Dennis Dodd–Verified account @dennisdoddcbs
So, it’s official, Sun Belt now making 5x as much per school than CUSA. Basically switched places in revenue pecking order.
7:43 AM - 9 Jun 2016
Why are we still here?
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Dennis Dodd–Verified account @dennisdoddcbs
So, it’s official, Sun Belt now making 5x as much per school than CUSA. Basically switched places in revenue pecking order.
7:43 AM - 9 Jun 2016
Why are we still here?
Is this just fantasyIs this real life?
Is this just fantasy
Weren't there rumors that the MWC wanted UTEP before settling for Utah State because UTEP wanted to stay with CUSA? Was there truth to that?
I remember when this forum was so excited about jumping from the WAC to CUSA to be with "the Texas schools." Then the WAC sent Boise St. and Hawaii to BCS bowls, while CUSA never has. The WAC, of course, eventually imploded, but the MWC took in mighty Utah State and San Jose St (et al.). Weren't there rumors that the MWC wanted UTEP before settling for Utah State because UTEP wanted to stay with CUSA? Was there truth to that?
Well, I guess UTEP was committed to CUSA at the time and people were too stubborn to change course. I was never really sold on UTEP jumping to CUSA like some of you were.
But CUSA just reloaded with UTSA and UNT.Right, but since then SMU and Houston have left, seriously weakening CUSA's Texas footprint.
But CUSA just reloaded with UTSA and UNT.
In all seriousness, though, I'll give respect to Rice for the academic prestige they bring to the conference.
SMU wasn't really a big deal when they shared a conference with UTEP. Houston was ascendant. But I never considered SMU a team to be excited about. I still don't, really; their football team is back in the tank and their basketball team was banned from postseason play.
UTEP alumni in D/FW can go to the UNT games, UTSA expands the footprint to San Antonio, and UTEP alumni in Houston have Rice. If simply playing games in an area is good for recruiting, then we still have D/FW, Houston, and San Antonio was a big gain. Still lots of opportunities for the Texas alumni to go watch games. The SMU team they pined for was a BAD team so they should be satisfied with another bad team in UNT.Playing SMU was good for the UTEP alumni in D/FW, and also good for recruiting D/FW. I think their basketball team would have been our highest RPI opponent the last couple of seasons as well. Similar benefits with Houston. Those two teams were big losses for UTEP in CUSA.
UTEP alumni in D/FW can go to the UNT games, UTSA expands the footprint to San Antonio, and UTEP alumni in Houston have Rice. If simply playing games in an area is good for recruiting, then we still have D/FW, Houston, and San Antonio was a big gain. Still lots of opportunities for the Texas alumni to go watch games. The SMU team they pined for was a BAD team so they should be satisfied with another bad team in UNT.
And yet I'd still rather be in the MWC, then and now. Those are some teams I actually care about.
Dodds is absolutely wrong. If comparing tv money only, the SBC gets $100k per school per year. C-USA gets $200k per school year under this horrible new deal we are under. The SBC will be a 10 team league once they are rid of NMSU and Idaho. C-USA in it's infinite wisdom is bloated with 14 schools. So now each conference gets a nice fat $10 million each year from the CFP. The SBC will divide their's by 10, or $1 million per school. C-USA will divide their $10 million by 14 or about $714k per school. Then the rest of the CFP money is divided by how well each conference did during the football season. C-USA has finished ahead of the SBC both years under the CFP, once 2nd out of 5 and once 4th. That money is diluted in C-USA since it is divided by 14. SBC will only divide by 10. NCAA credits are about the same since both conferences are 1 bid leagues right now and both have won a game in the tournament each of the last 2 years. All in all the SBC may actually come out a few dollars better than C-USA due to having fewer schools but it does not make 5 times more. More like 5 dollars more if that.
SB NATION's Nicolas Lewis noted each C-USA school will "be getting 18% of the revenue they got in the last couple of years," an "astronomical collapse in revenue." That could be "especially difficult for a school like Old Dominion, one of the CUSA programs that waited a year to implement cost of attendance stipends." C-USA "waited until the end of their existing contracts with Fox Sports and CBS Sports to renegotiate and wound up doing so in a time when the value of cable television to their viewer base has dropped off a cliff." C-USA is now "hovering" in between the MAC and Sun Belt for one more year, after which the MAC "will leave them in the dust" with its new TV deal
What is there to spin? This is ridiculous and it just keeps getting worse and worse. You can only make so many excuses. Being a fan and being a blind following zombie are two completely different things. When you continue to sit back and blindly follow there is no need for anyone to answer for their actions, and now we are paying the consequences.
Outstanding post. Indeed, life is full of opportunities - and missed opportunities. Certainly the past decade has seen it's share of both for UTEP. It has repeatedly seen conference mates seize those opportunities and move on to the bigger and better, while each iteration of C-USA is populated with lower level programs. There is a common denominator in each of those successful programs - an absolute, complete commitment to excellence in athletics. And no time for anything - or anybody - who was a barrier to meeting that commitment. Show me a program that has moved up and I'll show you that commitment. You're on the train or you're at the station. If it were easy, everybody would do it. It's neither easy nor quick. It will start at UTEP only when its senior administrators - athletic and academic - truly commit to excellence in athletics and energize its fans to share that vision. Until then...