That is predicated again if Gonzaga wants to come, that they want their other programs in a different conference and that conference is agreeable to lose Gonzaga’s most desirable program and keep the rest.
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The NCAA doesn't allow this. Only football can be separated from the other sports (such as Notre Dame). If it were that simple then Gonzaga would've been in the Big East 10+ years ago.
Few was talking about the program he is in charge of and not the entirety of the sports program and he also was talking about non-conference games IIRC.
Based on the conference they are in, to get consistent top notch competition, what choice do they have but to travel? Off course other teams are a little more reluctant to go to them.
Smart move on both parties to explore this.
Do you really believe that the WCC would allow Gonzaga to keep its non revenue in the WCC after Gonzaga removed its mens and womens basketball teams and the related NCAA tourney $ ?
That’s not entirely true. The AAC, for example, has affiliate schools like the University of Florida for women’s lacrosse and other schools for just men’s soccer or rowing.
It would be wildly unfair to penalize just men’s basketball.
NCAA allows school programs to be independent even if their other programs are in a conference (Notre Dame, and UConn are examples in football, when Miami joined the Big East, their baseball program remained independent. They also allow programs to play in another conferences if your normal conference does not sponsor a sport (Denver is in the Big East for their Lacrosse programs while most of their others are in the Summit, Their men’s hockey is also in separate conference).
No one has called for them being booted from the conference. I have seen folk saying Nebraska should be booted from the Big Ten though. Not everyone agrees they are good for the conference especially with the are they leaving drama they bring. The fact that they have an obnoxious fan base at least for me does not enter into the equation.
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Too lazy to go back and look, but Gonzaga could certainly park some sports teams here if there's a match.
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Members - Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
THE MOUNTAIN PACIFIC SPORTS FEDERATION 2023-2024 Participating Members 11 Sports . 13 States . 37 Institutions . 69 Teams Artistic
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With programs like Creighton in the conference I really don’t think BE fans are worried about geography.
But some of these programs on the other hand, like Gonzaga has to consider it. I heard the football coach at Miizzu speak about the cost (not just financial) and effect on the non revenue sports and if anyone taking a look at that.
That is allowed because SEC does not sponsor Lacrosse.
What it comes down to with UConn is we all have a deeply embedded hatred towards them which goes back decades. Their obnoxious and entitled fans certainly makes it hard to respect them. Then add on the fact they've cheated over the years which includes stealing multiple recruits from St. Johns. Of course, just when it looked like the program was dead and gone, they've been revived by the Big East.
All that being said. I don't think it's hard to see the value they add to the Big East. I'm not sure why anyone should want them to leave.
All that being said. I don't think it's hard to see the value they add to the Big East. I'm not sure why anyone should want them to leave.
"It's not personal Sonny. It's strictly business."
Yes.
Why would they and it really doesn’t matter because they can’t.
"We'll make them an offer they can't refuse."
Yep I'm aware about cases where a conference doesn't sponsor a sport and then they join another for that particular sport as an associate member. As you mentioned Denver in Big East lacrosse, and we also have half a dozen similar associate members. That wouldn't apply for Gonzaga and most of their sports, though, since the Big East sponsors a lot of sports. Gonzaga would need to have their teams for soccer, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. in the Big East.
Regardless of that I'm all in on Gonzaga joining if the financials work, I was just letting MainMan know that it wouldn't be possible to join only for basketball.
Sounds like they had a nice original offer from ESPN turned it down and overplayed their hand not reading the market together with trade winds of a changing landscape in conference alignment. This lead to at least two teams (USC and UCLA) looking elsewhere with some “prodding” by the scorned ESPN.
Story sounds very familiar to one over ten years ago with the conference being the Big East, the two teams being Pitt and Syracuse and of course ESPN in the same role.