#MACtion

More smoke about Arizona State being serious about adding hockey. Wouldn't the NCHC be their best option? http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2014/08/08_arizona_state_ad_wants_to.php

What split? The new governance is already agreed upon and will be voted on August 7th in 3 days. There is no split at all and the new stipends and CFP contract only make the FBS - FCS gap even larger while permanently ties the 10 FBS conferences together. The most concern of this new cost of attendance should be in other sports, NOT football. Miami will be making millions more than before. The cost of $5,000 full cost of attendance stipend x 300 total Miami scholarships = $1.5 million. So the new CFP money more than covers that $1.5 million with money to spare from TV deals etc... But the concern comes when MAC schools offer $5,000 extra to all Sports..... including Hockey, and basketball. Will the rest of the NCHC schools outside of Miami and Western Michigan also pay the $5000 extra? Will the Missouri Valley basketball schools for basketball? will the A10? The MAC's CFP contract covers the expense for us, but the NCHC and MVC and A10 gets no CFP money to offset the costs. What happens with recruiting if Northern Illinois offers $5,000 stipends to their basketball recruits but Illinois State in the MVC doesn't? Even if the MVC tries to keep up, it is a money drain on them where it is not on NIU because of CFP. This new governance is creating a split alright.

Don't get me wrong, I think 2 or 3 schools in the Big Sky want and probably will go FBS...... BUT it will be by them leaving the Big Sky Conference to join the MWC, CUSA, or Sun Belt..... Just like what happened to the CAA (Old Dominion and GA State) and SoCon (App St and GA Southern) and Southland.... There will be no Big Sky FBS and Big Sky FCS. It Will be Big Sky FCS and Montana and Montana State leaving for a completely different conference. Fullerton senses the restlessness. It is really weird how much of an obsession Fullerton has with Idaho. Every comment the guy makes is about Idaho and is hope that someday he can talk them into joining with his numerous articles. There has been a 15-year rumor of a plan of a new east coast FBS conference that would have the old Yankee Conference FCS teams, CAA teams, and SoCon teams like App and GA South. After many many years of huffing and puffing and finally realizing it wouldn't and couldn't happen, no matter how much Tom Yeager talked and talked and talked about it.... Old Dominion, App, GA South, UMass, etc... said C-YA ! I'd guess Montana and Montana St are getting restless like UMass and Old Dominion and Fullerton is speaking just like Tom Yeager... If Fullerton had any confidence whatsoever of his whacky Idaho/Big Sky/FBS plan, then he would just sit back and wait for it to happen instead of popping off to the media every 5 seconds. Why doesn't he just pick up the phone and call Idaho? Instead he uses the newspaper and media day to tell Idaho what he hopes they will do. Its weird man, really.

I think you guys are setting yourselves up for massive disappointment. It doesn't matter what Fullerton "wants" to do, the rules won't allow it and even the "permissive" portion of autonomy doesn't give authority to change something like that even if the P5 wanted it (they don't, evident by all the other rules and complaining about no more FBS teams). Fullerton is making himself and the conference look foolish. He sounds bitter and almost identical to Mike Yeager of the CAA talking about a new east coast FBS league and then having a temper-tantrum almost immedietly before Old Dominion, Mason, Georgia St, and VCU bolted and JMU is leaving first offer they get. SoCon was talking similiar gibberish right before GA Southern, App, CofC, Davidson all said "yeah right, c-ya". Based on the past of what happened to the Big Sky's peer's in the CAA and SoCon, It would almost suggest that Fullerton is mad and desperate just like Yeager, the SoCon Commish, and Baghdad Bob and there is a better chance that Montana and Montana St are about to follow Idaho out the door than the other way around. And this non-sense from Fullerton about G5 conferences not being able to pay full-cost of attendance is pure garbage. MAC commish just said in our media day thay the conference fully supports this stipend. Same with AAC, CUSA, Sun Belt. We'll be making more new money from the CFP and higher payouts to cover $5000 x 300 scholarships and have a nice chunk left over. While the FCS teeters on a financial cliff, smaller FBS schools in conferences such as Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference totter, watching their power rise. The FCS is going extinct. That’s what Eastern Kentucky coach Dean Hood says... Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/02/4269092/checkbooks-and-balances-budgets.html?sp=/99/1444/1649/#storylink=cpy

The argument is no different than the MAC or AAC or MWC saying they should be P5 as a whole just because UConn, Cincinnati, BYU, NIU, Boise State, etc have bigger budgets, success, etc. vs Wake Forest, Washington State.... If individuals schools band together maybe, but not as leagues.

Lets get real, neither the Big Sky or MVFV can or is capable or should move up to FBS. There are a couple teams from both that could make the cut but neither league as a whole has any business trying. Montana, Montana State, North Dakota, and North Dakota State could but the rest in both leagues are not (maybe a S Dakota). I'd abandon the thought of either "league" and focus on a collection of both leagues + Idaho + NMSU etc. and you guys can pick on Eastern Michigan all you want and nearly all of the MAC would agree but you can't just kick out EMU anymore than we'd agree that Wake Forest and Wash. St. Doesnt belong in the P5 but it wont happen. At least EMU tries and has an awesome basketball facilty and OK football facilty and spends $25+ Million which is more than the BSC and MVFC schools. The bottom of the BSC have no business. The WAC was the answer that already came and went.

There's been a couple mentions about hockey over on the Big Sky FBS NCAA thread if you need a quick fix

ASU Hockey: Athletic Director Ray Anderson discusses chances of NCAA move http://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/7/14/5900007/asu-hockey-ncaa-ray-anderson-title-ix

Was Fullerton the Commish when Idaho left the Big Sky originally? He's like a creepy guy who has never gotten over his woman leaving him. I'd be curious to hear what Dr. Phil would say.

Why is Fullerton so obsessed with Idaho? He's like a creepy stalker. Every press conference he mentions Idaho Football. Weird.

https://mobile.twitter.com/craighaley/status/488702457602506752

Yes, its not just the Big Ten benefiting but they were the catalyst. Now they are off on their own, they will be working with ESPN who will have exclusivity. That exclusivity pulled Big Ten home games away from both CBSSN and NBCSN. The Notre Dame / NBCSN TV deal was also a result of the Big Ten breaking up the conferences as they needed a home. NBCSN has exclusivity of ND home games that CBSSN can now no longer broadcast. Thus CBSSN who would have otherwise scheduled a bunch of Big Ten, Notre Dame, and Hockey East games (Boston College) was left without programming because of exclusivity. Thus the rise of programming for NCHC teams that otherwise wouldn't have gotten as many games televised as they will going forward. As ESPN gets involved promoting college hockey, the demand will also increase for everybody as they bring the sport forward for everybody to become interested in. ESPN/ABC is already bringing a sport, soccer, forward that most Americans are unfamiliar with and is foreign to them and had huge ratings for a World Cup playoffs that didn't even have the US team in it. The same will be done for a foreign / unfamiliar sport College Hockey that will be thrust upon them started by the Big Ten who had the leverage to force their hand.

Anyway, the break-up of the CCHA and WCHA by the Big Ten is what led to the new TV deals. Notre Dame was allowed to pursue their own national deal and the Big Ten can now leverage their conference to force ESPN to promote college hockey. ESPN was never really interested in college hockey or promoted it until now. You can't just buy the "sports section" of the New York Times, if you want to buy the "sports section" you also have to buy the "business section", "weather section", and "comics" whether you read them or want them or not. If ESPN wants to buy the "football and basketball" section of the Big Ten Times (and they do) in this current round of negotiations being worked on now, they will also be forced to buy the "hockey section" whether they want it or not as the Big Ten is demanding it. They couldn't do that before when they were split up and not banded together under the conference umbrella. ESPN will have a college hockey section on the website eventually and contractually have to promote it. NBC and CBS must now follow suit. ESPN was experimenting with BT hockey this past season. It also gave the Big Ten Channel more leeway to promote and broadcast the sport. ESPN is the market-maker and will be creating the market for the entire sport. Rising tide lifts all boats.

If I'm not mistaken there is no Hockey East NBCSN TV Deal, it is a Notre Dame TV deal. 12 Notre Dame home games and 4 random HE games per year. The NCHC TV deal much better than the Hockey East TV deal for everybody not named Notre Dame. The contract was signed by ND not HE except for the HE playoffs.

The National Collegiate Hockey ALLIANCE NCHC West: North Dakota Denver Omaha Colorado College Duluth St. Cloud MAC East: Miami Western Michigan Bowling Green New York (UB) Ohio Northern Illinois

Also, as much as I hated what the Big Ten did by breaking up the WCHA and CCHA, it could really benefit college hockey eventually and bring college hockey main-stream. Big Ten started pushing hockey games and commercials on ESPN and will likely have them include a package of regular games on ESPN with their new Media contract negotiations. Big Ten has the leverage to make ESPN fully push the product if they want football and basketball games as part of a package that ESPN definitely wants. This would bring college hockey content main-stream on ESPN, SportsCenter, and finally coverage on the website. CBS and NBC would follow suit and Notre Dame already has NBC in line with their TV deal.

I agree and I think WMU and Miami also agrees that CCHA 2.0 is a step back. I also agree that the NCHC should let BG in but only if they agree to renovate their arena and better prioritize hockey. And I think BG would agree to that. WMU and Miami already are starting out of conference series with BG again. I think that would be the best outcome for everybody. However there would also need to be a 10th team and pulling a 10th team from the WCHA should not be the case as that then destabilizes the WCHA and then could have indirect negatives toward the NCHC. But who is that team? The only way I see BG's attempt to pull Miami and WMU into a new league work is if they also can talk a couple other MAC teams into launching or re-launching hockey such at Buffalo (they're serious) and ex-CCHA teams that once had varsity hockey that still have good ACHA club teams like Ohio and Kent (but I don't hear anything that suggests that would happen). Thus having BG agree to invest in hockey and bringing them into the NCHC stops all the non-sense new league pot-stirring. WMU, Miami, BG, Buffalo, Ferris, Robert Morris, Niagra, Canisias or something similar is what BG keeps floating out there and the Atlantic Hockey teams would like to break off so they could go full number of scholarships. Miami and WMU don't seem to want anything to do with that proposed league but if an all-MAC type league that BG and Buffalo would probably not mind seeing by getting Ohio or Kent/Akron/NIU/CMU on board than Miami and WMU would start thinking long and hard. The biggest barrier to getting any other MAC team to jump is the cost of the arena as I dont think the cost of sustaining the scholarships would be a big deal for a D1 school. Keep an eye on Akron Basketball who is finalizing approval between U of Akron and the City of Akron to build a brand new $85 million facility in the city for basketball, concerts, and perhaps hockey. It could be the perfect place for two schools (Akron or Kent) to play hockey in. Ohio seems to support hockey well with two ECHL teams in Toledo and Cincy and one AHL team in Cleveland who get nice support and attendance. If the MAC league happened I suppose there would have to be TV coverage picked up by the exising MAC ESPN deal to make it work. BTW, CCHA 2.0 would be a step back, but so would WCHA 2.0 which would be the case if Miami and WMU left so its in everybody's best interest to make this work.

Originally, Bowling Green did indeed try and talk fellow MAC member Buffalo into starting varsity hockey and form a new league. Buffalo is serious about doing it but needs an arena. They were close but had to pass. Ferris would have jumped at that league. BG is mad at Miami and WMU, but they would jump at the NCHC if they got the chance. They are stirring the pot with this and this idea and Miami and WMU want closer travel so the NCHC inviting BG just to end the drama with them wanting to start new leagues might be best. I also think Buffalo Hockey would be a huge success.

Those additions were supposed to be included in the original building of Goggin / Steve Cady Arena but were put on hold after cost overruns. Hearing rumors that Western Michigan has a new 60 million arena under consideration and was discusses with the NCHC when lobbying to be included. Final donations to be wrapped up. I also think Bowling Green will be added once they committ to a brand new arena. Rumblings suggest this. It would be great to add BG with new arena and Iowa State. Would strengthen the conference. Then continue to strengthen the TV deal and exposure with CBSSN and have them open up more flexibilty in the TV contract. Every school also nails down a regional TV deal like UND's deal with Midco. TWC Sportschannel (Miami), Fox Sports Detroit (WMU), Root Sports etc and them allow for the digital rights to be sold from the NCHC website and Roku App.

Hey its the off-season and things are slow around the message boards and this is the non-UND college hockey thread so I think I can post this here. Great video here shows our new Hockey digs and explains the meaning behind everything as Coach Blasi does a walk-through and also shows the off-ice shooting area complete with simulated crowd.... I especially like the sliding Superman "M" door that is the entrance to the lockerroom. Welcome to the "M-Pire" ! http://www.muredhawk...db_oem_id=26100

And G5 teams "beat (or sometimes crush)" the P5 teams all the time too. But there is still a gap. The win percentage of FCS teams over G5 teams is the same as G5 teams over P5 teams. But there is still a big gap. Here is Miami's P5 wins and Bowl Victories. We have crushed SEC teams routinely in the past and have finished in the final rankings in the Top-10 four times. BUT there is still a big gap between Miami and the SEC. MAJOR VICTORIES 1948 Texas Tech 13-12 1951 Arizona State 34-21 1954 Indiana 6-0 1955 Northwestern 25-14 1962 Purdue 10-7 1964 Northwestern 28-27 1966 Indiana 20-10 1967 Tulane 14-3 1969 Maryland 34-21 1972 South Carolina 21-8 1973 Purdue 24-19 1973 South Carolina 13-11 1973 Florida 16-7 1974 Kentucky 14-10 1974 Georgia 21-10 1975 Purdue 14-3 1975 South Carolina 20-7 1977 Indiana 21-20 1978 North Carolina 7-3 1979 Kentucky 15-14 1986 LSU 21-12 1995 Northwestern 30-28 1997 Virginia Tech 24-17 1997 Army 38-14 1998 North Carolina 13-10 1998 Army 14-13 1999 Northwestern 28-3 2000 Vanderbilt 33-30 2002 North Carolina 27-21 2003 Northwestern 44-14 2003 Louisville 49-28 2007 Syracuse 14-7 MAC BOWL VICTORIES WATCH 1948 SUN BOWL 13-12 Texas Tech WATCH 1951 SALAD BOWL 34-21 Arizona State WATCH 1973 TANGERINE BOWL 16-7 Florida WATCH 1974 TANGERINE BOWL 21-10 Georgia WATCH 1975 TANGERINE BOWL 20-7 S. Carolina WATCH 2003 GMAC BOWL 49-28 Louisville WATCH 2011 GODADDY.COM BOWL 35-21 MTSU http://miamiufootbal...-25-program.php

Technically (but unlikely), it could possibly happen minus CFP revenue sharing for the new split-off FBS conference (but there would have to be some crazy, secret prior agreement with the Sun Belt or they have no incentive to do this and that secret agreement alone could have the NCAA block this). But I still don't think the entire Big Sky would or should attempt it. There are only a handful of Big Sky schools that could make it work but most of those same schools already were given a chance by the WAC and they said no.

That is not gonna happen even IF there was a split. It humors me when MVFC and BSC fans think the other FBS Conferences will rip-up their contract with the P5 conferences and ESPN and then roll out the red carpet for FCS conferences. The G5 conferences want to widen the gap with FCS conferences just as much or more as the P5 conferences wants to widen the gap. Most of these university presidents bounce around from school to school their entire careers. The SEC Commish was the C-USA commish not long ago, but somehow you think those same people are greedy, money hungry, and want power and control only at Colorado, but not at Colorado State???.... makes zero sense whatsoever.... The Colorado President and PAC12 Commish want all the money and power for themselves and want to kick the Colorado State Prez and Mountain West Commish to the curb, but the Colorado State Prez and Mountain West Commish want to give flowers to Commish Fullerton and personally buy UND a new stadium as a gift and share their TV time... ? What.. are you serious?

Of course they do, they apply for every FCS school, and schools like Eastern Kentucky, Jax State, Illinois State, Youngstown State, etc all want to be FBS but they can't because they don't have an invite. So what's your point? I'd like Miami to be in the Big Ten and share their money too, but it's not gonna happen.

Doesn't sound like Fullerton believes any Big Sky schools will be going to FBS. He is trying to talk Idaho into becoming FCS and Idaho says they have no interest and will stay FBS because FCS would hurt their other sports financially. Don't know why Fullerton or Idaho would care if there was some BSC/WAC/Sun Belt FBS theory going on. http://www.idahostat...ter-chance.html