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Post by trojans91 on Dec 25, 2016 20:26:33 GMT -6
During my attendance at the GA Southern vs Troy Game I over heard a couple of guys complaining about the sunbelt conference. Over the years I've given this topic significant thought and my conclusion never changes based upon market and geographic location. With that being said I'm going to put the question on this board for discussion......Do we have any other options for a conference?
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Post by Possum on Dec 25, 2016 20:39:34 GMT -6
We don't have any other options, but I personally have a disdain for the lack of talent in our officiating crews.
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Post by TrojanFanatic on Dec 25, 2016 20:40:57 GMT -6
I still say we should combine CUSA and the Belt and have the first super conference
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Post by bennekles on Dec 26, 2016 11:43:06 GMT -6
I used to hate the Sun Belt, but by the time of Realignment and MUTS, WKU, and the F_U's left, I thought we'd built up a nice regional conference. If we could poach So. Miss. and LA. Tech from CUSA, we could have a great conference with theset up we have now.
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Post by TrojanFanatic on Dec 26, 2016 11:51:47 GMT -6
I never minded MUTS but the others needed to go away
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Post by Hemi Man on Dec 26, 2016 12:21:51 GMT -6
I still say we should combine CUSA and the Belt and have the first super conference That would only help a bad CUSA.
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Post by TrojanFanatic on Dec 26, 2016 12:27:57 GMT -6
I still say we should combine CUSA and the Belt and have the first super conference That would only help a bad CUSA. By combine I mean poach Southern Miss, LA Tech, UAB when they come back, and MUTS
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Post by Bubba the Trojan on Dec 26, 2016 12:48:22 GMT -6
I think a conference has 3 functions.
1) Allow teams of similar talent and skill levels a way to contest geographically centered, repetitive, competitive contests for the purpose of building rivalries and, therefore, fan bases
2) Provide a means for schools to increase revenue streams, through both marketing and postseason revenues
3) Actively promote its member institutions in an attempt to improve the perception of those institutions nationally
These three should be applied to ALL athletic programs and sports. However, since this is a football forum, let's explore the above as they relate to football, especially TROJAN football.
I think we can say number 1 has been accomplished by the Sunbelt. We regularly, as a school and as a conference overall, compete in contests with schools from the southeast (predominately) region of similar talent and skill level, schools that have good fan bases and schools with which we have growing rivalries.
Numbers 2 & 3 are somewhat related, but we can examine them individually. The Sunbelt has, over recent years, increased its member inititutions' ability to generate revenue. We now have 5 bowl tie ins. In the recent past, that number was 0, then 1, and finally 2. These additional bowl games bring in additional revenue, which is then spread around the member institutions.
Finally we come to the perception of member institutions nationally. When talking about perception, there is the perception of a conference's academics and a perception of its athletics. Again, this is a football forum, so that's where I'll focus. The schools in our conference are more responsible for our perception nationally than conference officials ever will be. When we CONSISTENTLY play and beat schools "perceived" to be be better than us, then our conference will enjoy an improved perception. I contend that we are seeing that occur. When the dust settles on this bowl season, the Sunbelt teams will have compiled a pretty impressive inter conference bowl record. As our perception improves, the conference office will be able to more aggressively promote us, to negotiate more lucrative TV deals, therebyincreasing the revenue stream (see #2).
Is the Sunbelt perfect? No! Is it better than C-USA? I would argue that with the recent additions of GA St, App, GA Sou, and Coastal, coupled with the deletions that have occurred, the answer is emphatically YES! There are no openings for us to move to at this time and I think a merger does us no good. At this time, the Sunbelt is a good fit for us, in many ways. After all, it's not your older brother's Sunbelt.
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Post by atlantatrojan on Dec 26, 2016 12:50:31 GMT -6
Need to stay where we are. Conference is getting better every year while other G5 conferences are trending downward.
SBC is 4-1 in bowls currently.
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