Fantastic article about the CAA remaining intact

[JMUFBS]

I, for one, hate to see VCU, GMU and ODU leave the conference. VCU & GMU to the A10 does make more sense to me than ODU to CUSA. ECU, Marshall and So. Miss are attractive conference mates but there is a big drop off with the other schools two of which have yet to play a down. ODU is the cream of the new conference partners crop should they go to the CUSA. They do more for CUSA than CUSA does for them.

I realize Maine and UNH may not get the ODU faithful's juices flowing but are UT SanAn, Fla Int and North Texas any better? CUSA has been greatly watered down with the departures of Memphis, SMU, Houston and UCF. The basketball conference also was not much better than the CAA last year and is losing its marquee program to the Big East in that sport too. If JMU, App & UD were being included in the CUSA expansion, then that makes sense for all involved. The eastern division would been an excellent regional conference in itself.

Call me crazy but I think the CAA has a great opportunity to better position itself and make some advances in the conference superiority battle. The A10 has lost one of its best basketball programs. CUSA is losing their best schools. The CAA becomes more competitive with these conferences if it can keep its best programs in place.

Add App St. for football to replace GSU who really did very little for the conference during their tenure here. Football can continue to dominate FCS while keeping expenses manageable. Unless there is a change in the 1A landscape, I just don't see CUSA, Sunbelt and MAC being money makers for football. CUSA especially because of the travel costs for all sports. There is only so much room for TV money and the power conferences are taking most of it.

On the subject of VCU & GMU to the A10. No doubt adding Butler, VCU and GMU makes the A10 more attractive but without VCU & GMU, the A10 is worse with the departure of Temple. Butler does not equal Temple. Yes, Butler had a nice two year run but that ended and now they have to prove they can sustain success like Temple has for the last two decades.

VCU has made the NCAA tourney four out of the last five years or 80% of the time. How does going to the A10 improve their odds of making the tourney? The gap between the CAA and A10 has shrunk considerably over the last two decades. The CAA was stronger in 2010-11 than the A10. With growing state funded universities, the CAA has far more upside than the A10 whose membership is mostly small private schools lost in urban cities. JMU and Towson are both building new arenas. UD, ODU & VCU all built new arenas within the last ten years. NU & UNCW did million dollar renovations to theirs. I don't hear about A10 schools improving facilities. Why is that? Its because most of the conference is in poor urban areas with very little fan following.

People keep talking about all the A10 bids to the tourney. Well one of those bids went to Temple almost every year not the A10. I believe schools win bids not conferences. Temple goes to the Big East and so does its bid. Charlotte chose the A10 when they were booted out of CUSA because of the multiple bids. Well here we are years later and they have yet to make it to the tourney as an A10 member.

My main point in this post is that VCU, GMU and ODU do more for the conferences they will be joining than those conferences will do for them. The potential of the CAA long term is far greater than CUSA and the A10. Most of the schools in those conferences are in large markets with professional teams whose potential fan base could care less about mid major college basketball/football. There will be limited regional rivalries and limited fan interest from your new conference partners. VCU, GMU and ODU already sell out their arenas and stadiums. These schools have large energized fan bases. How does that get better by moving to the A10 and CUSA? Attendance for UR dropped significantly when they went to the A10. The CAA is not perfect but we all have to admit it has come a long way in 26 years. Far enough that other conferences are trying to convince our best programs that they should leave.

There are risks to moving folks. If these schools go, I will wish them the best and hope to continue to play them in our out of conference schedule. JMU will be just fine just like we were after UR, ECU and American left the CAA in 2000. I just hate to see these schools leave the CAA when the conference is finally getting the accolades it deserves.

So Dukie, based on your comments in the second paragraph, as a visting fan you would rather travel to Bangor, Maine and Durham New Hampshire, than say - Miami Florida or San Antonio Texas.

I'll take the Later ....

[Sitting Bull]

Ummmm newsflash.....the sunbelt is awful......you can't expect anyone to take this argument seriously can you??? The freaking sunbelt.......get real.

CUSA isn't exactly the SEC but it's 100 times better than the sun belt which is the worst FBS league in the country.

Here's an idea. Ask East Carolina fans whether they lost or made money last year on college football. Then you can start to figure out why ODU fans are excited about the move.

It's not as much about what currently is as much as it is about what could be. The potential for ODU football is what this move would be all about.

Didn't CUSA JUST add a couple of Sun Belt teams?

Hasn't ECU been looking for any kind of home outside CUSA for years? Wouldn't they jump at the first option to go to the Big East?

These swaggering discussions are moronic. As much as many want to crow about why they are going to "move up" - leave everybody else in the rear view mirror!! - like their some national icon. Get over yourselves. Do you really think SMU, East Carolina, Tulane - whatever is left of any national names in the CUSA are excited that they just added Charlotte and North Texas - and hey look! we may get Old Dominion!

ODU and VCU went running to greener pastures, the big leagues, long ago. Has anyone asked or wondered why they came back to the little old CAA? ODU came tucking back first -later followed by VCU. Why" What was the problem?

The CAA will be fine without VCU, ODU and GMU if that's the case. I would be more concerned with their own ability to actually keep a winning tradition and not blow the budget with asinine traveling costs if they move on - and I would bet that's part of the conversation in their boardrooms.

Face it, when VCU and ODU aren't winning (it's infrequent I know in BB but it's been there), they are no different than anyone else - their "fanbase" will shrink quickly. Fans are only rabid - and often delusional as can be witnessed on these boards - when you win.

[N2theBLUE]

Misery loves company. It makes me chuckle when the fans of schools consistently at the bottom of the conference wish ill will on the schools consistently at the top.

[Dukie]

No JMUFBS, I would rather play GMU, VCU, UD, ODU, UR, W&M, Nova and Towson than I would travel to Miami and San An. I don't go to Bangor nor have I gone to Durham either. I like the CAA because I can go to games and be back home the same day. Very few people are going to travel to Miami and San An for a football game. You are welcome to your own opinion but your argument is very weak.

Give me an FBS conference that is contained within the Mid-Atlantic, and I am all for it. CUSA in its present form is far too expensive and only a small step up in competition. They lost a lot to the Big East. I am not a go 1A at all cost fan.

[Razor Ramon 2]

Sitting bulls post is honestly one of the dumbest in caazone history.

Not a single intelligent point to be found.

I could bother explaining to him that ecu only wanted to go to the big east, cusa picked the two biggest potential teams from the sun belt, that odu did have a down year last year and still lead the caa in basketball attendance, but really, what's the point???

All you need to know about sitting bull is that he ran his mouth non stop about how w&m was going to kick our @sses in football last year only to completely disappear after we beat them in their house.

You should be happy odu is leaving the caa, you might actually have a chance to win something now! What was the final score in the odu-w&m challenge? I believe it ended up a beatdown.

Thanks for playing though, please don't be bitter about your impending move to the patriot league......it'll be an excellent opportunity for the griffins to finally win a championship in a sport anyone gives a sh.t about.

Good luck with that!

[tiger84]

It would make more sense to add Appl State to the CAA and expand the FCS playoff field. I see Towson expanding to 18,000 seats the next 5 years. You would have App State, Towson, Old Domin, Madision and Delaware all with 18,000-30,000 seat stadiums in a good league. Nova, William & Mary and Richmond are also great rivals.

Sitting bulls post is honestly one of the dumbest in caazone history.

Not a single intelligent point to be found.

I could bother explaining to him that ecu only wanted to go to the big east, cusa picked the two biggest potential teams from the sun belt, that odu did have a down year last year and still lead the caa in basketball attendance, but really, what's the point???

All you need to know about sitting bull is that he ran his mouth non stop about how w&m was going to kick our @sses in football last year only to completely disappear after we beat them in their house.

You should be happy odu is leaving the caa, you might actually have a chance to win something now! What was the final score in the odu-w&m challenge? I believe it ended up a beatdown.

Thanks for playing though, please don't be bitter about your impending move to the patriot league......it'll be an excellent opportunity for the griffins to finally win a championship in a sport anyone gives a sh.t about.

Good luck with that!

[ODU1986]

When word first got out about this C-USA thing I wall all for it. But the more I think about it, the more I believe an "improved" CAA is the way to go.

- Somehow get VCU and Mason to stay
- Bring in Davidson and College of Charleston for basketball and all sports
- Bring in App State for football, basketball, and all sports
- This will then give the CAA 14 basketball schools

- Bring in Youngstown State for football only
- This willl give the CAA 11 football schools (5 of which avg 15,000 or more in attendance)


Conference C-USA, other than it being a 1A conference and having East Carolina, just doesn't do anything for me

[tiger84]

I agree. You would have 6-7 schools all within 4 hours playing in 18,000-30,000 seat stadiums. Expand the FCS football playoffs to 24 teams. Also, Nova, Richmond and William & Mary are great academic schools and good to play all within 200 miles.

You have no rivals playing schools more than 4 hours from home and fans cannot travel to see there team play. Also, the Conference USA/MAAC have small bowls games and no major television contracts.

It only makes sense to turn Division 1 if you can get in a major conference(ACC/Big East) with large television contracts/Bowl Games.

When word first got out about this C-USA thing I wall all for it. But the more I think about it, the more I believe an "improved" CAA is the way to go.

- Somehow get VCU and Mason to stay
- Bring in Davidson and College of Charleston for basketball and all sports
- Bring in App State for football, basketball, and all sports
- This will then give the CAA 14 basketball schools

- Bring in Youngstown State for football only
- This willl give the CAA 11 football schools (5 of which avg 15,000 or more in attendance)


Conference C-USA, other than it being a 1A conference and having East Carolina, just doesn't do anything for me

[ODU1986]

Another plus with the CAA is the CAA Tournament. It has evolved into a really great social event and if I'm correct, attendance has been increasing year after year after year.

I'm curious to know if the City of Richmond even has preliminary plans to build a new arena. The Tourny in a brand new state of the art Richmond Coliseum would really be a big deal.

[82hawk]

ECU is one of the big players in the CUSA football scene now, and their fans are delusional to boot. The admin. seems realistic and is most likely aware that ECU is a far as they will ever go. But I can promise you the fans are NOT on board with ODU or Charlotte. They are committed to being in a top tier conference like the Big East, and will not be happy as fans or supporteres until they get there. You're talking about alumni who have used the legislature of NC to force the ACC teams like Carolina and State to play ECU in football.

My point is this. ECU is gone from the CUSA as it stands if the opportunity ever arises. ODU would be wise in increasing their status in the FCS arena, becoming a powerhouse in recruiting, and partnering with other up and coming FCS companions in the Atlantic region. The suggestions above make a whole lot of sense.