TCU to the Big East

[AssKickinChicken]

Closest MWC school to TCU was UNM, at over 600 miles. Doubt they drove that much in any sport.

Right and if you have to fly an extra 500 miles isn't much of an additional cost factor.

[89Hen]

That's yet to be seen. Football, yes, but wait until softball has to take another plane trip.

That BCS bowl money will pay for a lot of softball trips.

The Big East already has a BCS bowl bid.

[89Hen]

Closest MWC school to TCU was UNM, at over 600 miles. Doubt they drove that much in any sport.

That does make one wonder how you guys out west can afford to even have sports other than football and basketball.

[dbackjon]

Closest MWC school to TCU was UNM, at over 600 miles. Doubt they drove that much in any sport.

That does make one wonder how you guys out west can afford to even have sports other than football and basketball.

Why do you think we play so many money games....

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Must look like it will work to the Big East Conference. Looks like it will achieve something for TCU as well. I'm gonna go ahead and defer to the judgments to the two parties that are in this contract because I bet they've given this much more thought than anyone here has.

[Skjellyfetti]

That BCS bowl money will pay for a lot of softball trips.

The Big East already has a BCS bowl bid.

They were in serious danger of losing it.

[Wedgebuster]

MWC should file suit against the BCS for the loss of this member.

This is bull shit, and needs to be stopped.

[Skjellyfetti]

MWC should file suit against the BCS for the loss of this member.

This is bull ****, and needs to be stopped.

And then the WAC would file suit against the MWC for "stealing" Boise, Fresno State, and Nevada.

[Wedgebuster]

MWC should file suit against the BCS for the loss of this member.

This is bull ****, and needs to be stopped.

And then the WAC would file suit against the MWC for "stealing" Boise, Fresno State, and Nevada.

No, different altogether. TCU was lured away by the BCS and their AC conferences. The damage done to college football by the BCS criminals is against Federal Anti-Trust laws. The BCS will die by the justice system, just stay tuned.

[dbackjon]

And then the WAC would file suit against the MWC for "stealing" Boise, Fresno State, and Nevada.

No, different altogether. TCU was lured away by the BCS and their AC conferences. The damage done to college football by the BCS criminals is against Federal Anti-Trust laws. The BCS will die by the justice system, just stay tuned.

That is the difference. Had the MWC had an auto-bid, TCU would like stay in the MWC.

[Skjellyfetti]

And then the WAC would file suit against the MWC for "stealing" Boise, Fresno State, and Nevada.

No, different altogether. TCU was lured away by the BCS and their AC conferences. The damage done to college football by the BCS criminals is against Federal Anti-Trust laws. The BCS will die by the justice system, just stay tuned.

Then shouldn't they sue the BCS? That's what the Utah Attorney General is doing.

I'm not defending the BCS or anything. Just saying that conferences suing other conferences for raiding their members would be silly (especially a conference that has raided a conference a few months ago).

[Wedgebuster]

No, different altogether. TCU was lured away by the BCS and their AC conferences. The damage done to college football by the BCS criminals is against Federal Anti-Trust laws. The BCS will die by the justice system, just stay tuned.

Then shouldn't they sue the BCS? That's what the Utah Attorney General is doing.

I'm not defending the BCS or anything. Just saying that conferences suing other conferences for raiding their members would be silly (especially a conference that has raided a conference a few months ago).

Skelly, this point is not really that high a flyer, but you seem to be missing it. The BCS had nothing to do with WAC teams moving to another non automatic qualifying conference, the teams were just working to get into a conference that fit their geography better and lower thier travel expenses.

TCU is jumping to the Big East because they are an automatic BCS qualifying conference, comprende?

[ASUMountaineer]

So was adding USF, but that didn't stop them did it?

At least the USF add left the credibility of the conference name intact - adding TCU makes no sense in that regard.

I agree, but neither does the Big XII having 10 teams or the Big Ten having 12 teams. Conference names mean very little now. Heck, the Big East has a school from Chicago and a school from Wisconsin playing basketball. It's crazy, but that's the game when millions of BC$ dollars are at stake.

[SDHornet]

Maybe this will finally put the WAC out of it’s misery. And the MWC should just rename itself to the “WAC II”.

[Ivytalk]

When I was a kid, back in the heady days of the old Southwest Conference, TCU was usually at the bottom of the football "pecking order," together with the other two "church schools" (SMU, Baylor) and Rice. My, how times have changed!

Still miss the old Cotton Bowl game. The whole state of Texas was really into it.

[SuperHornet]

Not that they'd be dumb enough to go for it, but the only AZ school anywhere near available is NAU.

I don't like the move, either, but there IS precedent, at least in terms of the East direction designation: do the cities of Dallas and St. Louis ring a bell?

[youngterrier]

Boise=screwed again

[Mike Johnson]

It is a little farther to Big East schools than to Mountain West schools for TCU, but not really that much. Either way, TCU flies for conference games.

Finding a home for all sports was TCU's demand--the MWC wouldn't let TCU football leave on its own, just like the conference wouldn't do so for BYU. For TCU, it was all or nothing and they made that clear over the past several days.

As for distances--these are driving distances from google maps:

New Mexico 627 miles 10.4 hours
Air Force 720 miles 12.7 hours
Colorado State 840 miles 14.6 hours
Wyoming 919 miles 15.7 hours
UNLV 1195 miles 19.3 hours
San Diego State 1320 miles 21.2 hours
Fresno State 1539 miles 25 hours
Boise State 1605 miles 26 hours
Nevada 1646 miles 27 hours

(MWC average) 1157 miles 19.1 hours

Louisville 871 miles 13.9 hours
Cincinnati 971 miles 15.6 hours
DePaul 1003 miles 16.1 hours
Notre Dame 1066 miles 17.2 hours
Marquette 1076 miles 17.3 hours
South Florida 1131 miles 18.9 hours
West Virginia 1244 miles 20.0 hours
Georgetown 1362 miles 21.8 hours
Pittsburgh 1373 miles 22.8 hours
Villanova 1500 miles 24 hours
Syracuse 1548 miles 25 hours
Seton Hall 1569 miles 25 hours
Rutgers 1574 miles 26 hours
St. John's 1582 miles 26 hours
UConn 1723 miles 28 hours
Providence 1763 miles 29 hours

(BE average) 1335 miles 21.7 hours

Yes, it is further to Big East schools, but not enough to make it a deal killer for TCU. Pretty much every school in either conference requires an airline flight for TCU and the Big East schools have substantially less ground transportation after the flight than many of MWC schools (e.g., Wyoming, Colorado State, and Fresno State). TCU was also starring at the likelihood of Hawaii joining the conference. For non-football sports, the BE will split into two divisions.

Now, comes the question about the other football member the Big East wants. It is Villanova's if they want it. If not, look for it to go to UCF (Central Florida--for those who don't know what UCF is).

It is interesting that for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, TCU's 2008-2011 seasons will count for the MWC when AQ is considered in December 2011. The Big East is already assured of AQ status through the 2013 season. In December 2013, AQ status will be reviewed again for 2014-2017. TCU's 2010 to 2013 seasons will count for the Big East in that review. So, TCU's 2010 season will count for the MWC and for the Big East.

[Mike Johnson]

\Skelly, this point is not really that high a flyer, but you seem to be missing it. The BCS had nothing to do with WAC teams moving to another non automatic qualifying conference, the teams were just working to get into a conference that fit their geography better and lower thier travel expenses.

Not really. By most accounts, the MWC was going to get AQ status in December 2011, with BSU joining simply insurance in light of Utah possibly going to the Pac Ten. That was the primary motivation of both the MWC and BSU and it never had anything to do with trying to simplify geography (which it hardly did). Of course this was before Utah, BYU, and TCU jumped ship. The MWC invitation to BSU and BSU accepting it was entirely about AQ status--that is what they talked about when it happened and in the lead up to the decisions. And Nevada and Fresno State received offers when it appeared BYU was leaving, again to shore up the possibility of AQ status and for no other reason. Nevada and Fresno State joined the MWC precisely because they expected AQ status after December 2011.

The only thing different about the Big East offering TCU is that the Big East is looking to prevent losing AQ status as has been largely expected. A repeat of the 2010 season in either 2011, 2012, or 2013 pretty much guarantees loss of AQ status. But, both the Big East and the Mountain West were at a minimum on the bubble with respect to upcoming AQ reviews and both were shoring up the possibility. And the schools involved were looking at improving the chances of being in an AQ conference themselves.

Arguably, because the MWC is to be evaluated in December 2011, shoring up AQ was more urgent than it is for the Big East, which is AQ through the 2013 season and will be evaluated with everybody else in December 2013 based on the 2010 to 2013 seasons.

[clenz]

Thank you for showing the travel distances. I was going to do that to show there was almost no real difference between the two conferences, especially given they would fly to every game anyway.

[Mike Johnson]

I am not saying I like TCU's move, but I think I understand it. The MWC is changing and the once almost guaranteed AQ status is very much in the air. While that is also true of the Big East, at least they have AQ status now. TCU comes into a conference where it could dominate the conference and get AQ for 2012 and 2013 automatically and not have to wait for an evaluation in December 2011, which might not go that way. TCU can also be seen as the savior of Big East AQ status as that is now far less in doubt than it had been.

This year there was talk of TCU, despite an undefeated season, being left out of a BCS bowl--if Boise State had beaten Nevada and leap frogged TCU. Note, I doubt this. If TCU had stayed in the top 4, a BCS bowl was guaranteed. If they fell to 5th, than it would hurt the BCS case if they took a second place Big 12 team at around 11 or 12 over an undefeated 5th ranked TCU. But, still that was possible for a champion that dominated a conference that is about as good as the Big East, with the possibility of an unranked champion with 4 losses going to a BCS bowl.

As another way to compare, I looked up airline ticket costs using sidestep to the airport for the city in question (I used Denver for Colorado State instead of Fort Collins). Also, I could have used Pittsburgh instead of Morgantown for West Virginia and Denver instead of Laramie for Wyoming. I used the same weekend in December for all. Note, prices will vary, but these are representative of air fares.

UNLV 219
Colorado State 254
Boise State 287
New Mexico 291
San Diego State 316
Nevada 321
Air Force 322
Fresno State 355
Wyoming 475

(MWC average) 316

Pittsburgh 189
South Florida 229
Syracuse 231
Louisville 265
Rutgers 281
UConn 298
Cincinnati 450
West Virginia 534

(BE football average) 310

[Fresno St. Alum]

The travel is actually a little less for TCU in the BE, w/ Hawaii in the MWC(if/when they join) and they only have to go over 1 time zone. It doesn't matter, Hawaii would have joined the BE if invited because of the BCS money/AQ TV, yada yada.

Dback's list is correct
Houston
UTEP
SMU
Utah St.
Hawaii (I hope they join as full, not just fb)

The Hawaii paper added Rice to the list.

I posted on the csi board or ncaabbs (I forget) that if they are hell bent on 12 and the CUSA schools don't want in then it would be Utah St., Hawaii, and how about UTSA because of it's TX location, stadium, big city and hey, they've never lost a game yet and don't suck yet like our other options NMSU, SJSU, Idaho. Someone else has now posted that idea on the MWC board.

[AssKickinChicken]

Bottom line, this was a smart move for both the Big East and TCU.

[Wedgebuster]

Bottom line is BCS licks donkey taint and we are worse than ticks on the donkey's butt ring by buying into it, watching it, and giving credence to it.

Don't forget to stop by your local store and get yer self a bag of tostidos on the way home!

[slycat]

I hope Texas State still ends up with a home thats not the SLC.