Bay Area Billiken

Football brings the much larger TV money. UConn actually took a TV pay cut when it moved from the AAC to the (New) Big East due to the loss of AAC ESPN TV revenue, in the vicinity of $7M in the AAC to $4+M in the Big East.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-smus-pursuit-of-the-power-five--its-a-couple-hundred-million-dollars-im-not-losing-sleep-over-it-125139541.html

The A10 is still significanlty stronger than the MVC (and Horizon) post-Temple, Xavier and Butler (1 year) exits and post-Creighton MVC exit, as proven by the NCAA Tourney bids since, 25 to the A10, 12 to the MVC, 9 to the Horizon. Another point, of the MVC's 26 NCAA bids since '05-'06, 13 were earned by schools that are no longer in the MVC: Wichita State (7), Loyola Chicago (3), Creighton (3). Turning to the Horizon, 7 of the 19 NCAA bids were earned by schools no longer in the Horizon: Butler (5), Valparaiso (2). In the A10, NCAA bids earned by former members amount to 14: Xavier (7), Temple (6), Butler (1). Just subtracting those NCAA bids yields: A10 37, MVC 13, Horizon 12. Five (5) of those 13 MVC bids would have been earned by someone else, other than a team that left, bringing that total up to 18. Likewise, 5 of the 7 Horizon bids would have been won by someone else. The A10 still wins with 37 bids to 18 for the MVC, and 17 for the Horizon. Again, there's no contest. I can see St. Louis Area and Midwest alumni, residents and fans having an issue with the geographic disparity of the A10 vis-a-vis SLU in St. Louis. But the A10 is better than the MVC and Horizon in Basketball, TV availability, and institutional fit categories. This being said, SLU's goal should be Big East membership. If SMU can pull off a miracle and get into the ACC (just think about that), then SLU can make a concerted effort and finally get where it's belonged for 18 and 10 years, the Big East.

A comparison of the number of NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bids since SLU joined the Atlantic 10 for the '06-'07 season: A10 51, average of 3.0 NCAA bids per season; MVC 26, average of 1.5 NCAA bids per season; Horizon 19, average of 1.056 NCAA bids per season. If the comparison is begun at the '13-'14 season, the season after Temple, Xavier and Butler (one and done) left the A10 and Creighton left the MVC, the number of NCAA Tourney bids is as follows: A10 25, an average of 2.8 per season; MVC 12 bids, an average of 1.3 per season; Horizon, 9 bids, an average of 1 bid per season. All of the above and the following does not include the '20 season when the NCAA Tourney was not played. The MVC has been Juan Bid 6 of the last 7 seasons, the Horizon Juan Bid for the last 13 consecutive seasons. The A10 was Juan Bid in '23 for the first time since '05, before SLU joined the A10. Let's hope '23 was an outlier for the A10, and not the start of a trend. Juan Bid could be an unwelcome guest due to the NCAA Power 5 +1 skewed NET and the Power 5 +1 not playing non-Power 5's on the road. In terms of television rights, the A10 has deals with CBS for its A10 Tourney Championship Game on Selection Sunday, CBS Sports Network, NBC- now on USA Network after the NBC Sports Network folded, and the ESPN Networks for the A10 Friday Night games, which put the A10 in a national spotlight, in an only game in town scenario. This is not a close call- A10 TV access is significantly better than the MVC and eons better than the Horizon. A lot of MVC games are confined to ESPN+ streaming. Whether the A10 can maintain this excellent linear TV exposure remains to be seen. The institutional fit is no contest. I realize the detractors don't like to be told that, but that one is also not close. The only thing the MVC and to a lesser extent Horizon have over the A10 for SLU is geography. As noted by another poster, if the MVC is so great, why did Loyola Chicago leave the MVC for the A10? That is a rhetorical question and yields an obvious answer. My fellow Billikens, this one is not a close call. While the ultimate home for SLU should be in the Big East, the A10 is significantly better than the MVC and Horizon.

This is still college sports. Having members in major cities has given the A10 much better TV access than the MVC and the Horizon. The status of the universities does matter. I didn’t say the A10 is “a good conference.” It used to be pretty good, received 6 NCAA Tourney bids in ‘13. But Temple and Xavier left, and the A10 has been in regression. However, the A10 is still better than the MVC and significantly better than the remnant of the Horizon. The latter is not even close.

The A10 has more like minded institutions in terms of mission, fellow Jesuit schools, Catholic schools, and private schools, to wit: Jesuit (Catholic) Universitites (4): Loyola Chicago, Fordham, St. Joseph's, and SLU; Other Catholic Universities (4): Dayton (Marianist), Duquesne (Spiritan), St. Bonaventure (Franciscan), LaSalle (Christian Brothers); Other Private Universities (3): George Washington, Richmond, Davidson (Presbyterian); The A10 has four (4) public universities of its fifteen (15) members: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, VCU, George Mason.

The Big East TV contract with Fox and the sublicense to CBS and CBS Sports Network expire in '24-'25. There is insufficient time for SLU to drop down in conferences at this point. While I understand the point although I don't agree with it, time now is too much of the essence to be switching conferences. What we are seeing is the conference realigments occur when those TV contracts are expiring. 2023 Conference NET's: Big East 4, Mountain West 5, WCC 8, American (AAC) 9, C-USA 10, WAC 11, A10 12, MVC 15, Horizon 21.

I was present for the SLU at Stanford NCAA Playoff game in 2001. Stanford won that game on what was described to me by a former SLU Soccer player as a miskick, an errant SLU goal kick right to a Stanford player positioned -15 yards in front of him, who promptly deposited the ball right back in the back of the net. Stanford won 1-0. That remains the strangest opponent's goal I've ever seen. Last night's goal at SMU would rank as the second strangest I've ever seen, albeit on ESPN+ internet streaming, not in person. I think the ref should have blown the whistle and stopped play due to an apparent player injury, namely the downed SMU player in the penalty area about 15 yards in front of the SLU goalie. That had to have been a distraction to the SLU players, especially the SLU Goalie, as the downed SMU player was right in front of the SLU Goalie and stayed down in front of him. The SMU announcers conveniently omitted courtside's observation that the SMU goal scorer himself was offsides. The SMU announcer focused on the downed SMU player not being called for offsides because he stayed down, rather than getting up.

SMU wins 1-0, on what seemed to me to be a bizarre first half goal. The high temperature today in Dallas was 110 degrees. The game started in the late daylight at 104 or 105 degrees, and the temperature was 96 degrees in the 2nd Half after 8 p.m. Central, after dark and under the lights. Hydration breaks were called in each half. For the soccer buffs, please explain why the ref didn't blow the whistle and stop play when the SMU player went down in the penalty area, and stayed down. As the SMU announcer said on ESPN+, SLU seemed to stop, waiting for the whistle, and SMU scored seemingly uncontested. Reading the rule, since the SMU player down in penalty area didn’t go for the ball, it wasn’t offsides. SMU announcer said had the player gotten up, it would have been called offsides. But why didn’t the ref blow the whistle and stop play? The SMU guy was down for some time in the middle about 15 yards in front of the SLU Goalie.

I think VCU to AAC is just conjecture. We’ll see.

My goal is for SLU to get in the Big East. I don't think dropping down to the MVC or Horizon does anything to aid that cause. I know the presence of Creighton (from the MVC) and Butler (from the Horizon with 1 intervening year in the A10, in which SLU beat Butler 3 times) in the BE might say otherwise. But I'd still take the A10 over either the MVC or Horizon. I think VCU going to the AAC would be an overall positive for SLU.

The A10 has already reached Juan Bid status. It would be easier to get that one automatic NCAA bid if VCU was elsewhere.

Utah State website reporting Utah State @ SLU on Nov. 28.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-smus-pursuit-of-the-power-five--its-a-couple-hundred-million-dollars-im-not-losing-sleep-over-it-125139541.html

While playing at Loyola and at Dayton is not optimal for the St. Louis based SLU fans, having the shorter road trips on weeknights is a bit better for the players, saves a couple of hours of weekday/weeknight travel time. Chicago is easily accessible from St. Louis, plane, train, I-55. There's a potential two game road trip to Philadelphia in the mix, at LaSalle and at St. Joe's, Feb. 7 and 10. Ten (10) of SLU's 18 A10 games are on National Cable/Satellite TV, 4 on CBSSN, 4 on USA and 2 on one of the ESPN Networks, both Friday nights vs. VCU, away and home. SLU needs to make a visit to the West, is playing Utah State in St. Louis, reportedly sometime in late November, on an as yet unannounced date.

This is a good move IMO.

https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule SLU's A10 Schedule has been released.

I’ve watched parts of all 3 games. Frankly, SLU is fortunate to be 1-2, was outplayed the first 67 minutes of the Butler game. In the Lipscomb road game, how can you not convert on 2 penalty kicks? We could see one going awry, but two? One theme has been the inability to generate offense, the inability to make passes without an opponent intercepting. In all 3 games, the opponents had someone in SLU’s way, as if the opponents had too many players on the field (they didn’t). The Butler game took a favorable turn when SLU started kicking long drives behind the Butler defenders and the speedy SLU forwards beat Butler to the ball. But SIUe had that maneuver diagnosed and stopped it in the first half. Here’s a suggestion. SLU has a freshman who scored 100 Goals in high school, was the best player on an Illinois State Championship team last season. He played 17 minutes as a sub off the bench last night. How about playing him more minutes and at his natural position? Try it and see what happens. My prediction is that result will be favorable.

This is a disappointing result. SIUe was the aggressor, as evidenced by the 3 Yellow Cards, seemed to want it more.

Plus, the STL Metro has three nearby airports in Illinois, as well as hotels across the River, in case the CA travel ban remains in effect. There has been advocacy this year to end the travel ban.

Yes, operating costs have to be higher in the ACC, even though the Cal Chancellor is trying to spin that they won’t significantly be, while revealing the ACC plan to have the volleyball, softball, baseball and soccer teams from each Coast meet in Dallas. As I told AdMan, St. Louis should submit a bid to be an ACC venue host. The ACC says Cal and Stanford will make 3-4 annual football trips to the East.

Update: Per the Baltimore Sun, SMU is foregoing 9 years of ACC Tier 1 (TV) revenue, at an estimated $25M per year ($225M minimum). The pledges from the SMU alumni cover most of that amount.

https://x.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/1697619768340054166?s=46&t=jikm5nKg-NlIUjy2c9C9zw

The question is if there will still be 6 CFP auto bids and 6 at larges (favored by the Group of 6) or 5 auto bids and 7 at larges (favored by the Power 5(4). My prediction is the latter will happen. Cal and Stanford have found a home in the ACC, albeit with reduced TV shares, following heavy lobbying by Notre Dame. SMU has bought its way into the ACC, foregoing TV money for a reported 7 years, while raising $200M in pledges from its alumni to cover the TV money forbearance. SMU realized this was its last chance to get into a Power 5(4) conference. Re travel, the Cal Chancellor revealed an ACC plan to have teams from both Coasts meet in Dallas for games. I could see that happening in olympic sports, but not in Football and Basketball. Oregon State (currently ranked #18 nationally in Football) and Washington State are still out there, left behind. The AAC has reportedly cut off negotiations, leaving either the Mountain West or trying to maintain the Pac-2 with expansion additions from the AAC and/or Mountain West. The latter is possible, but less likely without Stanford and Cal. My opinion is the big winner today is Notre Dame, and the big loser is the B1G (from a CFB control aspect, albeit all the way to the bank, making the B1G a big winner from that aspect). Stanford and Cal preferred to join USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington in a Coastal Division of the B1G, but the Fox TV money was apparently not there. You can't accept what you're not offered. Notre Dame continues to get its cake and eat it too, with its affiliation with the ACC, Independent status in Football, ACC membership in the other ACC sports that ND plays, including Basketball and a full conference vote, and its NBC TV deal for its home football games. Notre Dame gets all this while residing right in the middle of the Big Ten footprint. The B1G wants ND, but not vice versa.

SMU was good in Soccer both before and after the Football ban.