Northern Illinois & UC Davis to Mountain West

[Sean Miller Fan]

NIU isnt official yet but it seems like it will happen. These additions dont make any sense to me. NIU is for football-only. Is NIU's football brand that strong that the Mountain West needs a fish out of water school like this? And for NIU, is this new Mountain West really that much better than the MAC and so much so that you have to relegate all of your other teams to the Horizon or Summit Leagues?

As for UC Davis, I can understand why theu'd want to do it but what value does UC Davis basketball bring to the Mountain West. Seems like it just waters it down. With bball programs UNLV, New Mexico, Nevada, and Grand Canyon, the league wouldn't be too bad. Adding UC Davis to that just seems off.

 

[UofToledoFan]

NIUs other sports suck so they basically have no other revenue streams other than 12k fans a game for a fb team who plays up or down to competition. They need cash. The 5 mil or whatever in exchange for 4 road games out west is enough for them. Plus the MVC is a closer conference for non revenue sports and basketball.

They're kind of an outlier for the Ohio and Michigan based MAC. Their rivals are Toledo who's biggest rival is BG, and a trophy game with Ball State who I guess thinks their rival is NIU but NIU only cares about Toledo. So no one is gona bish.

The MAC going to 13 with UMass would bring it back to 12 with NIU leaving. Maybe the MAC goes and tries to grab 2 more but likely has to go East or South now.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

NIUs other sports suck so they basically have no other revenue streams other than 12k fans a game for a fb team who plays up or down to competition. They need cash. The 5 mil or whatever in exchange for 4 road games out west is enough for them. Plus the MVC is a closer conference for non revenue sports and basketball.

They're kind of an outlier for the Ohio and Michigan based MAC. Their rivals are Toledo who's biggest rival is BG, and a trophy game with Ball State who I guess thinks their rival is NIU but NIU only cares about Toledo. So no one is gona bish.

The MAC going to 13 with UMass would bring it back to 12 with NIU leaving. Maybe the MAC goes and tries to grab 2 more but likely has to go East or South now.

The Missouri Valley would take NIU? Their bball and Olympic Sports bring nothing to the table. I didnt even think that was an option as the MVC already had Illinois-Chicago. The MVC is a major step up from the MAC so I guess I dont blame them for choosing the MWC/MVC combo. I still dont see what the MWC gets out of it.

If I'm the MAC, I add North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

 

[prez41]

The Missouri Valley would take NIU? Their bball and Olympic Sports bring nothing to the table. I didnt even think that was an option as the MVC already had Illinois-Chicago. The MVC is a major step up from the MAC so I guess I dont blame them for choosing the MWC/MVC combo. I still dont see what the MWC gets out of it.

If I'm the MAC, I add North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

Is it just a matter of the MWC needing warm bodies? Don’t they need to get to a certain number of teams?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Is it just a matter of the MWC needing warm bodies? Don’t they need to get to a certain number of teams?

They have 10 schools, including the necessary 8 needed for football. They dont need NIU as a 9th football school

 

[NKSplitter]

They have 10 schools, including the necessary 8 needed for football. They dont need NIU as a 9th football school

It's probably not a bad idea for them to have a team or two more than what is needed as a hedge against the PAC coming back to UNLV with a better offer that they cannot counter.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

It's probably not a bad idea for them to have a team or two more than what is needed as a hedge against the PAC coming back to UNLV with a better offer that they cannot counter.

I wonder if UNLV is going to jet now because why would they agree to be in a league with Northern Illinois and UC Davis.