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Is AE expansion on the way?

11K views 92 replies 27 participants last post by  BingGrad 
#1 ·
Here's something from William Paxton of the Connecticut Post. He broke the QU/MU to the MAAC story more than a week before it happened.

Bryant University is among the schools that America East is looking at adding, according to multiple sources that spoke to Hearst News Group.

With Boston University heading to the Patriot League after the 2012-13 school year, the AE will be down to eight members. According to a source, the conference could add up to four new members with the Bryant among the top choices.

Bryant, which began the transition to NCAA Division I status in the summer of 2007, became a full-time member of the Northeast Conference this year.

The NEC has already lost two schools to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, with Quinnipiac and Monmouth announcing last week they were switching conferences. The MAAC added two schools after losing Loyola to the Patriot League and could still add another school at some point.
http://blog.ctnews.com/college/2012/12/19/america-east-looking-at-bryant/
 
#52 ·
I think this has been their plan all along. The plan is not proactive though. They are waiting to see what happens with the Big East fall out. They have been waiting for this for awhile. The AE's plans are going to be one of the last ripples of the Big East Breakup. Some teams might get poached or we might be able to do some poaching. The AE is waiting to see if the some bigger schools fall in our lap.

I agree with the plan. We can get these schools that have been mentioned anytime. Our waiting has us losing out on Qpac. Not a big deal. I dont think the AE wants a diploma mill.
 
#53 ·
If they would add anyone now, I'd like it to be Bryant. Just seems like that's going to be one of the teams we're going to invite, so no reason to wait. Bryant is having a decent year thus far in hoops as well so would be good timing for an announcement.

Can wait for A10 fall out for everything else. I'm not sure waiting for ex-AE CAA teams to come back, I think many actually have a chance to win in CAA now with VCU/Mason/ODU trio blown up.
 
#55 ·
The smart thing to do right now is for AE to wait.........Q going to the MAAC was VERY telling IMO..........and I think that signals some pretty positive possibilities for the league. Now that Boston U. is leaving, we'll see some other schools (administrators) in charge of the league's direction. Stony Brook and Albany have all of the power right now and I cam comfortable with them in charge. One thing that people lose sight of is the fact that every school in the league (excluding Hartford) is a Northeast mid-size public........that along with solid academics makes this a pretty attractive league despite athletic shortcomings by many of our members. With the way things are going across the collegiate landscape, I think that AE is pretty well positioned. The future of AE expansion lies with 2 schools.........George Mason and James Madison.......what they ultimately decide to do will determine the fate of the CAA.
 
#56 ·
Seems pretty clear GMU should go to the reconstituted A10 to be play hoops against Richmond and VCU. Assuming the A10 loses Dayton, X, St. Louis and Butler, their mid-western experiment is done, making it a mid-Atlantic league with very good basketball. George Mason, Fairfield, Drexel, NU would seem to be candidates for expansion. I don't see how GMU would be a position to turn that offer down.
 
#57 ·
Delaware fired football coach KC Keeler yesterday..........not sure of the exact reasons, but he was a pretty strong proponent of Delaware "moving up" in football. This may give us a clue (or not) about where Delaware's thoughts are regarding the future of its athletic dept. If they are not moving to an FBS conference (like JMU appears to be heading), then AE will definitely have "a shot" at them. There are rumblings that they could be headed to the Patriot however. I see the Patriot bending their "profile" of no large state schools to get Delaware in the fold.........they along with W&M would be quite a coup for the Patriot.
 
#60 ·
I cannot imagine Delaware in the Patriot...course, I couldn't foresee Maryland in the Big Ten or Tulane in the Big East and a bunch of other stuff that has happened.

I do wish the conference would just go ahead and get Bryant done now rather than continuing to wait.
 
#61 · (Edited)
Am I the only one that feels we missed adding Quinnipiac?

-A competitive mens basketball team
-A facility that could host an AE Tournament
-Located well geographically for every school in the conference
-Not that it matters for AE, but don't they have a good hockey team now as well? Makes it looks like other AE schools.

I know the academics aren't great, but I really don't see how the AE could ever attract its "perfect school", because that simply doesn't exist given the priorities of the athletic departments in the conference are all over the place.

I feel like we waited too long and missed adding Q. Which is why I think if we want to add Bryant- do it now.
 
#63 ·
Am I the only one that feels we missed adding Quinnipiac?

-A competitive mens basketball team
-A facility that could host an AE Tournament
-Located well geographically for every school in the conference
-Not that it matters for AE, but don't they have a good hockey now team as well? Makes it looks like other AE schools.

I know the academics aren't great, but I really don't see how the AE could ever attract its "perfect school".

I feel like we waited too long and missed adding Q. Which is why I think if we want to add Bryant- do it now.
No, I wished we had pulled the trigger as well...I know people are all on the "wait" bandwagon, but I'm thinking we have waited long enough. I know there are still other dominoes to fall, but there is no guarantee that when they do that this league will be able to land the schools they want.

By adding Bryant now, we become that much more stable and then can ride it out a little longer.
 
#64 ·
Question...would Stony Brook block Hofstra if they decided they wanted to return the AEast?
 
#71 ·
In any case the NBC Sports deal is still much better than the TV deals in America East or the NEC. It seems to be there are 3 different types of TV deals:

1) Pay to Play (Infomericals)
This is the NEC, MAAC, and AE model. They league ponys up $$ from its NCAA revenue to pay for production and broadcast of league games. Each team in the league is slotted a few games, and they are carrierd by regional sports networks for a fee (NESN, SNY, MSG, etc)

2) Free Content
The CAA-NBCS deals seems to offer both sides something of benefit. The CAA gives its media rights to a National Sports Network for free - the content has a small value to the broadcaster. NBC Sports gets free content and then pays for the costs of production, etc. which is offset by any commerical space they can sell. NBCS needs the sports content to be assured it is carried by cable companies nationwide.

3) Auction Rights
The Major conferences (ACC, PAC-12, etc) have content that is so valuable they are able to sell the rights to major cable and TV carriers. This is causing the major realignments at the top which allow schools to obtain more revenue.

I assume the current A-10 TV cotract is somehere better than FREE CONTENT, but probaly worth very little cash dividends to the conference members.

Anyway, I just don't see why any CAA or A-10 team would be willing to give up FREE national exposure (even if it is limited), in order to PAY FOR the same limited, but regional exposure.
 
#73 · (Edited)
Reportedly, the Atlantic-10 deal with ESPN/CBS/NBC will pay the conference $40 million over 8 years ($5 mil/year) which will be split among the 14 schools. That would equate to just over $350K/year per school. Here is the television breakdown:

ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU (15 MBB/3 WBB): The Worldwide Leader will carry 14 regular season men’s basketball games, plus the league championship game. The last three years, ESPN has held the rights to the A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship Game, but chose to sublicense it CBS. It is unclear if ESPN will continue in this manner or if it will broadcast the game.

CBS Sports Network (27 MBB/10 WBB): CBS Sports Network will air 25 regular season men’s and eight women’s games, plus the A-10 Tournament Semifinals. Former Virginia Coach Pete Gillen, working for the network during a tournament in Cancun in 2007, once said he wanted to put Joey Rodriguez on a bagel, or something like that. I have no idea what it means, but I hope there’s more of that in our future.

NBC Sports Network (25*/6*WBB): The artist formerly known as Versus will broadcast 25 men’s and six women’s games on national TV. NBC will also air the A-10 Tournament Quarterfinals on regional networks, such as Comcast, which merged with NBC last year. NBC has the option of airing the quarterfinal games nationally on NBC Sports Network.

So there you have it...

Edit: Wonder if there is a provision in the contract regarding members...because if the "Catholic 7" do indeed raid the A-10 of their top programs (Xavier, Dayton, Butler, etc), can't imagine ESPN is going to be too excited about the leftovers, regardless of who the A-10 can poach from other leagues.
 
#74 ·
Reportedly, the Atlantic-10 deal with ESPN/CBS/NBC will pay the conference $40 million over 8 years ($5 mil/year) which will be split among the 14 schools. That would equate to just over $350K/year per school.
Thanks. So the A-10 was able to SELL their TV rights and make jthat much per school. Not bad, not great. Just as I thought - that probably puts them at the lowest end of any conference that is SELLING its TV rights.

I would be interested to know where the MVC and WCC stand in reagrds to TV revenue deals. I can't imagine they can actually sell those rights for much.
 
#76 ·
And don't forget about about how difficult scheduling will get for the AE by waiting.

Right now the 12-team NEC plays an 18-game league slate. Each team plays 7 schools home/home, and the remianing 4 once each. While unbalnced, it is a great Thurs-Sat setup with 6 sets of "travel pairs"

The soon to be 11-team MAAC is going to a full home/home 20-game round robin schedule. They currently have the best conference RPI in the region and can be more selective in their non-conf scheduling.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/12/20/sports/doc50d380eab2850047294235.txt

If nothing changes, next year the 10-member NEC will still play an 18 game schule - a true home/home round robin.

Whereas, the 8-team America East has a 14-game conference schedule. If you think finding non-conference games was hard this year, wait until next year. Also, see what this can do to your RPI if you have to go on the road and take more $$ games. Not good news if you ask me.
 
#82 ·
#87 ·
It doesn't look like it's going to be restricted to just Catholic schools, but definitely smaller schools in general. Here in Indiana, there has been much speculation since that announcement that Butler is basically gone to that new league and could just end up a one-and-done member of the A-10.

Anyway, seems as though it looks like Butler, Xavier, St. Louis and Dayton are pretty close to locks if it goes to 12..at that point, not sure. Creighton & VCU are the 2 that have been mentioned the most...each has their positives and negatives. I'm sure there are probably others as well...
 
#89 ·
I have heard Richmond as well...argument I keep hearing about VCU is the fact that their recent success could really help to serve as a key springboard for the league not to mention their rather large following. I don't have a clue as to how big their support is, just something I was told.

Another thing someone said but I completely disregard it, is that Notre Dame would have interest, mostly due to relationships with the 7 departing members. But, like I told him, that ain't happening...ND has committed to the ACC and them changing again just isn't an option.

Couple others mentioned but I don't give much credo to are Drake, Bradley and Bucknell.
 
#92 ·
If the rumors are true about NJIT coming into the fold, I would like to lobby the league to request they change their name/acronym that they go by...I would like them to be known as Jersey Tech. Nobody says each letter in their name individually like they do for UCLA or TCU...people say "in jit"...Jersey Tech sounds a whole lot better & brings to mind other "tech" schools like Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, LA Tech, Tennessee Tech...much better.
 
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