Do the same numbers with Va Tech.

I think the BE could care less about BBall right now.

They added Houston, Boise State, SMU, and Navy... you have to have GREAT basketball for them to care (Memphis and Temple)

I will say Ohio is getting up there with basketball, but it has a flavor of the week type of feel.

There are a lot of us Ohio alumni in the Greater Cleveland area, but I'm not sure that factors into matters as far this conversation goes.  I don't see any of us Cleveland alumni driving every weekend down Routes 71/ 33 or 77/50 to Athens for every home game.  We show up by the tons for Homecoming games but that's probably about it.

Yep... This is the potential game changer.  It would be a lot easier to convince me if their were more Athens hotels.  Game time would be a huge factor when making same day 3 hours one way trips..  I'd definitely be more likely to consider it though if we were playing any of the above mentioned teams.

We showed Marshall.

There was a time when the Big East was too good and Ohio was too bad to ever consider the possibility. Those days are long gone. Look at who the new BE teams are- Boise St., SDSU, UCF, Memphis, SMU, Navy, Houston, Temple. If those were our 8 conference games this year how many do you think we could win? Couple that with this year's OOC and you're realistically looking at an 8 to 10 win season.  Right now. Today.

If not us, who? With respects to our Marshall friend the only time I hear ECU, USM ad Marshall mentioned is when another CUSA fan brings it up. I agree they each have their merits, just saying I don't hear them brought up. The other names in the article are BYU, which would be good but not sure they would go, Umass, UNLV and Nova. Are those programs steps ahead of OUrs? hardly.

The MAC is stable. Yeah, most homely girls are. We're a founding member, if the BE blows up you don't think they'd take us back? child please.

Attendance concerns because of the size of  Peden and Athens- We can add on or rebuild. Here's attendance for onew additions in 2011- BSU(34,018), SDSU(39,865), UCF(34,283), Memphis(20,078), SMU(20,894), Navy(34,611), Houston(31,731), Temple(28,060). On another thread I guesstimated our top end to be in the 28K-32K range, that's good enough for this group and not an unimaginable stretch from where we are today.

BBall- our bball team and facilities is legit and we are set up for long term success. It makes us a more attractive pick up.

What's our loooong term aspirational goal for conference affiliation? If you could dream big what would it be? B1G? ACC? As the landscape is today I would say those are the 2 top choices. I realize we may never reach that level but I can guarantee we won't get there straight from the MAC. 

CUSA is no longer the logical next step because all of the CUSA teams joined the Big East. If we get a chance, we should go too and don't look back.

Rumor has it with the Notre Dame expansion the ACC is looking for a 16th member for FOOTBALL ONLY. Other than our academics not living up to the Duke/Wake/UNC/Va. Techs, would you move for only football? MOST of the ACC football stadiums are smaller and have smaller followings than the teams in the BE.

I think it would be a great move personally...

We should just hold out for the SEC.  

......bahahahaha

This is a good point, and hopefully with the upswing of athletics, we can pull some of those outlying Columbus residents away from State.

Without coming out and saying it's impossible, I will say this... I lived in Chillicothe. I have friends in Zanesville. I have friends from Lancaster. All three of those towns have OU branches that pump desperately needed money, education options and well-paid workers into those places. You'd think there'd be some Bobcat fans there. Short of an outlier or a grad from the Athens campus, you'd be wrong. Like the rest of the state, they are entranced by the cult of the poisonous nut. Hell, look at our own uptown in Athens on a given Saturday, and you're likely to see enough scarlet to make you wonder if there's an FBS school in town. We have a long way to go, but I do think we're getting there. Keep winning.

Salt Lake, Boston, Vegas, Philly, Athens. One of these is not like the other.

Seriously, this entire thread and every other one discussing us moving up to a larger conference is the sole reason out economy is still in the tank. I've got to believe that the countless hours spent debating this pipe dream of a topic easily is taking away a full percent from our nations GDP . . .