NCAA vote is bad, bad news for the MVC

[TheAsianSensation]

It'll all come down to the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of money in that thing right now, money the P5 won't want to lose. Yes, it's secondary to football, but it's not chump change, and enough P5 schools have a major stake in basketball retaining its value (Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, etc etc).

If the P5 can find a way to retain a fair portion of the value of the tournament in splitting off, then they'll do it. But the value of that first weekend is too great for them to give up, IMO. We need to fight to show that the world needs more Wichita/Kentucky games. We also need to fight tournament expansion to prevent our mid-majors from beating mediocre P5 teams instead of great P5 teams on that first weekend.

[MVCfans]

Here's another article on the subject:

http://www.news-leader.com/story/sports ... 29514300=1

MSU AD:

Moats said it would be up to individual schools in a conference like the Missouri Valley whether to follow along with the cost of attendance, a portion of it or give none at all. He said his belief is that schools in the Valley, being a basketball-centric league, would do all they could to fund the additional costs for men's and women's basketball players.

Maybe it doesn't need to be a league in it's entirety, but schools can individually make the decision?

[Wufan]

Elgin believes we will be unified as a conference in supporting mens and women's basketball.

[MoValley John]

Here's another article on the subject:

http://www.news-leader.com/story/sports ... 29514300=1

MSU AD:

Moats said it would be up to individual schools in a conference like the Missouri Valley whether to follow along with the cost of attendance, a portion of it or give none at all. He said his belief is that schools in the Valley, being a basketball-centric league, would do all they could to fund the additional costs for men's and women's basketball players.

Maybe it doesn't need to be a league in it's entirety, but schools can individually make the decision?

Conferences will have the ability to follow the rules implemented by the power five. Schools within those conferences that choose to adopt power five rules can, but do not have to fund full cost of attendance. In other words, Elgin is eluding to the fact that the Valley will follow the direction of the power five and believes most schools in the Valley will pony up.

On the other hand, if a school is in a conference that doesn't adopt rules implemented by the power five, that school cannot unilaterally choose to pay full cost of attendance. This is where it gets dicey. If enough Valley schools find out that they cannot afford full cost of attendance, in an effort to stay competitive in the league, they could vote to not allow full cost of attendance for all.

I would expect all Valley schools to jump on board at the onset. I don't expect all 10 schools will be as enthusiastic about it in five years. Another consideration is the power five want to add two scholarships to basketball, plus, the full cost of attendance number is expected to rise over the next few years. When the cost of keeping up with the big boys jumps from a few hundred grand to over a million, what are schools like Evansville to do?

Yes, the power five fully expect to expense smaller schools out of the game.

[unipanther99]

I'm not really sure why you are picking on Evansville? Have they reduced their men's basketball budget in recent years? Has any MVC school?

This isn't going to be chump change, but it's not going to break the bank either. MVC/A-10/MWC/WCC schools understand the value of continuing to compete at this level in terms of exposure for their university, and will come up with what's necessary. If cost of attendance starts to blow up any conferences, I really think that line will be drawn below our level. Summit, Horizon, WAC... Who knows. But those conferences are already very volatile.

[Aargh]

Mountain West would consider adding a basketball-only school. See the last paragraph.

http://gazette.com/mountain-west-commissioner-craig-thompson-doesnt-fear-five-high-resource-conferences-under-most-circumstances/article/1534188

This is the first time the commissioner of the MWC has said anything other than they are not considering expansion under any circumstance. Gonzaga fits their footprint better, but WSU seems to fit the type of university in the conference better.

When the athletic wars are being waged over dollars, programs that appear able to contribute dollars will become attractive to suitors who want dollars.

[MoValley John]

I'm not really sure why you are picking on Evansville? Have they reduced their men's basketball budget in recent years? Has any MVC school?

This isn't going to be chump change, but it's not going to break the bank either. MVC/A-10/MWC/WCC schools understand the value of continuing to compete at this level in terms of exposure for their university, and will come up with what's necessary. If cost of attendance starts to blow up any conferences, I really think that line will be drawn below our level. Summit, Horizon, WAC... Who knows. But those conferences are already very volatile.

Just an example school and they are small. That said, I could really be a dick and mention that SIU is broke, Drake doesn't spend Money, Loyola is small with a small fan base, Missouri State had to sell cattle to keep athletics afloat, on and on and on. And while each fan base of each school is positive that their school can keep up with this spending increase, with as many schools that have already had financial problems in the past, do you really trust the others? Are you positive that your school can and will keep up when this balloons from a few hundred grand to a few million? If you are sure, you better be first in line to write the check (and a big check) without complaining.

[TheDrake]

I'm not really sure why you are picking on Evansville? Have they reduced their men's basketball budget in recent years? Has any MVC school?

This isn't going to be chump change, but it's not going to break the bank either. MVC/A-10/MWC/WCC schools understand the value of continuing to compete at this level in terms of exposure for their university, and will come up with what's necessary. If cost of attendance starts to blow up any conferences, I really think that line will be drawn below our level. Summit, Horizon, WAC... Who knows. But those conferences are already very volatile.

Just an example school and they are small. That said, I could really be a dick and mention that SIU is broke, Drake doesn't spend Money, Loyola is small with a small fan base, Missouri State had to sell cattle to keep athletics afloat, on and on and on. And while each fan base of each school is positive that their school can keep up with this spending increase, with as many schools that have already had financial problems in the past, do you really trust the others? Are you positive that your school can and will keep up when this balloons from a few hundred grand to a few million? If you are sure, you better be first in line to write the check (and a big check) without complaining.

*Drake used to not spend money.
They're just finishing an 8+ million dollar practice facility and they're starting Gia's salary off at half a mil. The administration appears to be willing to pay to compete. Whether or not that level of dedication will remain for the long haul has yet to be seen.

[Wufan]

I'm currently concerned about Bradley and SIU. If I understand correctly, they have overspent athletics earnings recently.

[uniftw]

I'm currently concerned about Bradley and SIU. If I understand correctly, they have overspent athletics earnings recently.

You can extend that to the entire state of Illinois.

I don't think ISUr is much better off, if at all.