Merger? Not sure why Dennis Dodd is pushing this. I do believe a few Pac 12 schools are very concerned about their futures
Will the Pac 12 and BIG 12 merge?
- Thread starter 220reb
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This would be worst case for unlv. Believe San Diego st and SMU are the top two group of 5 expansion targets, but if both conference push to expand we may have a shot.
mtn west should go after Oregon st and Washington st, make a preemptive strike, maybe the Az schools also.
Remember who the commissioner of the MWC is.....
This is good news for UNLV. It seems like the best case scenario would be to join a severely weakened pac-12. Which, from UNLV standpoint, would be quite a step up
I wonder what the Pac and Big 12's criteria are? If the Pac is looking for a school that is closest in terms of academics, and has a good market, and is in the geographical region as the other PAC schools, it seems like UNLV would be high on that list.
I think it's been well documented that the Pac puts more emphasis on academics. UNLV has done work over the last ten-fifteen years or so to get better positioned in that respect. Combined with the other things you mentioned, plus the athletics facilities available, I think we're in decent shape. I hear UNLV mentioned more and more frequently on national sports talk as a 'sleeper' for Pac expansion. If the teams, especially football, weren't mediocre to crappy over the last decade, we'd be at the front of the conversation. So, no pressure CMA or CKK, but we need some kickass seasons from your squads to clear away any questions.
Do you think the PAC will stay at the # of schools they have currently, after USC and UCLA leave? It'd think they'll want to expand. They aren't likely to replace schools on the level of the 2 that they're losing, so they'll either have to give a little on academics, geography, market, or in other ways. Meaning that they'll have to try to get into the midwest or south and steal teams from other conferences that are farther away, which will be a bit tougher on pretty much every sport, except football.
I'm hoping that between those items above, the PAC decision makers will bring in UNLV as an up and coming school that is a good fit in terms of market, geography, and academics, but is behind in football. We've got basketball history on our side, and have done pretty well in other sports, but really, the football program is what has been our weakest area. But now, with the new facilities, hopefully that will be changing.
Until around 2016 you needed a minimum of 12 teams to have a conference football championship game, but that no longer hold true, so the fact that the Pac12 will drop to at least 10 and could drop further will not be impacted, and the same holds for the Big12. With the delay from the Pac12 and Big12 making any decisions, It is now the final drive in the 4th quarter for UNLV football to make a statement prior to the next reorganization.
We know that SDSU and SMU (while the market is huge, it is split by a dozen football programs) are at the front regarding desirability, but after them there are few programs that have both good football and a large TV market. BSU may be the best football program over the last 15-20 years, but they have a very small market that is on par with Reno. Utah State is in a medium sized market that is flood with fans for BYU and Utah with a state population that is similar to that of Nevada being split between a half dozen plus college football programs in comparison to two in Nevada. UNLV would be the next biggest TV market and has no other college competition located within the LV metro market.
We know that SDSU and SMU (while the market is huge, it is split by a dozen football programs) are at the front regarding desirability, but after them there are few programs that have both good football and a large TV market. BSU may be the best football program over the last 15-20 years, but they have a very small market that is on par with Reno. Utah State is in a medium sized market that is flood with fans for BYU and Utah with a state population that is similar to that of Nevada being split between a half dozen plus college football programs in comparison to two in Nevada. UNLV would be the next biggest TV market and has no other college competition located within the LV metro market.
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It would be great if UNLV could get in the NLI game and get a handful of bigtime players that could turn the tides quickly for us.
This should be the priority and I agree that this would insure a quick turnaround for UNLV in both football and hoops! We need a Casino to be our NIL “pocketbook” so to speak but which one? I do agree with a Casino behind it we could compete with most anyone for players! I just don’t know if it’s a doable thing?
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I don’t know why a casino would look to “help” UNLV when they have competing interests. Maybe a booster owned place, like The Cannery, but nobody knows where that place is. I can’t see a place on the strip helping out. Not that I think UNLV doing well hurts them, but UNLV doing well doesn’t help them.
It’s a different town, a different place, corporate replaced the community feel of some of the other places. If this was 1986, I think many would jump on board … but at that point, UNLV was the biggest ticket in town and the casinos had something to gain. Not now.
Imagine if 30,000 fans decided to buy season tickets for football. Imagine 15,000 buying basketball season tickets. Imagine 10,000 people, becoming RAF donors.
Imaginary, all right.
Sorry, but the reality is, Catch-22. Can't get money until you win. Can't win until you get money.
But, let's get boosters to pony up millions.
Imaginary, all right.
Sorry, but the reality is, Catch-22. Can't get money until you win. Can't win until you get money.
But, let's get boosters to pony up millions.
Does anybody know how many UNLV graduates are now GMs of hotel/casinos in Las Vegas?
Unlike Greg errrr...... Craig " 🤡 " Thompson they are being Pro-Active instead of Re-Active. Since they are at 👇
"The bottom half of the conference in television ratings were Utah (No. 7), Arizona State (No. 8), Colorado (No. 9), California (No. 10), Arizona (No. 11) and Oregon State (No. 12)."
Biggest one is Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts International and UNLV Alum (Hotel College).
Just on this thought... those schools CAN be pro-active. When it comes to realignment, in what way can MWC be pro-active? It's neither desirable nor interesting. Best MWC can do is invite lower level schools and stay together. Otherwise, making requirements that improve its membership is about all it can do (certain expenditures in athletics, require higher academic standards, etc.... which in effect would prepare its membership to leave the conference sooner).
A couple years ago, argument could be made that a school like UTSA could have been the way... but with them joining the American, MWC is probably lateral. In a couple years, maybe grabbing Sam Houston from C-USA could be okay. Just thinking out loud here...
Not defending Craig Thompson, he's not good for the conference. But MWC can't be pro-active in realignment with schools anyone actually cares about.
I think it’s the lack of being forward thinking that is frustrating in this conference.
They could of invited Boise way earlier.
Houston and SMU wanted to be apart of the conference over a decade ago.
A year ago had an opportunity to get back into texas with up and coming programs like UTSA and North Texas. Even Rice who has great academics and in Houston.
Now the MW is basically left with UTEP and NM state that have little to no upside.
North Dakota st is interesting as a football only. Can see them being the next Boise type program with there commitment to football.
In realignment you need to be aggressive to survive. American has been great at this.
MW has the potential to implode. SD st is gone and Boise will do anything to get out. Colorado st already has one foot out the door to American if they can get Air Force on board.
We saw it with conference USA. Sunbelt jumped them because they were more aggressive.
They could of invited Boise way earlier.
Houston and SMU wanted to be apart of the conference over a decade ago.
A year ago had an opportunity to get back into texas with up and coming programs like UTSA and North Texas. Even Rice who has great academics and in Houston.
Now the MW is basically left with UTEP and NM state that have little to no upside.
North Dakota st is interesting as a football only. Can see them being the next Boise type program with there commitment to football.
In realignment you need to be aggressive to survive. American has been great at this.
MW has the potential to implode. SD st is gone and Boise will do anything to get out. Colorado st already has one foot out the door to American if they can get Air Force on board.
We saw it with conference USA. Sunbelt jumped them because they were more aggressive.
I don’t think there’s a lot the MWC can do right now. But the inflexibility of not being able to do anything right now is because we weren’t proactive before, we just kept letting dust settle naturally, weren’t aggressive, didn’t mix it up. And they’ve had time and opportunity … right moves back then could have put us in better position today. Making low impact or No moves leaves us without many options.
You don’t always have to be proactive, sometimes patience is key. But the MWC/UNLV, others … future success have been based upon crossed fingers and the waiting game than high energy efforts. I don’t know if they are based on poor actual decisions, ineptness, or laziness.
If there's truth to this, it seems the M12 and P12 merger isn't likely.
www.espn.com
Sources: Gonzaga in talks on joining Big 12
Gonzaga is in talks with the Big 12 about the possibility of joining the conference, sources told ESPN.
Didn’t Desiree ostracize most of our boosters that wanted to donate for a real coach? Hard pressed to get them back now.
I don't see why it would be hard to get them back. She is gone now.
Need someone who really cares about the university & who's a real go-getter to make it work. The past university administrations have shit on UNLV so bad (Maxon, et al.) that we really need someone who actually cares and isn't just using us as a stepping stone. Say what you will about Sanchez, but he's one guy I truly believed cared about the school and wanted to make it better.
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