Jersey77 wrote: ↑3 weeks ago
UCH21377 wrote: ↑3 weeks ago
RF1 wrote: ↑3 weeks ago
Any talk about URI elevating football and joining the MAC is just crazy and exhibits a total ignorance of URI athletics.
URI football has been to the FCS playoffs just three times. All of these instances appeared in the short four year span from 1981 to 1985. The program has recorded by my quick count only eight winning seasons in the near four decades since it last participated in the postseason. The team has long played in one of the worst and smallest FCS stadiums for decades with an official capacity listed at just 6,555. The east stands have on multiple occasions been deemed unsafe. The program has a long history of being underfunded with poor institutional and fan support. Many URI fans have long advocated for eliminating the program and just a little over ten years ago the school was poised to drop down to the lower level NEC, considered one of the weakest FCS conferences.
Any talk of URI actually elevating the football program up to the FBS level given its history is just fantasy not based on any reality or understanding of the landscape in Kingston.
I understand all this but if you think the A10 is going to maintain its stature I believe you are totally wrong. Dayton StL and VCU are gone first chance they get. Football being emphasized; basketball deemphasized.At a minimum URI needs to be ready to make a move or it’s next league will be America East.
No doubt that if SLU, Dayton, and VCU get the opportunity to trade up, they are as good as gone.
But that can be far down the road, so let's cross that bridge when we get to it.
Even without those 3, the A10 is still probably our best bet.
In the meantime, the A10 has a lot of parity and is very deep.
There are probably 10 teams that have the opportunity to finish in the top tier and can possibly contend.
Again, before we concern ourselves with what may or may not happen to our conference in the future, let's first get out of the basement and make ourselves relevant.
Jersey, it is the offseason so we have time to multi-task while figuring out how to get out of the basement.
But seriously, I have been checking out the UConn realignment fan board periodically because of their strong desire to get into a Power football conference. Anyway, it is active as a result and provides good insight and articles.
FWIW, expansion of the NBE has come up off and on. And, regarding Dayton, VCU and SLU as possible expansion the argument is neither adds significant dollar value to the NBE media deal. Therefore, any of the 3 or all 3 only add to the mouths to feed for the conference - which makes sense to me because I have made the same argument regarding adding to the A10, as others here have.
In other words, as at least one poster put it, why would Fox pay the NBE more money per team to add all or either of the 3 ? Do they have the brand value to generate that much interest and many more viewers to the conference while adding 1-3 more programs to feed ? The consensus there is, no.
Just thought I’d throw this out there as I found their point of view interesting.
Good discussion. Carry on.