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This is just me pulling stuff from an orifice. Could you imagine this scenario...the Big East inviting Buffalo for men's and women's basketball?

I know that they don't have football. And I'm not sure what other sports are in the Big East. Maybe the Bulls stay in the MAC for everything else.

Why would the Big East want a school that doesn't really fit their profile, a big state university?

Because Buffalo gives them a footprint in a region they used to have with Syracuse. It's also a quality program that's starting to get national cred.

Plus this version of the Big East is young and trying to re-establish itself as a premiere conference. Adding a top 20 program, and a recent top 25 women's program, would raise their profile even more.

Not sure what our deal is with the MAC, and whether a school can move one sport out but stay in the rest.

 

Thoughts? Is this just nuts?

 

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MAC requires full members to field conference teams in football, MBB, WBB and womens volleyball.  

So this is a non-starter if we want to field a MAC football team.

Good thoughts, though.  Football and the basketball teams will be packaged together.

However this season ends up for MBB and WBB, the momentum is strong for athletics for UB.  Khalil Mack, football success this year, Tyree Jackson, national MBB ranking.  The time to have those backroom conversations is now.  I hope they are happening.

Buffalo can be a college sports town, too.  I think that will only happen with recognizable opponents and not directional michigan schools.  AAC may be a step, but I have a B1G goal in mind.  I want to be around when it happens.

Go Bulls.

 

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I see the Big East as a poor fit, especially now that UConn, Pitt, and Syracuse are gone. The league is primarily smallish, private, religious schools.  The MAC doesn’t mesh particularly well with UB’s Carnegie I academic pedigree, but does have larger public schools. I agree that the natural landing spot would be the B1G, but is there any realistic scenario for that to happen?

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The MAC has associate members in wrestling (Memphis, ODU, N Iowa) and has had football only members in the past but moving all the Olympic sports out and staying football only would be a no deal as far as the conference is concerned. Some big east members play football but not FBS, which is a no go for UB.  And despite our recent BBall success their are better options out there that fit the BE mold, SLU, Dayton etc.

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4 hours ago, UB92 said:

MAC requires full members to field conference teams in football, MBB, WBB and womens volleyball.  

So this is a non-starter if we want to field a MAC football team.

Good thoughts, though.  Football and the basketball teams will be packaged together.

Could always go independent for football and just try to sell our own Football rights...no more MACtion...working well for Army.....

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5 hours ago, weareub46 said:

Wait is this something new? Because I remember Temple and UMASS both being football only 

Temple agreed to play multiple MAC schools in basketball (possibly other sports as well) as part of their football participation. UMass had four years as football only.  It was either move everything or leave.  They left.

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7 hours ago, promotherobot said:

This is just me pulling stuff from an orifice. Could you imagine this scenario...the Big East inviting Buffalo for men's and women's basketball?

I know that they don't have football. And I'm not sure what other sports are in the Big East. Maybe the Bulls stay in the MAC for everything else.

Why would the Big East want a school that doesn't really fit their profile, a big state university?

Because Buffalo gives them a footprint in a region they used to have with Syracuse. It's also a quality program that's starting to get national cred.

Plus this version of the Big East is young and trying to re-establish itself as a premiere conference. Adding a top 20 program, and a recent top 25 women's program, would raise their profile even more.

Not sure what our deal is with the MAC, and whether a school can move one sport out but stay in the rest.

 

Thoughts? Is this just nuts?

 

Nuts.

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No.  I don't think that's realistic.  The Big East 10 years ago before the split with the AAC?  Sure.  Today's Big East are mostly small to medium privates and I highly, highly doubt they would consider adding a large public unless it was a big name.  While you're right, they don't have a footprint in upstate NY since Cuse left, a footprint in upstate NY is also not particularly attractive either.  They already have a presence in NYC, so it's not like getting Buffalo would help them there.  Out of all the big conferences the Big East is probably the worst fit for UB all around.  

From an institutional perspective the Big Ten is the best fit, but UB is pretty far behind athletically still.  It would be a big jump.  Second best fit would be the AAC.  I think UB could jump into the AAC and compete from close to day 1.

Edited by UBigbobby
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Probably a long shot they would pick UB, but shouldn't the Big12 be looking to expand by 2 given they only have 10 teams? They've already expanded East with WVU, could pluck UB and another eastern-ish team that plays both football and basketball at a high level like say Cincinnati. It's probably more likely they would pick a regional team like Houston and maybe UCF makes the jump to a power 5 conference. 

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4 minutes ago, dk2414 said:

Probably a long shot they would pick UB, but shouldn't the Big12 be looking to expand by 2 given they only have 10 teams? They've already expanded East with WVU, could pluck UB and another eastern-ish team that plays both football and basketball at a high level like say Cincinnati. It's probably more likely they would pick a regional team like Houston and maybe UCF makes the jump to a power 5 conference. 

Given the Big 12s expanding footprint, that's a possibility.  Though I would expect them to be more likely to pluck a school like UCF or Houston as you mentioned from the AAC.  This would work out well for UB, however, as that would potentially leave a spot or two open in the AAC that you would have to think Ub would be a top choice to fill.

Edited by UBigbobby
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1 hour ago, BullsFan14 said:

I think we have more of a chance to apply for the Big Ten in my opinion. Top public universities similar size and in relevant areas. We would bring in the NYC market more than Rutgers (IMO). Rutgers is struggling right now. UB can capitalize.

I do not believe that any school can really capture the New York City market.  The reason is no one cares about college sports in the city.  The only people who would care about UB in the Big 10 or other power 5 conference will be UB alumni and possibly natives of Buffalo who have moved to New York City.

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20 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

I do not believe that any school can really capture the New York City market.  The reason is no one cares about college sports in the city.  The only people who would care about UB in the Big 10 or other power 5 conference will be UB alumni and possibly natives of Buffalo who have moved to New York City.

Oh come on, there must be thousands of UB alums downstate and in the island. Maybe they don't care that much on any given day, but just like in WNY, a winning program may rekindle some school spirit among some of them. UB has as much base in NYC as Rutgers, Fordham, or any other downstate area school.

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46 minutes ago, promotherobot said:

Oh come on, there must be thousands of UB alums downstate and in the island. Maybe they don't care that much on any given day, but just like in WNY, a winning program may rekindle some school spirit among some of them. UB has as much base in NYC as Rutgers, Fordham, or any other downstate area school.

As someone who has gone to watch parties for over a decade the answer is that the number of alumni who turn out is relatively small.  The two biggest crowds were for Kentucky last March which was a Saturday and from pictures I saw for the MAC Championship game in December.  The MAC Championship game had a large draw because it was originally set as a happy hour and converted to a happy hour/watch party.

The non-watch party events draw much larger crowds than watch parties.  Except for a few diehards, who were diehards when they were at UB, not that many people will show for a watch party outside of a the same core people.

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On ‎1‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 10:38 PM, promotherobot said:

This is just me pulling stuff from an orifice. Could you imagine this scenario...the Big East inviting Buffalo for men's and women's basketball?

I know that they don't have football. And I'm not sure what other sports are in the Big East. Maybe the Bulls stay in the MAC for everything else.

Why would the Big East want a school that doesn't really fit their profile, a big state university?

Because Buffalo gives them a footprint in a region they used to have with Syracuse. It's also a quality program that's starting to get national cred.

Plus this version of the Big East is young and trying to re-establish itself as a premiere conference. Adding a top 20 program, and a recent top 25 women's program, would raise their profile even more.

Not sure what our deal is with the MAC, and whether a school can move one sport out but stay in the rest.

 

Thoughts? Is this just nuts?

 

Yes, this is nuts.

They don't want UConn.  What makes you think they would want the Bulls?  They do not want a state school.  The Presidents love the new Big East membership and identity.

The Big East is a premier conference.  They don't have a reputation problem. 

And that isn't even addressing the whole football issue.  Ask UMass how they like being an indy football school. 

The MAC is the perfect home for UB. 

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On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 3:53 AM, bull_trojan said:

Could always go independent for football and just try to sell our own Football rights...no more MACtion...working well for Army.....

And horribly for UMass.

Buffalo and Army might be peers on the football field but other schools are much more interested in playing Army due to the tradition and all the benefits that come from it.  Buffalo wouldn't be able to schedule the same games as an indy that Army schedules.

In a 10 year period of 2011-2020 these are some of the Army home games:

- Oklahoma
- Stanford
- Duke (x2)
- Wake Forest (2x)
- Rutgers
- Boston College
- Northwestern

Army averages one P5 home game a year.  On top of that they get good teams G5 teams to play them at home.

Army also plays a lot of games with MAC schools.  Would MAC schools continue to play UB if they left the MAC and went indy?  I am not sure.  Also, I don't see UB getting good bowl deals if they are an indy team.  Army can negotiate their way into good bowl games.

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On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 8:08 AM, BullsFan14 said:

I think we have more of a chance to apply for the Big Ten in my opinion. Top public universities similar size and in relevant areas. We would bring in the NYC market more than Rutgers (IMO). Rutgers is struggling right now. UB can capitalize.

The NY/NJ media market was big for the Big Ten and Rutgers has delivered there.  I am not sure UB could have delivered the same.

But the thing that Rutgers offers the Big Ten that UB couldn't is that the Big Ten teams want to play a game in the NYC metro regularly.  Playing at Rutgers gets Michigan a NYC area game.  Playing at Buffalo doesn't get a NYC game.  Probably Ohio State and Penn State would be the best off with a Buffalo game as there are some fans local but they each have many more fans and alumni in the NYC area.

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15 minutes ago, bull_trojan said:

UMass in MAC: 8-40 (.167)

UMass indy: 10-22 (.313)

Clearly going INDY has tarnished the great football legacy they built in the MAC.

UMass MAC record 7-25 (.219) Their first four years of FBS.

UB MAC record while UMass was in the conference: 15-16 (.484)

Yes, UMass was not a force in the MAC, but let's not pretend that their program would be in a much better spot if they were in the MAC.  UB has more in common with UMass football than they do with Army.

 

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How significant do you think playing in the MAC championship is? 

I think it is a big deal.  It signals to recruits that the program is on the cusp.  You move to an indy schedule and you completely lose that.  You lose longstanding series that help act as a gage of how the program is doing.

Moving indy would be horrible for UB football.

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4 hours ago, dutchcountry7 said:

The NY/NJ media market was big for the Big Ten and Rutgers has delivered there.  I am not sure UB could have delivered the same

Have they? Yes they bring NJ and NYC. But we bring all of Western NY. 

4 hours ago, dutchcountry7 said:

UB couldn't is that the Big Ten teams want to play a game in the NYC metro regularly

Did not know this. Thank you for sharing. It makes sense from the standpoint of the Big Ten that I did not think of.

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4 hours ago, dutchcountry7 said:

How significant do you think playing in the MAC championship is? 

I think it is a big deal.  It signals to recruits that the program is on the cusp.  You move to an indy schedule and you completely lose that.  You lose longstanding series that help act as a gage of how the program is doing.

Moving indy would be horrible for UB football.

I think it's significant because it's the goal of being in the conference, but I wouldn't be sad about it if we weren't in a confernce 

I think our run of winning 2 of 3 MAC championships in Basketball was significant for UB fans, but we didn't really start moving the needle with the non-hardcore fans until we won a tourney game AND got ranked... so putting Football in the best position to be ranked and win the G5 bid would I guess be the real goals to build big support, I don't think conference matters for either of those goals unless you're going AAC or MW as the winner of those conferences seem to have the advantage for the G5 bid.

Indy schedule has:

1) 12 Saturday games instead of MACtion games
2) More games in our footprint to the east instead of 5+ games in Ohio
3) Ability to negotiate our own bowls (Get some secondary deals with Pinstripe, Music City, Boca Raton, Bahamas (no conf champ game helps there), New Orleans, Cheez-it ) So then fans would have a chance at a game in NY, Nashville, South Florida, Bahamas, New Orleans, or Arizona, much more exciting than choosing between Birmingham and Montgomery.
4) The value of our Football TV deal + our new conference basketball TV deal instead of the 833k we get from the MAC for all of our TV 
5) The potential to get off of ESPN+ instead of being the slave to whatever ESPN decides to do next to wring money out of us

I think the AAC would give us most of this plus the security of the conference, but you have to be invited... so I'd say it's AAC > Indy > MAC in my book

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20 minutes ago, MKBullsfan said:

If we were to ever join a P5 conference, the deal would have to order that we renovate that generic awful track/football Stadium of ours or knock it down to rebuild a new one with more seats closer to the field. 

Or build a perennial national championship team in basketball.  See: Duke, Kansas

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