Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 17:28:37 GMT -6
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 17:34:01 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Feb 20, 2017 7:13:34 GMT -6
Liberty is a private Christian school. Those 2 things ensure it will never be in the MAC.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 7:37:59 GMT -6
Liberty is a private Christian school. Those 2 things ensure it will never be in the MAC. Grown to 15,000 on-campus students in just 46 years. Serious investment in athletic facilities, including synthetic ski slope (who shouldn't have one). Private schools in other conferences and it works. Parochial schools in other conferences and it works. Why wouldn't it work? |
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Feb 20, 2017 8:07:11 GMT -6
Just don't see the gain for the MAC. Not a big recruiting draw in a big population center. They would hurt us more in our backyard than help us. No big attendance or TV revenue. Practical costs high to stretch conference. How do we offset increases in travel costs, time and money, in all the sports?
Other conferences mentioned a better fit for them, and if the gamble by Liberty works out, they'd jump ship, no natural fit. MAC doesn't give them what they want except a short run bootstrap to FBS.
If the gamble for them doesn't work, what have we gained? If it does, they're gone.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Feb 20, 2017 8:13:05 GMT -6
Liberty is a private Christian school. Those 2 things ensure it will never be in the MAC. Grown to 15,000 on-campus students in just 46 years. Serious investment in athletic facilities, including synthetic ski slope (who shouldn't have one). Private schools in other conferences and it works. Parochial schools in other conferences and it works. Why wouldn't it work? The MAC is only interested in public schools. And they won't touch a conservative Christian school. Not saying they might not be a good add, just that it will never, ever happen. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 8:23:50 GMT -6
What do they want that the MAC cannot provide? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 8:24:53 GMT -6
Grown to 15,000 on-campus students in just 46 years. Serious investment in athletic facilities, including synthetic ski slope (who shouldn't have one). Private schools in other conferences and it works. Parochial schools in other conferences and it works. Why wouldn't it work? The MAC is only interested in public schools. And they won't touch a conservative Christian school. How do you know that? Is it in the conference's mission statement, or elsewhere? |
|
|
|
Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Feb 20, 2017 8:34:04 GMT -6
The MAC is only interested in public schools. And they won't touch a conservative Christian school. How do you know that? Is it in the conference's mission statement, or elsewhere? The first part is a policy that has been in place for a few decades. The second is an unwritten rule, to avoid any clashes with existing member administrations. (Yes, it's very political.) |
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Feb 20, 2017 9:03:43 GMT -6
What do they want that the MAC cannot provide? It's far more important to me what we gain, which I am not seeing. But the article doesn't mention the MAC for good reason. Short term we are not as good a fit as a conference with more presence from the South or East Coast. That makes more sense for all their sports, and football recruiting would favor a Southern strategy for them. Long term it is worse. They want to be the evangelical BYU, or ND, and want a national presence in a bigger conference. BYU has not had an easy time with that goal with a very strong football program. Liberty is not as isolated geographically as BYU though, that part of the Liberty plan long term might work, but they are going to get there without a great football program which takes some time to develop. They might well like one of the conferences that is spread out, but we are really a regional conference at the core. So, if I am right and that is their plan, the MAC is at best just a short term bootstrap to FBS so they can get an FBS schedule easily. Their plan is to outgrow any conference they join. They might well like one of the conferences that is spread out, and we are really a regional conference at the core. More important, how do we gain from their success, if they succeed? If they fail, how do we gain? |
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Feb 20, 2017 9:20:44 GMT -6
How do you know that? Is it in the conference's mission statement, or elsewhere? The first part is a policy that has been in place for a few decades. The second is an unwritten rule, to avoid any clashes with existing member administrations. (Yes, it's very political.) Most conferences are made up of similar schools for any number of reasons. I do not see any unwritten rule regarding political agenda, other than the similarities the schools all have dealing with funding, both for athletics but also their overall budgets. The conference affiliation provides some useful comparisons for school administrations who have to go to the legislature and can compare the schools top to bottom in that venue. BSU for example makes a case they are more like Miami for some purposes, and is happy to compare higher faculty salaries at the other MAC schools to justify asking for budget increase and compare performance where we do very well in most areas. There is some case for comparing mission statements and broader profiles in higher education. If for no other reason to create parity in sports competition in the long run. Liberty has significantly different long term and short term educational goals and unlike BSU does not serve a master in any statehouse which may be indeed a political issue. Legislatures want to please voters, and preach austerity. Liberty is free to please students who can pay tuition and preach quality even at relatively high cost. Just in terms of athletic funding, BSU and Liberty will go to the table on many issues involving sports and have greatly goals and constraints. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 12:49:43 GMT -6
These teams (Liberty, James Madison) routinely draw 20,000/game as FCS schools. Moving to FBS in the MAC conference would not be pushing their attendance numbers upward. The Sunbelt conference has been aggressively targeting the successful FCS football schools to enhance their conference football image. Look at their attendance levels and their success in last year's bowl season as opposed to the MAC, who appears to have NO vision as to what it wants to be as a conference.
|
|
|
|
Post by cardfan on Feb 20, 2017 12:59:52 GMT -6
These teams (Liberty, James Madison) routinely draw 20,000/game as FCS schools. Moving to FBS in the MAC conference would not be pushing their attendance numbers upward. The Sunbelt conference has been aggressively targeting the successful FCS football schools to enhance their conference football image. Look at their attendance levels and their success in last year's bowl season as opposed to the MAC, who appears to have NO vision as to what it wants to be as a conference. Yep. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 13:40:23 GMT -6
These teams (Liberty, James Madison) routinely draw 20,000/game as FCS schools. Moving to FBS in the MAC conference would not be pushing their attendance numbers upward. The Sunbelt conference has been aggressively targeting the successful FCS football schools to enhance their conference football image. Look at their attendance levels and their success in last year's bowl season as opposed to the MAC, who appears to have NO vision as to what it wants to be as a conference. Yep. Glad we're apart of it. |
|
|
|
Post by 00hmh on Feb 20, 2017 14:20:40 GMT -6
These teams (Liberty, James Madison) routinely draw 20,000/game as FCS schools. Moving to FBS in the MAC conference would not be pushing their attendance numbers upward. The Sunbelt conference has been aggressively targeting the successful FCS football schools to enhance their conference football image. Look at their attendance levels and their success in last year's bowl season as opposed to the MAC, who appears to have NO vision as to what it wants to be as a conference. Maybe the vision is to be a Great Lakes states conference, like we are. We have survived where other regional conferences could not, there is something to be said for that. Temple and Buffalo represented attempts to go East, and we had an experiment with Central Florida and Marshall that went nowhere. Buffalo is working OK it appears, not sure these wide area conferences are really a great idea for the MAC to emulate. Not sure how we would even be able to do try something analogous to the Sunbelt if we wanted. Those schools are gambling FBS football can be maintained, maybe easier in the South. I don't see the lower level schools in the Midwest lined up to move to FBS or where we find partners to expand. |
|
