Jackson State is looking to switch conference. I know region-wise this does not makes sense but I think it would be a good opportunity to add maybe 2 more teams.

Would love to steal North and South Dakota teams personally.

Thoughts on teams you would like to see or should we stay where we are?

The MAC's best chance to expand was lost when the WKU-MTSU deal fell through.

Stability or stasis?

Realignment is a money and recruiting grab. I can't see how adding new teams could possibly benefit the MAC. It's very much of a regional product, which was gaining some National exposure due to its willingness to play games in the middle of the week.Only time will tell, but the MAC can't compete with the Big Boys.

This. The folks at MTSU were/are short-sighted and pretty much ruined this whole deal for everyone. I know the people over on WKU's board are "OK" with staying where they are, but I think most were looking forward to the change until MTSU decided that adding a bunch of Texas and Southern schools along with the scandalous Liberty was good enough. Especially considering how bad C-USA's TV deal is, I'd be pretty ticked off if I were the Hilltopper faithful.

I do think it's quite hilarious that people would be super excited about NDSU joining this conference not realizing they'd probably kick our collective asses fairly quickly after a brief adjustment period. Also, the MAC has shown they want to keep this league a bus-travel, regional product. Nobody can bus to NDSU. Unless they took a page from the Big Ten or SEC and made sweeping changes grabbing a handful of team to get to 16-20 teams. But we know they won't do that.

Youngstown would make the most sense, from both a facilities and geography stand point, but they've been pretty beaten down in FCS over the last few years.

FBS isn't a money making venture for most schools, so it's a lot to ask a school like that to pony up (or ask their students to pony up) for additional scholarships, upgrades, coaching salaries, travel, etc etc etc

Perhaps they could see it as a student recruitment tool, but I think if they were ever gonna jump to FBS they would've wanted and probably needed Tressel to lead the charge.

Unless it's North Dakota State and South Dakota State, I'm not sure any teams make sense.

NDSU has won 9 of the past 11 FCS championships and the two schools have combined for the last eight Summit League men’s basketball championships.

NDSU football consistently produces NFL talent, though I think a lot of that has to do with them being a massive fish in a small pond. Only two MAC schools have produced more NFL draft picks in that time: Toledo, with six, and Western Michigan, with seven.

Don't forget Temple. Three years after Temps joined the MAC hardly any students knew they were in our conference. Part of it had to do with their being football-only. We didn't see them during b-ball season, so nobody heard about them after November. And everybody who WAS aware Temps was in the league knew that they would be gone at the first opportunity. That's why a long-term, all-sports commitment is needed from ANY school that wants into the MAC.

Should be the goal, but the MAC has proven they're never going to do that. They go with what fits the best geographically. As great as NDSU is, and as awesome as it would be for them to join the MAC, it's just not realistic unless they grab a bunch of other schools up that way to move up and make some sort of super G5 conference. Which the more I think about it, I wouldn't hate it.

But hey lets have some fun with this. We're grabbing North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa and we're doing pods.

POD 1:
North Dakota State
North Dakota
South Dakota State
Northern Iowa

POD 2:
Northern Illinois
Ball State
Bowling Green
Miami

POD 3:
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Central Michigan
Toledo

POD 4:
Buffalo
Akron
Kent State
Ohio

Scheduling wise you could still have protected rivalries for Ohio-Miami and Bowling Green-Toledo. But all in all this would be a great league for football and basketball.

At this point the MAC is a stagnant league. They won't go adding anyone unless they don't upset the apple cart. The league I feel would be more content adding a middling school who is financially decrepit over adding a school that can elevate the league.

Just an observation, but the league resembles a whack-a-mole machine versus a rising tide raises all boats. When one school gets good, they come back to the pack and another school takes its place. Just not a huge fan of the way the MAC has become.

Now, if it were going to add schools, it needs to find a school building new facilities and willing to commit to the athletics budget. That said, in the Post-Covid university economics, you are going to be hard pressed to find schools that are willing to commit and make some jumps unless a booster wins the lotto (believe me, still my goal to build an off-site hoops arena and practice facilities for hoops and wrestling not regulated by campus rec or any other bs bureaucracy in any manner). At this point, the MAC is where it is, and the only logical moves that will happen is the East Coast goes through a massive realignment and Buffalo leaves the league for said circuit. Maybe Toledo gets offered a slot due to its TV Market, but otherwise, there isn't a lot of incentive to go chase Fiami despite its alumni and no reason to chase NIU.

And again, we missed our chance with any combo of JMU, WKU, and MTSU for the last few years. And again, we have tried adding schools who leave for greener pastures. And since we will never forgive the Thundering Turd, who by all accounts makes too much sense but left a bag of turds at the door each time it left, the MAC is in hold together mode and hope that maybe Grand Valley State wants to make the jump or someone like an Illinois State wants to come over. Youngstown will never be included as mentioned, and Indiana State doesn't have the power to have at it.

MWDST, Mount Union has some NFL’ers to crow about, Pierre Garçon and Cecil Shorts III immediately come to mind. They too have won multiple National Championships so why not just add them to MACTION. Trust me it will accomplish the same thing and will greatly reduce the travel costs. But dream on all you want about adding the Dakota’s. Not trying to be Debbie Downer on the MAC, but college football has now become the OSU vs BAMA conferences and they are now like the “exclusive” Prom that going forward will only consider the prettiest of the prettiest! I now live in the heart of the ACC and believe me lots of far bigger names than OHIO and Miami’s are -hitting their pants worried about which insignificant ugly step-sister conference they will land in when the final dance partners are picked. But I guess yearning for a football game on a cold Tuesday/Wednesday November evening in North/South Dakota is just what has always been the missing link to propel the MAC to greatness! It will make the November weeknight games in Athens seem downright balmy though compared to the Dakotas. BTW will there be direct flights from
Athens to Bismarck?

Yep, those academic and need-based scholarships that so many D3 players qualify for. And, I've heard that just possibly, every now and then, that a football player's need and/or academic assessment might be based on different criteria than that used for the general student population. Now, that's just a rumor, mind you! ;-)