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Ohio Football Topic
Topic: Sacramento State joins MAC as football-only school
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Andrew Ruck
2/18/2026 11:09 AM
STVCastle wrote:expand_more
Why plant our flag out west? Because the MAC is long overdue to adapt and change with the times. I hope you've noticed that everyone else (especially in the G6) is changing with the times. Everyone else is changing the look of their respective conference. What are we doing? Just trying to get by.
I understand the point you are making I just completely disagree. I don't care if other G6 conferences are doing stupid things, that doesn't make me want to join them. You make it seem as though these conferences have flourished with free flowing money since senseless expansion. The G6 is floundering, maybe we try something different and do the thing that the vast majority of fans want in their college sports experience - Compelling matchups of regional rivalries while controlling costs and preserving the student athlete experience. Why not be the one conference people can look to as a throwback to the good old days while the other conferences travel across the country for their dumb matchups no one cares about.
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STVCastle
2/18/2026 11:10 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I honestly love the move. MACtion plants a flag out west. This also leads to the discussion of creating a west coast pod and bringing in 2 more schools. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on 2 schools we can add to the conference.

Just off the top of my head and not doing research, the first two schools that jump out to me are Northern Arizona and Weber State. If schools like Eastern Washington or Northen Iowa are open I wouldn't mind those two as well.
You're reading way too far into this. Sac St was desperate to establish themselves in FBS as quickly as possible. The MAC gave them an insane "this is what it will take offer" and they accepted it. It's only for 5 years and I'll be surprised it lasts any longer.

And all that is a good thing. Why do you want to place our flag out west? Conferences are about a shared identity, history, and regional rivalries with neighbors. How is playing Eastern Washington every couple of years exciting to you? I can handle this for what it is, a 5 year cash grab, but it should not be any type of vision for the conference.
Why plant our flag out west? Because the MAC is long overdue to adapt and change with the times. I hope you've noticed that everyone else (especially in the G6) is changing with the times. Everyone else is changing the look of their respective conference. What are we doing? Just trying to get by.

I'm taking a wait and see approach to this. By Year 3, 2028, if the MAC doesn't even try to go out west again for expansion, then this is confirmed to be a cash grab and a bust. Also, confirmation that the MAC has no real plan in place to develop as a conference.
If they really wanted to do this, they should have formed an alliance with the new world PAC. They were DESPERATE for scheduling flexibility, and for the most part both conferences shared the same philosophy on keeping regional ties and rivalries together. (Texas State not withstanding)

It should also be noted that the Sac State deal is only for 5 years. Nothing has been mentioned beyond that.
We're all noting that this deal is for 5 years. That's why I said if by Year 3 there's no real commitment by the MAC to expand out west again, then this deal with Sac State is just a cash grab with no long-term plan in place. We're just repeating the same mistake we made with UCF when they took a pit stop in the MAC.

If you're the MAC, adapt (with an actual plan) or die. If they have no plan, then we might as well fan the rumor flames of "Ohio to the Sun Belt" asap. I'm tired of having no plan in place and being stuck in a conference that's just trying to get by. That strategy just won't cut it 10 years down the road. We need to stop pretending it will cut it.
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STVCastle
2/18/2026 11:17 AM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Why plant our flag out west? Because the MAC is long overdue to adapt and change with the times. I hope you've noticed that everyone else (especially in the G6) is changing with the times. Everyone else is changing the look of their respective conference. What are we doing? Just trying to get by.
I understand the point you are making I just completely disagree. I don't care if other G6 conferences are doing stupid things, that doesn't make me want to join them. You make it seem as though these conferences have flourished with free flowing money since senseless expansion. The G6 is floundering, maybe we try something different and do the thing that the vast majority of fans want in their college sports experience - Compelling matchups of regional rivalries while controlling costs and preserving the student athlete experience. Why not be the one conference people can look to as a throwback to the good old days while the other conferences travel across the country for their dumb matchups no one cares about.
For the longest time until now, the MAC has been that conference that kept geographic integrity intact. Answer me this: Where has that gotten us? The bottom of the barrel, struggling to compete even with the likes of C-USA.

Our business model is terrible. The MAC's strategy for promoting and marketing itself hinges on the novelty of playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and that ESPN lets us do that. Where's the long-term vision in that?

I totally understand where you're coming from too, Andrew, but it's an Old School way of thinking that won't compute when we get to the 2030s. The MAC may not even exist if they don't make the specific changes they need to make.

I'm not thrilled about adding Sac State, but it is what it is.
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Andrew Ruck
2/18/2026 12:02 PM
STVCastle wrote:expand_more
Our business model is terrible. The MAC's strategy for promoting and marketing itself hinges on the novelty of playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and that ESPN lets us do that. Where's the long-term vision in that?

I totally understand where you're coming from too, Andrew, but it's an Old School way of thinking that won't compute when we get to the 2030s. The MAC may not even exist if they don't make the specific changes they need to make.
Maybe I am slow, but I think you're gonna need to spell out specifics of how our approach has been less successful than the Sun Belt or American or whatever. Am I missing something that shows they are crushing us, and they owe it all to geographic expansion? Few people actually care about these conferences in any widespread way, they are just the conference their team happens to be in. Some of our fans will tune in to Toledo & BG but will a North Texas fan tune in to UAB and Navy battling? I don't see it. None of us G6 conferences will have national relevance, the goal should be getting your members' fan bases interested in the conference at large. I think a small thumbprint achieves that best.
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GoCats105
2/18/2026 12:11 PM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Our business model is terrible. The MAC's strategy for promoting and marketing itself hinges on the novelty of playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and that ESPN lets us do that. Where's the long-term vision in that?

I totally understand where you're coming from too, Andrew, but it's an Old School way of thinking that won't compute when we get to the 2030s. The MAC may not even exist if they don't make the specific changes they need to make.
Maybe I am slow, but I think you're gonna need to spell out specifics of how our approach has been less successful than the Sun Belt or American or whatever. Am I missing something that shows they are crushing us, and they owe it all to geographic expansion? Few people actually care about these conferences in any widespread way, they are just the conference their team happens to be in. Some of our fans will tune in to Toledo & BG but will a North Texas fan tune in to UAB and Navy battling? I don't see it. None of us G6 conferences will have national relevance, the goal should be getting your members' fan bases interested in the conference at large. I think a small thumbprint achieves that best.
Originally, the AAC largely built their platform on being the conference of large metropolitan areas (Memphis, Houston, Cincinnati, Orlando, etc.). You could have called it the Airport conference and it would have made more sense than the American. It's not hard to see how that would have been attractive to media providers. They've mostly stuck to that after realignment grabbing North Texas (DFW), UTSA (San Antonio), Charlotte, and Rice (Houston). It's a mess of a conference but they at least have an identity. Grabbing Army because you already had Navy just made sense.

The Sun Belt took a little bit from what the MAC did and basically made it better. They still play on Tue-Thurs, but they made those games happen in October where the weather is still optimal. But they also negotiated that they didn't want the entire conference playing those nights, so you still have Saturday home games to build your fan base. Rather than flooding the market with Sun Belt games, it's one or two "games of the week" more or less.

The MAC completely sold out for MACtion in November. There was a time last year where I checked and I'm pretty sure there was only one Saturday MAC game. The rest of the conference played on Tues-Thurs.
Last Edited: 2/18/2026 12:12:49 PM by GoCats105
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ExCat21
2/20/2026 4:22 PM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
I honestly love the move. MACtion plants a flag out west. This also leads to the discussion of creating a west coast pod and bringing in 2 more schools. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on 2 schools we can add to the conference.

Just off the top of my head and not doing research, the first two schools that jump out to me are Northern Arizona and Weber State. If schools like Eastern Washington or Northen Iowa are open I wouldn't mind those two as well.
You're reading way too far into this. Sac St was desperate to establish themselves in FBS as quickly as possible. The MAC gave them an insane "this is what it will take offer" and they accepted it. It's only for 5 years and I'll be surprised it lasts any longer.

And all that is a good thing. Why do you want to place our flag out west? Conferences are about a shared identity, history, and regional rivalries with neighbors. How is playing Eastern Washington every couple of years exciting to you? I can handle this for what it is, a 5 year cash grab, but it should not be any type of vision for the conference.
I'm fully aware of the 5 years, however, there is opportunity to build a MACtion West. Plus I like the ballsy move of our Commish to set the standard on what it would take to join the MAC if other schools who are desperate to move up would want to follow.

I could be wrong, but with the addition of two extra teams, it might allow us to have one or two more Saturday games in November. I hope the Commish would negotiate that in future contract language.

As much as I desire history and region like you, I also don't want us to get left behind. A potential October/November game in California sounds amazing too. The thought of winning on Cali soil and attracting West Coast recruits does something to my soul to say the least. A Cali market with decent exposure helps putting a dent in losing the Chicago market. That's why I hope we build and go after Colorado, Washington or Arizona markets next with 2 additional teams. That would put an end to the "cash grab" thoughts.
Last Edited: 2/20/2026 8:36:01 PM by ExCat21
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bobcatgrad
2/20/2026 11:54 PM
Pretty good interview with the Commissioner with a sports talk show in Sacramento called Sactown Sports.

https://youtu.be/QUhvDgQTy-s
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STVCastle
2/21/2026 9:37 AM
bobcatgrad wrote:expand_more
Pretty good interview with the Commissioner with a sports talk show in Sacramento called Sactown Sports.

https://youtu.be/QUhvDgQTy-s
First time in a long time I've heard from Dr. Steinbrecher. I'd like to believe what he says in this interview.

Also, would've liked to hear anything from him concerning the MAC Tiebreaker Policy stupidity that occurred last year...
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