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Initial reaction, no. Upon thinking about it more, no.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhoRepsTheLurker
Do I want this to be true? Yes.
If we don't get picked up for fbs this year, I really hope these 4 consider forming a new conference in the fcs with other schools that actually try at football.
I mean it’s true insomuch as the person who posted it believes it to be true… ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Twentysix
While I would like to see all 4 move, I sort of hope this isn’t true. It doesn’t seem like a high credibility source.Quote:
Originally Posted by Twentysix
If there is truly a block that says “take all or none”, that could work against us in a situation where a conference only wants to add one or two schools.
I guess it gives the griz fans something to talk about …
They seem very divided on the move up topic.Quote:
Originally Posted by WhoRepsTheLurker
Not sure who is behind that Twitter account but they also claimed the gang of 4 were requesting/demanding money to help fund the additional costs of adding sports and paying FBS entry fees. It was a “yes” contingent on a big chunk of MW money, if the rumor/report is true. The claim made is MW spent the money needed on retaining UNLV, AFA and helping Hawaii.
Not sure I believe any of this, but if true it doesn’t look like we are going anywhere soon. If MW doesn’t have enough money for us to move, neither does MACQuote:
unless another shoe drops such as another Pac12, or the MW comes into more money, or one of the FCS 4 can pay their own way, the MW is satisfied not offering them an invite.
If it was true I doubt the one breaking the story would be @TheSnowBelt
I will wait for someone with more credibility.
The MW currently has 18 to 20 million set aside to help pay exit fees for schools they invite if necessary. As far as we know NIU and Toledo are still on the table for football only and Grand Canyon for olympic sports. Nothing appears imminent, though. However, negotiations for the tv providers will start soon and I think the MW would like to go to the table knowing who all the members will be.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHorns
While I don't think it is the plan, it would not surprise me to see the MW stay with 8 full members and just add one or two oly affiliates. The original MWC had only 8 members for 6 years before adding TCU.
AS for FCS. There are rumblings that the MW is not looking at that any more. Can't confirm or deny but it does seem to be the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFqleeBgItUQuote:
Originally Posted by MWC
interesting, thanks for sharing. i think this explains the situation better though:Quote:
Originally Posted by MWC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Y0bnx6Ndw
I haven't seen that for awhile..Well played,
They’re not really saying anything ground-breaking though… essentially all their saying is, “the 4 schools talked and agreed that if the MW asks all 4 of them, they’d all agree to go.”Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHorns
…essentially they are saying that in the exceedingly less likely event that this happens, they’re all game. It doesn’t matter who reports this, its probably not going to happen anyway…
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhoRepsTheLurker
lol - some of those comments appear to be pretty ignorant of the way the new 12-team playoff format works. Casts some doubt on the narrative that griz fans are great football minds, bro…Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHorns
Quote:
Originally Posted by heffray
Some of the posts seem to imply the 4 schools have decided to link their fate and move as a group with whatever they do.
No idea if true, maybe the twitter account is coming from a Montana affiliated person or elsewhere. Just too hard to know the source currently, and how knowledgeable they are of whats actually happening. Clearly not a tier 1 reporter, more of a grape vine report, and possible it's entirely fabricated.
Very interesting Montana podcast here with AD comments at 33 minutes in.
https://gogriz.com/sports/2019/8/28/...mRedirect=true
His comments seem consistent with what the twitter account was saying. They would consider jump to MW, but need money to do so.
Maybe 8 FCS teams can move up together and put the $5 M each owes on a lay away plan with the NCAA. Winnings from Bowl games, FBS matchups and each team plays a home and away game on Wed night to fill time slots for CBSSports. Everybody will be FBS in no time. No way this wouldn't work. Now, where is that purple font I keep reading about.
It’s not the $5m that’s the killer. Montana AD in the podcast said their athletic budget would need to go up $16m/year, plus potentially additional costs coming out of the NCAA House settlement. He doesn’t believe their donor base can do that. MW probably isn’t going to come up with those types of numbers either.Quote:
Originally Posted by ringthebells
One misconception on bowl games - they typically don’t pay out directly to schools. It goes into conference coffers and gets distributed that way most often. And most of the major bowls have tie-ins with specific conferences. So, it’s really just part of the annual conference distribution. What has helped MW in the past is a bunch of NCAA basketball tourney credit payouts they can distribute.
Thought the comments by Griz fans were interesting. Sounded a lot like this place did 4-5 years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHorns
Unverified partial transcript copied from CSNBBS board:Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHorns
- "[Montana] wants to be prepared to offer the very best opportunities for our student-athletes. And I've said this before, for us to go to the FBS and join CUSA and send our volleyball team to Louisiana just doesn't make any sense for us. We need to stay regional, we need to play like-minded schools, and so you want to be selective in that."
- "I think [realignment has] calmed for a while. The Pac-12 needs to find another full-time school. The Mountain West now has found its eighth, that's the magic number; I imagine they'll want to go bigger than that."
- "Our fit [in an FBS conference] is far more in the Mountain West than it would be [in a conference outside the region], you just look at the institutions that are there."
- "We just want to be prepared. We feel like we've got our facilities in a spot where we're prepared. Our fan base is certainly attractive. The television audience that we bring. And when I say we, I do mean Montana State too, because we are governed by the same board of regents so we're tied together. But we just want to be prepared. I think it's calmed for a little while, it's gonna ramp back up when the Mountain West decides what they're gonna want to do and then the Pac-12 has got to make a decision."
- "As far as [the challenges faced by the] Big Sky, I can't answer those to be honest with you. My focus is on making Montana the very best that it can be, and we're in a conference, but I gotta stay laser-focused on what we're doing and what we do. Conferences have evolved over time, and they're really supposed to be avenues for you to generate more revenue, and you see, okay, if we maxed what we can do here, uh, so that's a challenge but the Big Sky Conference is gonna do what it does and Montana's gotta make sure that we're in a spot where we can thrive."
- "What's the biggest challenge for us? Certainly it all comes down to money. I hate to make it that but our budget would have to increase. We can only generate so much money. We're already asking our fans to generate 65 to 70 percent of our budget. That can't go up when our budget goes up to $40 million from $24 million, we can't pass that on to the fans. And so, I've said this multiple times, that it's a commitment really from the State of Montana I think to say look, both of these institutions, this is what we want to do, we see them as economic drivers, we see them as wanting to play in this [FBS] level."
- "The other big thing to really watch is how this House settlement [plays out]. It's been approved, but there some significant changes within there that you and I don't have enough time to talk about. But just google 'roster limits House settlement' and you'll see the changes that are coming from roster limits. Scholarship limits really have gone, they're not there any more according to this settlement, and opting in if you want to do that changes what you do. And so we've gotta decide are we opting in on this, and what that means for FCS football and all those things."
Haslet also only has 15 NCAA sports (min: 16).
Montana (as Haslet points out) would need $15-20M more annually in MWC.
Mwc officially added gcu 10 minutes ago.
Ironically, no one reported this, just the conference itself lol.
I guess no one cares cause they dont play football.
https://x.com/MountainWest/status/18...7Ctwgr%5Etweet
So MWC is now 9BB/8FB.
I believe 10BB/9FB is favorable for scheduling.
If they (MWC) are that stupid, maybe we don't want to land there?
? On campus enrollment 26,000. Average basketball home attendence 7,200Quote:
Originally Posted by NI4NI
Will their round ball games have a higher potential viewership than the Bison FB games?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bison4peat
That 7200 is the full capacity of their arena. The 26,000 is about the same as most MW schools.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bison4peat
They have really nice, warm weather facilities.
They are good in basketball and baseball which helps.
Very easy travel to and from Phoenix.
One of only 3, so far, non football members of an FBS conference. Gonzaga and Wichita State are the others.
Though being in Phoenix will help a bit with the tv deal, football is always the driver in the negotiations for providers.
They turned down an invitation from the WCC. They had, reportedly chatted with the Pac 2 as well.
This move helps the MW in many ways but does not preclude any more additions, particularly football only.
Basketball is about NCAA tourney wins. Football is about eyeballs.Quote:
Originally Posted by NI4NI
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This add was about basketball and convenient travel for the non revenue sports.. All tv deals are based upon football viewership.
I do think the MW will add one or two more schools for football only and maybe one more California school for olympic sports only. While there has been some scuttlebutt about NIU and Toledo, the MW notified every conference that they wished to discuss membership with a lot of different schools in different parts of the country. I don't know that they have ruled anybody in or out at this point.
They didn't turn down an invite to the WCC, they accepted in May and reportedly paid $16 million (non-refundable) to join.Quote:
Originally Posted by MWC
https://wccsports.com/news/2024/5/10...s-members.aspx
True, they did accept, initially. Then Gonzaga left which changed the dynamic. GCU is paying an entrance fee to the MW, though less than 16 million.Quote:
Originally Posted by jacksfan29!
No, not even close.Quote:
Originally Posted by NI4NI
GCU was not added for a tv deal. They were added purely for competitive reasons. Being in Phoenix doesn't hurt at all but the deals are always about football. Some of those folks may watch MW football games and every little bit helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Twentysix
Were you to be added for football, I would not care at all about your other sports in the Summit. You would likely not care at all about MW olympic sports. This will be GCU's only conference*. They might feel a bit more connected.
* GCU sponsors some sports not available in the MW so they would affiliate with other conferences to house those sports.
So you are saying that they could use a football only member to balance it all out? Interesting…Quote:
Originally Posted by Twentysix
Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
Grand Canyon joining Mountain West in 2026 as non-football member, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ.
GCU has been to 3 of last 4 NCAA men’s tourneys.
MW still seeking a football-only member & has had discussions w/NIU & Toledo which could be final piece to its expansion, source said
IMO MW is skipping the SU's because they know that they'll dominate the conference in a few years.Quote:
Originally Posted by bruinbison
I'm thinking that too. We'd make most of those teams look foolish.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bison Dan
What makes you think the MW is skipping you?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bison Dan
Well there sure isn't anything indicating otherwise?Quote:
Originally Posted by MWC
At some point, MAC (or another conference) is going to invite the Bison and they'll accept, and the MWC will be wondering why they didn't pull the trigger sooner.
Because there hasn't been any leaks you assume that no discussions have occurred between NDSU and the MW. The conference has cast a very wide net. Until a couple of days ago GCU was going to the WCC. At this point neither Toledo or NIU have received an offer to join. The Montana AD said they were just waiting for the MW to decide what they want to do. This is all still up in the air.
Yes, that is the assumption many fans are making.Quote:
Originally Posted by MWC
It may not actually be this way but it seems like we might get asked to dance only if all the other girls say "no"