(02-21-2014 07:31 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  JMU would give the MAC 14 football teams, and 13 full members. So does that mean UMass likely joins as a full member to make it 14-14, or is someone else a candidate for #14 (non-football)?

The MAC will not allow a non-football member.

UMass is either joining for all sports, or getting replaced.

(02-21-2014 07:31 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  JMU would give the MAC 14 football teams, and 13 full members. So does that mean UMass likely joins as a full member to make it 14-14, or is someone else a candidate for #14 (non-football)?

They'll probably ask UMass for full but if they decline stay at 14/13. They were 13/12 for a while, and are again, they were 13 all sports for a while too when Marshall joined. Is there any non fb schools worth an add that the MAC could get? A10 schools would be out if they can't pry UMass.

(02-21-2014 07:32 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 07:31 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  JMU would give the MAC 14 football teams, and 13 full members. So does that mean UMass likely joins as a full member to make it 14-14, or is someone else a candidate for #14 (non-football)?

The MAC will not allow a non-football member.

UMass is either joining for all sports, or getting replaced.

or that

i guess we'll know on tuesday..

(02-21-2014 06:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Gives them an even number and eliminates scheduling headaches in football.

Missouri State, Illinois State and Delaware would fit the bill as well, but those either aren't ready or willing to move up. What the MAC doesn't need is another Ohio or Michigan school recruiting the same area.

Missouri State has big facility upgrades currently underway and could be ready for FBS within a year. New track/soccer stadium and football stadiums are both under construction right now. The basketball arena just opened a $4 million dollar locker room upgrade a month ago as well.

(02-21-2014 08:07 PM)msu_bears Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 06:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Gives them an even number and eliminates scheduling headaches in football.

Missouri State, Illinois State and Delaware would fit the bill as well, but those either aren't ready or willing to move up. What the MAC doesn't need is another Ohio or Michigan school recruiting the same area.

Missouri State has big facility upgrades currently underway and could be ready for FBS within a year. New track/soccer stadium and football stadiums are both under construction right now. The basketball arena just opened a $4 million dollar locker room upgrade a month ago as well.

MSU will be FBS. Tough to give up the Valley BBall though.

(02-21-2014 05:37 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Why does the MAC want this so much?

The addition of Buffalo made sense. Temple and UMass had brand appeal, and UCF is a gigantic school in a recruiting hotbed, so those 3 had something going for them.

This is not a knock against JMU, but they don't have any of the positives of those four additions. Just looking at them off the cuff they're a smaller school (19,000 students) with a small endowment (67 million) and no brand name to speak of. What do they have going for them? Forgive my ignorance on this if it's already been answered in other threads.

25,000 seat stadium. Averaged over 20k for the last few years.

Good academic school in an under-exposed area. MAC wants east coast exposure, JMU has a strong following in VA.

New BBall arena will be announced with an FBS move.

Strong athletics program, history of winning and strong fan support, 1st class facilities, and solid academics, to sum it all up.

(02-21-2014 08:07 PM)msu_bears Wrote:  Missouri State has big facility upgrades currently underway and could be ready for FBS within a year. New track/soccer stadium and football stadiums are both under construction right now. The basketball arena just opened a $4 million dollar locker room upgrade a month ago as well.

Hello potential future best friend and travel partner.

Kinda sad what has happened to the CAA. Old Dominion, VCU, Georgia State and George Mason are all out. JMU may be next.

(02-21-2014 09:42 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Kinda sad what has happened to the CAA. Old Dominion, VCU, Georgia State and George Mason are all out. JMU may be next.

Georgia State meant nothing. All the other defections killed it for JMU.

It was a nice conference. Mostly a bus league, good success in most sports. JMU wouldn't be moving if it were the CAA of 2011.

(02-21-2014 06:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 06:28 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 05:37 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Why does the MAC want this so much?

Only candidate with 25,000 seats in the MAC footprint. The same distance East as Buffalo and only 1 hour south of Ohio.

It brings the MAC into another big state and the DC, Richmond regional TV markets for their OTA GOTW package. Also down the road if they want to nab Delaware, App St even ODU, Charlotte depending how CUSA goes this is one way to do it.

JMU is nowhere near Ohio. It's 5 hours away from the closest MAC member (Ohio U.).

I don't think the MAC has any need to expand beyond the Big 10 footprint. The Big 10's footprint is so large that it's a fool's errand. It doesn't hobble them at all because they really don't compete for the same athletes, faculty, or even students (except Miami and maybe OU and Buffalo).

Most MAC fans are also Big 10 fans, and vice-versa. This is a positive IMO.

The MAC's strength is that nearly all of its schools are in close proximity to each other. That lowers travel budgets for the schools and means that the fans of opposing schools usually know each other socially (which doesn't happen in any other G5 conference).

Well it is 5 hours away from Ohio U and 5 and a half hours from Kent and Akron which is not that bad really form a travel view point. Buffalo and Miami are 7 hours away. BGSU and Toledo are 7.5 hours away. UMass is over 8.

So it does not help the UMass situation travel wise but it is not completely out of the question in terms of distance. JMU is not that much farther from Ohio, Kent, and Akron than Kent or Akron is from the Michigan schools and Ball State and that was a classic part of the MAC (and considered short distance). They are about as close BGSU, Toledo, Buffalo, and Miami as Kent is to NIU. Nobody is close to UMass in particular.

If you wanted to expand the league into the mid atlantic region this is probably the best choice (it would be either that or ODU and/or Delaware but ODU already has an a FBS invite and Delaware so far has not indicated being interested in leaving FCS yet). While I am not one to advocate taking teams into the MAC JMU does have its advantages and they are not too far though of course they will be on the fringe.

The only other area of likely growth for the MAC would be to head towards Missouri/Arkansas though the population isn't as great there overall.

(02-21-2014 06:46 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 06:28 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 05:37 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Why does the MAC want this so much?

Only candidate with 25,000 seats in the MAC footprint. The same distance East as Buffalo and only 1 hour south of Ohio.

It brings the MAC into another big state and the DC, Richmond regional TV markets for their OTA GOTW package. Also down the road if they want to nab Delaware, App St even ODU, Charlotte depending how CUSA goes this is one way to do it.

JMU is nowhere near Ohio. It's 5 hours away from the closest MAC member (Ohio U.).

I was saying that JMU is no further East than Buffallo and only an hour further of its most southern school Ohio (Miami might be a little further south actually).

Ohio is 273 miles from JMU. They are talking blasting another highway through West Virginia that would cut the travel time down to 4 hours. I think that is pretty close. Marshall is 283 miles to JMU

JMU is 385 miles or 6.5 hours to the MAC league offices in Cleveland. Its 1200 miles or a 19 hr drive to CUSA offices. They are a lot closer to the MAC than what they are CUSA.

(02-21-2014 08:07 PM)msu_bears Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 06:31 PM)bullet Wrote:  Gives them an even number and eliminates scheduling headaches in football.

Missouri State, Illinois State and Delaware would fit the bill as well, but those either aren't ready or willing to move up. What the MAC doesn't need is another Ohio or Michigan school recruiting the same area.

Missouri State has big facility upgrades currently underway and could be ready for FBS within a year. New track/soccer stadium and football stadiums are both under construction right now. The basketball arena just opened a $4 million dollar locker room upgrade a month ago as well.

Facility upgrades are good but MSU also has to prove it can fill seats. Last season the Bears only averaged 8,700 fans per game in a 16,300-seat stadium. That's not FBS-caliber attendance and no comparison to JMU's 21,000 per game.

(02-21-2014 06:14 PM)lumberpack4 Wrote:  

(02-21-2014 05:37 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Why does the MAC want this so much?

The addition of Buffalo made sense. Temple and UMass had brand appeal, and UCF is a gigantic school in a recruiting hotbed, so those 3 had something going for them.

This is not a knock against JMU, but they don't have any of the positives of those four additions. Just looking at them off the cuff they're a smaller school (19,000 students) with a small endowment (67 million) and no brand name to speak of. What do they have going for them? Forgive my ignorance on this if it's already been answered in other threads.

The MAC needs this to have some exposure in the South.

JMU doesn't recruit students from the South. That's one of the big sticking points that they're using to avoid the Sun Belt.

Look, its obvious JMU doesn't want to join the Sun Belt. I wish them well in the MAC or in FCS.

If JMU moves to the MAC, then that is six new FBS programs in a three year period over a pretty compact part of the southeast (VA, NC, & GA). It it could form into a pretty nice league with great natural rivalries were they not spread over three conferences.

(02-22-2014 08:06 AM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  If JMU moves to the MAC, then that is six new FBS programs in a three year period over a pretty compact part of the southeast (VA, NC, & GA). It it could form into a pretty nice league with great natural rivalries were they not spread over three conferences.

Old Dominion, Appalachian St, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Charlotte are already moving up. Throw in Delaware, James Madison, Richmond and William & Mary and you have a nice conference. Of course, you could have had that in the FCS as well, which just means that instead of three FCS level conferences playing in the FBS you would have four. Do we really need that?

I have to wonder if JMU commits to this, what are the chances ODU joins them?

JMU and ODU wanted a conference that was old CUSA-like, not semi-Sun Belt. That's why ODU nestled up to ECU. What ODU now has is something like JMU has politely refused in the past.

JMU-MAC has made sense for some time. I just wonder if ODU or someone else south or east of them joins them. Or...does Marshall return and bridge the gap?

JMU, with its expanded ON CAMPUS stadium, will outdraw Temple and UMass in football....and probably basketball too.

JMU FOOTBALL STADIUM EXPANSION

So I admit I don't know a whole lot about JMU....that video (nice looking stadium expansion btw) showed the finished stadium expansion to hold 40 to 50K....my question is, will they have enough fan support for that? Again, a real question, I know zero about JMU, their fan base, fan base potential, etc etc etc.

(02-22-2014 10:56 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I have to wonder if JMU commits to this, what are the chances ODU joins them?

JMU and ODU wanted a conference that was old CUSA-like, not semi-Sun Belt. That's why ODU nestled up to ECU. What ODU now has is something like JMU has politely refused in the past.

JMU-MAC has made sense for some time. I just wonder if ODU or someone else south or east of them joins them. Or...does Marshall return and bridge the gap?

I think Old Dominon is pretty happy in the C-USA. It would have been a lot cooler if ECU had stayed but it's still the best G5 conference for us outside the AAC. C-USA basketball is better than the MAC. The geography is better in the C-USA with Marshal & Charlotte. I'd personally be upset if ODU left the C-USA for the MAC even with JMU. I'd rather have the southern exposure over the Midwest. The MAC makes a lot more sense for JMU than ODU. Worst case for us would be if Charlotte and Marshall left the conference but we could probably pull App St from the Sun Belt and if App St came I would think JMU would strongly consider leaving the MAC (assuming they were there) for the C-USA.

I hope JMU to the MAC happens, woud love to be able to schedule games with them.