In Miami, they still turn the dial to watch the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes. In Dallas, fans still tune in to watch Texas and Texas A&M. The truth, however: North Texas does not really give you the Dallas-Fort Worth TV market, any more than Florida Atlantic and Florida International give you the south Florida market. When Memphis, Houston, Tulane and others left, CUSA went after other large-market schools in belief they would give the league more TV appeal. Clearly, he prefers the Sun Belt where the leadership, under commissioner Keith Gill, a rising star in college athletics, appears more sharply focused.įor years now, Conference USA, which Southern Miss joined in 1995, has seemed almost like a bicycle without handle bars: unsteady at best, direction-less at worst. He knows what life is like in both leagues. He came back to Southern Miss from Troy where he served as athletic director for nearly four years. Build those rivalries and fans will travel.”Īgain, a game against, say, Louisiana-Lafayette or South Alabama is far more interesting for Southern Miss fans than, say, a game against UTEP or FIU. “Mobile, Lafayette, Monroe and Troy are easy drives from Hattiesburg. “Division games will be drive-able,” Waters said. Again, the Sun Belt gives them a better opportunity to do that. No matter what conference Southern Miss plays in, it must do better at the gate. CUSA’s main TV partners are CBSSports Network - not to be confused with CBS - and Stadium. The Sun Belt is an ESPN league with national exposure. Lady Flames shock No.To be sure, TV revenue won’t be that much higher in the Sun Belt than it was in CUSA, but TV exposure will be much more broad.Liberty secures commitment from 4-star quarterback Jayden Bradford.Tweets by LUChampionNews Most Recent Posts Randle is the sports editor. Follow him on Twitter. Ultimately, time will tell what happens for the Flames. For now, it looks like that will not be happening, at least in Liberty’s case. McCaw was a vocal advocate of a more regionalized approach for non-power five conferences, suggesting that it would lead to better revenue streams from local rivalries. This would not solve the football issue because Big East is not FBS for football, so the Flames would have to stay independent on that front. In basketball, dominant programs like Villanova and UConn have emerged. The Big East may be an option as well, though Athletic Director Ian McCaw said that realignment option is not currently a possibility. CUSA is a stronger league than the ASUN in most sports, so the Flames could trade ASUN dominance for harder opposition. Now down to five teams, CUSA may just be a sinking ship that the Flames will want to avoid.įor other sports, it could help. The Athletic reported that the conference was in negotiations with the Flames, but Marshall was still in the conference at that time. They have five members, and they are attempting to survive by asking several independents to join as well as some FCS teams to come up to compete at the FBS level in the CUSA. I honestly believe Liberty would have accepted a Sun Belt or AAC invite, but it looks like that is not on the cards at this point with all the other teams being chosen instead of the Flames.ĬUSA, who once rejected Liberty, is now reaching out to the Flames. Former Big South rival Coastal Carolina was given the nod over the Flames, and they have been a successful Sun Belt addition. Liberty asked to join CUSA and Sun Belt years ago, but the Flames were unsuccessful. So where does Liberty stand in all of this? The Sun Belt has also been rumored to be picking up JMU, who is looking to transition from FCS up to FBS. The Sun Belt conference raided them, picking up Old Dominion, Marshall and Southern Mississippi. The AAC stole six members from conference USA: Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA.ĬUSA is now down to eight members, so how would they respond? Well, they would not really get the chance. They followed the other conferences and stole from just about everyone. SEC steals from the Big 12, the Big 12 steals from the AAC. To keep the number of new teams even, they also added former independent BYU. The Big 12 stole UCF, Houston and Cincinnati (Cincinnati is currently ranked No. They tried to by stealing three teams from the AAC - a group of five conferences that has, in recent years, seen itself as a “Power Six.” Raided by the SEC, the Big 12 had to respond. Their destination? The SEC, which boasts dominant teams like Alabama and Georgia. The Big 12 is one of the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12). Conference realignment only happens on a grand scale around once or twice a decade, and the latest cycle has proved to be divisive.Įverything began when Oklahoma and Texas decided to leave the Big 12.
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