More Conference Expansion News

After North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference most assumed their border rival South Dakota would follow, however the Coyotes have declined the Big Sky's invitation. Like SDST and NDST, South Dakota will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference and elect to stay in the Summit League in all other sports. This move leaves the Big Sky with 11 all-sport members and 13 football members. The Summit League will remain stable with its 9 members, while the MVC will now be at 10. North Dakota may have a case of buyer's remorse after signing on with the Big Sky, and could be looking into joining the other 3 Dakotas in Summit league/MVC to reduce their travel costs and maintain its rivalries.

The WAC's expansion plan seems to have settled on just adding UTSA, Texas St, and (non football school) Denver in order to hold open another spot in case Montana decides to upgrade. The only school left out of of this expansion shuffle for now is Seattle University, a non-football school, who may be targeted to join the WCC with the new addition of BYU or they could be invited to join Big Sky Conference as a 12th member in an attempt to even out the basketball schedule.

over 1 year ago TowerPower 5 comments 0 recs |

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cal poly and uc davis are going to the big sky correct?

Why do canadians stick together? The same reason why Chris Horodecki turned his body and face around in his first WEC fight.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 8, 2010 10:03 PM PST reply actions

Yep...

the Big Sky killed the Great West Conference (a football only conference) by first taking UC Davis & Cal Poly (as football only members), and then Southern Utah and North Dakota (as full members) in the past 2 months. Only South Dakota didn’t make the move. Now the Big Sky has all the D1-AA/FCS football playing schools in the Western and Pacific Time Zones (except San Diego) plus North Dakota who if you look at the map would fit better in the Summit/MVC with the rest of the Dakota schools.

by TowerPower on Nov 8, 2010 10:12 PM PST reply actions

If UND decides it isn’t rock solid with the agreement it signed Monday, which doesn’t require the school to be a Big Sky member for a minimum number of years, Fullerton said there could be a financial penalty. But only if UND goes about it “the wrong way.”

by TowerPower on Nov 8, 2010 10:32 PM PST reply actions

I've been reading up....

“As early as August, we had some serious conversations about expansion looking at a 12-team format,” Viverito said. “The thought was that North Dakota, South Dakota and Southern Utah would all be looking for homes.” But when it became clear that Southern Utah was more interested in the Big Sky, Viverito said the MVFC’s university presidents soured on the idea of expansion. (On Monday, Southern Utah and North Dakota announced they were joining in the Big Sky). “There was no support about abandoning an optimum nine-team league in favor of an 11-team model, which has challenges,” Viverito said. “The 10-team model, on the other hand, was one we were willing to consider.”

Note that they didn’t want to have an 11 team league like the Big Sky (ironically) has now.

Perhaps the league will grow again before it shrinks. Viverito has said she’d be open to 12, a model that has worked beautifully for the CAA in terms of boosting playoff bids, although 11 doesn’t work. That’s why the league didn’t move on USD until after North Dakota had signed with the Big Sky.

So IF….Villanova upgrades to play with the Big East in football or if Rhode Island joins the NEC in 2012 (which is extremely likely) there would be an available spot in the CAA. Youngstown St (who plays in the MVC) would be at the top of the list to fill any vacancy in the CAA. Their departure would leave another opening in the MVC that North Dakota could fill. This would make sense for all involved, the Big Sky would have 10 full member with 12 in football, the Summit League and the Missouri Valley Conference would both have 10 members with all the Dakotas (North Dakota, ND State, South Dakota, and SD State) in the same conferences which would reduce the travel cost and increase competition for all involved.

by TowerPower on Nov 8, 2010 11:08 PM PST up reply actions