Personally, I'd be against it. I don't think it wouldn't be much, if any, upgrade in competitiveness as a whole and it would be a lotmore expensive for travel. Right now, basically all of the trips in the MAC are eight hour drives or less and within the division, they are all basically 3 1/2 hours or less. Marshall obviously would be a short trip but the rest of the trips all would be longer than any current trip in the MAC. It just doesn't make sense, in my opinion.

I would honestly become less interested in Ohio athletics. The MAC isn't great, but it's fun because of the rivalries and familiarities. I just can't see myself getting riled up for Rice.

Just take a look at the results Marshall's experienced or poll their fan base.  Not a good move until you have all the components in place... 

With about everyone here.  Don't really see it as a step up in any way (any programs of substantial worth from those conference have been cherry picked already), and it would trash rivalries and the ability to drive to many games.  I got to see 9 of 13 games in person my senior year, and the 10th had a schedule conflict, it was actually the closest road game we played.  That kind of thing simply won't happen in this kind of arrangement.

Additionally, being able to watch 12 of 14 games on television from afar in CT this season was huge for me.  With the combined contracts of these conferences, there's no way we get that kind of exposure, and even games that are televised are relegated to CBS Sports Network, which nobody gets, or FSN regional status, most of which will get preempted in a good portion of the country in favor of local teams.

I couldn't agree more with Anorris. For whatever reason, Ohio's ability to have 5-6 games prominently shown on either ESPN or ESPN2 was HUGE for us (together with the 110's viral LMFAO cover!) and I'm not sure we could get that kind of exposure in a larger conference that's basically on our level anyway, maybe slightly higher. I like the MAC. While in my heart I'm with Bobcat Love about how Ohio should achieve to be in a higher league, given the state of disrepair that the infrastructure of the University's in (have you walked on the elevated walkways of South Green lately or seen the absolute lack of landscaping anywhere on campus?) Ohio's got far more pressing needs financially IMHO than trying to join the suicidal arms race that major college football's become.

The money involved is heads and shoulders above the money afforded to the teams in the MAC.  With that comes higher travel costs though.  A new TV deal will be worked out with the new conference and who knows which network will win the deal. 

In all seriousness, and no smack talk with this statement either, Ohio University would seriously need to invest in their football facilities.  The seating, concourse area, legroom, and scoreboard are horrendous.  Great tailgating areas though.  I would love to see ya'll join a conference with us again. 

This would be a key for me.  If we went in with some of our current mates in a division that was eastern time zone oriented, I think it might be a good move for us.  The TV revenues, as I understand it, are quite a bit more in C-USA, so I think this move would not be a financial burden, in fact, it might help balance the athletic budget.  I would not be for being the lone current member of the MAC to join C-USA.  If we have three current MAC members, plus Marshall, it might just work for our benefit with a number of easy-to-get-to games.  I'd also want a guarantee that we'd have a minimal number of cross-over games to Texas and points west each year.  I personally think the "merger" will die before it's born, so I'm really talking about a revamped C-USA.

No pun intended, but this is the million dollar question: where do we get the $ to make in my opinion much needed improvements to Peden Stadium? The Walthers just donated $8 million to kick start the construction of a multipurpose center and Ohio is still having trouble getting the last amount of funds needed to finish that project. Peden Stadium is a nice little stadium that's really showing its age and in today's major college football scene it's smalltime.

As a Bobcatattacker mentioned in the Basketball threads, Akron is now considering building a new arena-where are they getting the $ to do this? Ohio can't finish off the funding for an IPF and Akron just keeps building and building and building. Go figure.

Looks to me like Akron wants to be ready to make a move to "the next level" whenever the opportunity comes around.  I do think Marshal and ECU make the most sense for the MAC to expand to if it wants to upgrade football.  If not, I am all for going to 12 FB conference to improve.  Just go back 10 years and get rid of the bottom dwellers!  Add someone at the top.

Well, as things appear to be developing regarding the NCAA, conference realignments, championship opportunities, etc...

I'd rather be IN THE FREAKING POND...

As it is now, I don't feel like the MAC is even a puddle beside the pond, and that attitude shows up in so many different ways...

How many LO-DEF MELT YOUR EYES basketball telecasts do I need to watch? 

It's crappy looking on my 5" phone screen; it's god awful on my 72" TV....

Things are never lo-def on the Big10 network; not even wrestling.


-john

ML85, Akron keeps on building because the powers that be at Akron apparently have the guts to do what we will not do.  They spend the money.  We plan on building an IPF with totally donated funds and are short, but we do not have the b@!!s to spend the money while at the same time feel a need to build a facility that "all of the university can use".  If we are building for the entire university and not just the athletic department, then the university can and should pony-up all the $$$.  If the Athens community wants a piece of the action, they too can ante-up.  Otherwise, take a hike!  It was just a few months ago that the university was talking about spending something like $997,000,000.00 for building upgrades with none of that money going to athletics.  Why not tap into that money as well?

We play in a joke of a conference and a lot of the posters on here seem to love going nowhere fast.  If everyone is that concerned about the $$$ and staying where we are, why not drop athletics to D-III across the board and join the OAC.  Then we would be spending next to nothing, and think of all the great rivalries.  I could see our student body traveling in mass to either New Concord or Marietta.  And while we are at it, we can really save $$$ by tearing down the Convo and making a deal with Athens High to use their gym.  That way we would be on par with the rest of the OAC.

You may indeed be right (I hope your right because Ohio really needs it) and I know it has been discussed by the powers that be, but I believe Ohio University will spend a billion dollars on infrastructure construction when I see it.  Cleveland's building in interstate highway bridge in the downtown area and now ODOT's telling Cleveland there might not be enough money to finish that project.  So I'm not very confident Ohio U's going to be getting a billion dollars any time soon from the State of Ohio for infrastructure purposes.