http://bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1299775&srvc=sports&position=3

Great for me to reduce travel costs every other season to support the Cats, assuming they are placed in the East.  Now commence the Commissioner bashing for the FB only/Temple exclusion.

Well, D.A., it's tough to make it work with 13. I guess I prefer a football only 14th so we're not trying to make a go with 13 basketball schools if we added somebody in all sports. And I'll wait to see if UMass really wants to be a part of this conference or if they want to be with us only as long as they have to be, the way Central Florida and Marshall did.

I will admit (and I'm as guilty as anybody) that we don't make nearly the stink about our Field Hockey only MAC schools as we do about our football only brethren.

I think the reason you will not see any sort of conference merger involving the MAC is our geographic footprint.

We are simply too many schools crammed into too small an area. And six schools in Ohio alone? Find a facebook friend from far away and ask what they would think of adding 6 schools from Ohio to their athletic conference.

We'd have to switch the divisions around for football for this to work since the East is already up a team on the West. Probably the easiest way is to move Bowling Green to the West. For every other sport they'd move back to the East to keep it even.

 Umass would be a great addition.  Especially if it comes with non-conference basketball games against them.

My guess is they would immediately jump to the top of the MAC in terms of support and attendance, and pretty quickly after that in the standings.

(Yes, I'm ignoring my disdain for football only affiliation.  And, if they do it, they'll be poisd to make a Big East jump within 5 years of doing this.)

Now lets get Deleware.

 

UMass is not A-10 for football, it's Colonial Athletic Association.  CAA also includes James Madison, Richmond, etc.  Schools that we have mentioned in previous posts about their MAC worthiness.

I like the addition of Umass, but why FB only? not to be political, but the MAC negotiates like Democrats- give away any leverage before sitting down at the table.

If UMass is serious about going FBS, what other conference would take them besides the MAC? Is it safe to assume a BCS conference wouldn't be interested in an FB only FCS transfer? Would the ACC or BE have any interest? Seems unlikely to me but let me know if you think otherwise. That leaves non AQ conferences. Here's the list of  the 5 non AQ conferences to chose from-

- MAC
- C USA
- Sun Belt
- MWC
- WAC

WAC, MWC and probably Sun Belt wouldn't be viable for geographic reasons, so that leaves the MAC and CUSA. With CUSA's superiority complex would they be willing to take UMass at all, and especially as FB only? I think their only legitimate option is the MAC. Why not use some leverage to try and get all sports? Maybe Umass joining in BBall might add leverage to get Temple to commit to all sports too. A MAC East division of UMass, Temple, OHIO, Kent, Akron, Miami and Buffalo would be compelling. But I digress.

With that being said, I like TUVid's suggestion of a MAC/A10 merger a lot.

Could be a pre-emptive strike in case Temple does get a Big East invite but I just don't see that happening.
I hope its future planning of keeping the MAC strong.

It has a strong football history.

With 14 teams for football this would make T-giving week much better.  I cannot understand why the MAC does not go to "Rivalry" week like many Conferences.

In the East you have:

OU vs Miami
Kent vs Akron
Umass vs Temple

In the West, you have:

BG vs Toledo
CMU vs WMU
NIU vs BSU

That leaves Buffalo and EMU in a not so "Rivalry" rivalry game but you get the idea.

If played on Saturday, it puts a lot more fans in the stands and gets us away from those "empty" stadium and embarassing games the MAC is playing now.  Most of these are "real" rivalries NOW.  One or two would need to develop! 

The news sufacing about UMass makes me very excited because until today I assumed the MAC was about to miss the best opportunity for advancement for the next decade. UMass certainly isn't enough but it's a start.

UMass:

• 20,000 undergrads
• 70% Admission
• SAT 1170
• 25% out of state
• Tier 1 University

Sounds like another Miami to me, only looking at the information above, which is good.

I just really hope the MAC has learned their lesson with the whole football only stuff. Temple really would have helped our basketball and so would UMass. The timing's right for us to bring both in all the way and look for more opportunities in this changing landscape.

The commish is an Ohio grad. I'm writing an email today to the Co-Commish Bob Gennarelli  (BGennarelli@mac-sports.com) and asking him to read and forward it to the big man. We are the people that this conference represents. Our voice should be heard in this matter and I really think if the MAC heard the opinions from fans on this board and around the MAC it would make a difference.

The key is getting 8 schools required for a football conference. The A-10 basketball league would have 2 FBS members in UMass and Temple. Charlotte is also planning to move up and that give you 3. The A-10 would then only have to add 5-6 MAC schools and not the entire conference. Throw in ECU and Marshall for geography reasons and that is 2 more schools. Next add Buffalo, Army and Navy. That would put the A10 at 19 teams overall, and 8 for FBS football. Maybe Richmond can be talked into moving up instead of Buffalo for an 8/18 split.

URI has already committed to move to the Northeast Conference (about 25-30 fewer scholarships than the CAA).