. "In previous years of departures and additions, there seemed to be ready options available," he said. "This particular time the apparent options aren't as readily noticeable or readily apparent as they were in the past and we're going to have to be creative as we look ahead."

The "future affiliation" will result in a merged conference in the long term. In the short term, coordinating new membership plans s important if both conferences are working to together on negotiating media contracts, conference promotions, bowls...etc. Now that the expansion "DUST" has settled the conferences can start negotiating television contracts.

You had to expect that the BIG 12 to expand, but I am a bit surprised that they would be looking at Clemson or Florida State. Certainly could start another round of musical chairs.

Wow, DFW will have a division one school in the CUSA, the Big East, the Big 12 and the Sun Belt. Both the Big 12 and CUSA are headquartered here. Hopefully see greater fan enthusiasm and media coverage for college sports. DFW the center of college sports in Texas.

WAC interim commissioner Jeff Hurd says it's too soon to predict conference demise Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-05-04/wac-commissioner-jeff-hurd-says-its-too-soon-to-predict-conference-demise#ixzz1twJWN3pl Five programs this week have announced they are leaving the Western Athletic Conference. That doesn’t leave interim commissioner Jeff Hurd much to work with. Still, he’s looking for a semblance of sunshine where none seems to exist. "We certainly have a major challenge ahead of us to maintain our status as a BCS viable Division I conference, but I think it's a little too early to speculate that the WAC will not be around," Hurd said on College Football Playbook. "We're going to explore every possible option there is and move forward as quickly as we can." Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii—all former WAC members—will become participating Mountain West Conference members in July. Boise State, another former WAC member, joined the MWC, but is leaving for the Big East next season. This week alone, San Jose State (MWC), Utah State (MWC), Louisiana Tech (Conference USA), Texas-San Antonio (C-USA) and Texas State (Sun Belt) all announced their plan to change conferences beginning in 2013. MORE on expansion: Conference USA now at 13 members | Mountain West adds SJSU, Utah State The only teams on the current WAC roster that would remain heading into 2013 are Idaho and New Mexico State. It is with that backdrop that New Mexico State president Barbara Couture and athletic director McKinley Boston issued an open letter to fans. It read in part: “This is truly a new day when the sports, primarily football, are ruled by the potential for TV coverage. We all understand that. Now we are beginning to better comprehend just how far-reaching this new reality can be. Of course, New Mexico State University has no major media market to bring to the table. Without that market our "value" as a conference member appears to be less than other schools with less successful programs but that are located in areas with a greater population. The same thing appears to be the case for the University of Idaho.” Hurd acknowledged that it might not be as easy for the league to rebuild as perhaps it would have been in the past. "In previous years of departures and additions, there seemed to be ready options available," he said. "This particular time the apparent options aren't as readily noticeable or readily apparent as they were in the past and we're going to have to be creative as we look ahead." New Mexico State could be a potential target for the Sun Belt, the San Jose Mercury News reported. On Twitter, Idaho quarterback Dominique Blackman expressed his concerns. "What's going on with the WAC is scaring me man," Blackman tweeted from his account, @vandalsQB3. "Just give us a chance to show u this year we deserved to be DI (we'll) shock the world with the schedule we have this year #vandalNATION." His concerns are certainly valid. Idaho, if left behind by every one of its fellow WAC mates, could find itself dropping down to FCS. The Big Sky Conference has already said it would welcome the Vandals. Conference realignment has been a nonstop issue for the past two years and is not, as Hurd pointed out, restricted to the WAC. But it's the WAC that stands to be left in the worst position. For now, New Mexico State and Idaho are holding on for dear life. The president's statement continued: “Make no mistake, we will be playing football next year and we will be competing in a revised WAC conference for the 2012-2013 school year. Our near-term goals are to compete successfully. We look forward to having you there with us as we show the rest of the world what makes NMSU an excellent athletic-and academic-institution.”

Under the proposed formula, It is only true if the top six ranked teams were also conference champions. If a conference champion is not ranked in the top six they do not qualify. The slot would be filled by the next highest ranking non-champion team. which could be a 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th place team. In theory all of slots could be filled by one conference if the six of the teams were ranked in the top six. I would not be opposed to restricting a single school from each conference participating in the playoffs. I would also not allow the independents to participate.

I have two computers up. Ready to fire the links at 15:30 HOURS.

I excited to see what will result from the MWC/CUSA media and promotional alliance.

What's the WAC? I might have heard about from my grandfather.

A Tech school ...okay, This is how it's done, http://www.meangreen...&DB_OEM_ID=1800

Amen

All new members are joining in all sports, including baseball...except of course North Texas.

pretty pictures!

I thought it was September. But, it wouldn't surprise me that this was a plot by SMU to prevent us from joining the CUSA and embarrassing themselves in the BIG East. I knew that George W. Bush library construction was a cover story.

Wow, ...and some people say there is no God.

So if the conference champion from the C-USA or MWC is rated in the top six, they would be an automatic qualifier to the playoffs and a chance at a National Championship. That's a BIG change boys and girls. The independents should be left out. BYU and Notre Dame have monopolize television money to the disadvantage of the conferences.

While we're at it, let's do a Boise State and paint the football field the school colors ..green.

UNT cannot afford not to have baseball. "UNT is located in a talent hotbed for baseball and is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which features a solid baseball league. The Sun Belt sent three teams to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in 13 years in 2011 and has had multiple teams receive bids in 23 straight seasons. Denton has a strong baseball community from youth leagues to the high school level. Ryan played in the state title game in 2003 and 2004 and produced Austin Jackson, who is now the Detroit Tigers’ center fielder. Fellow Ryan product Javy Guerra pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers and several other local players have gone on to play professionally or for major colleges. “It would be great for North Texas to get a team,” longtime Ryan coach Bret Warnack said. “This is a great baseball area with the Metroplex and the teams around here with us, Coppell, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Celina and Pilot Point. They would have a pool of players to choose from. It would be exciting for Denton.” UNT has struggled at times to attract top athletes from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but would have an advantage in baseball because of the high number of quality players and a smaller number of Division I programs in the area. TCU, UT-Arlington and Dallas Baptist are all prominent programs, and Big 12 schools also recruit the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “North Texas would be able to keep players home,” Warnack said. “I don’t see that being an issue. It will take them awhile to build it, but it would be a great opportunity for North Texas and the players in the area.” Villarreal believes that with the right facility and coaching staff in place, UNT could quickly build a solid program. “I feel like — and have since I got here — baseball is a sport we can compete in on a national basis,” Villarreal said. “There is a tremendous amount of talent here that is going to other places that would like to play at home.” ... UNT is hoping its plans will come together quickly and fill in what has been a down time in its sports calendar. “Baseball will bring in large numbers of people in the spring,” Villarreal said. “With the matchups we can create, we would be able to bridge the gap — along with our softball program — to the fall and bring people to campus.”" http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20120314-baseball-north-texas-exploring-addition-of-baseball-program.ece In the **New** CUSA only three schools do not have baseball programs. Schools with Baseball Programs. Rice UAB Southern Miss Tulane East Carolina Marshall Florida International Louisiana Tech Texas-San Antonio Charlotte Old Dominion Schools without Baseball Programs. North Texas UTEP Tulsa