BE Ninth Team gotz to be or should be Villanova

[Guest hm101]

it would killconference to ADD  an expansion team to an already weak conferece

gotta agree. we shouldnt add just to add, or compromise conference strength for ease of schedule. villanova wouldnt work anyway.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

Nova, Gtown have always fielded competitive 1-AA football teams....

uh, what?

G-Town has gone 29-69 for a .296 win percentage since 2000.

under their current coach, who started in 2006, they are 5-27.

haven't had a winning season since 1999.

and all this while playing a schedule that features multiple games against Ivy League squads.

i don't even believe they have a football stadium, just a general sports field that seats a whopping 2,500.

Georgetown would need a miracle or Divine Intervention just to be worthy of FBS status, nevermind joining a BCS conference like the Big East.

If you see a 1-AA team make the jump it will more than likely be a state school like a Rhode Island, or Umass that gets state funds.

now this i agree with.

i would love to see UMass make the jump. they were in the FCS championship game a couple years ago [i believe], and even though the Minutemen's campus is in Amherst 2 hours west of Boston, the state of Massachusetts tends to support its flagship university, which would bring the Boston market back to the BE after Boston College bitched out.

the only problem with UMass is that the BE is "top"-heavy, so to speak, with northern teams.

[Guest]

There is no STATE school that gets STATE funds for it's athletics programs.

Rhode Island and U Mass, while interesting options, would be the same as Villanova. Decent FCS teams with small fan bases and no funds for the move to FBS.

Rhode Island doesn't get state support for it's football team. Just like USF doesn't get state support for the football team.

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If the Big East ever expands, and I am betting it won't be for a decade or more, it will be by adding an existing FBS team.

Memphis would get in before Rhode Island.  East Carolina would get the nod over Massachusetts.

The only thing that would allow Nova to play is they are already a basketball member.  However, they would have to follow the U Conn model... build up their fan base and efforts before moving to FBS... and play a few seasons as an independent before joining the Big East.

[macphisto]

Nova or UMass would have to expand their stadiums in order to get in to I-A and get their attendance up.  I think UMass the more likely of the two, but I don't think either is very likely.

A team that might think about a jump is Appalachian State, but even their stadium needs to be larger.  I think Nippert Stadium is the smallest in the Big East at around 35,000 and Cincy is planning on expanding it.  I wouldn't be surprised if they all have over 40,000 in capacity within five years.

I'd say if the Big East were to expand then the best option would be to either find teams from other conferences that are willing to leave, or find teams that would be good bets to jump up from a non-BCS conference.  East Carolina would be one that would make sense in that category.

[Cow Pie]

I don't see us adding Nova, last time I read up on them they were in the midst of a major budget crisis and had been for a few years... if they could manage to overcome their budget crisis, expand their stadium or move into the Eagles stadium and beef up fan attendance then why not... every conference needs a Duke and one of these days Syracuse will dig its way out of that role.

As far as UMass and Rhode Island I could see us adding RI long before UMass... their football program is a tad better, their stadium just got upgrades and improvements thanks to their alumni donations / boosters, and they are a notorious party school that travels well.

We do have a problem with being Yankee heavy which is why we need to add a Memphis and a ECU or Maryland if we could lure them away from the big money ACC...

[USFCollin]

Philly supports Villanova FAR more than they do any other city school.  Nova is the private school that attracts the suburban Delaware County following and "Main Line" money and fans.  The reality is that Temple is seen as a "city" school (used to be in a real bad neighborhood, was the safety school), whereas 'Nova is the suburban school with the corresponding fan base and better academic reputation. 

They regularly sell out basketball games when they play at the Wachovia Center (over 20k seats), and the financial base is there to make it work.  Main Line Philadephia has two types of incomes; old money and really old money.  If Nova launched a campaign to raise $15 million for football, I think they could do it.  They could play at The Linc (the Eagles have been far friendlier about hosting other schools and events than the Bucs have been with Ray Jay), and there's enough high school talent to make a competitive squad. 

But if the school doesn't want to go there, we can't want it for them.  If they ever decided to do it, however, I think they could succeed and quickly. 

[macphisto]

Philly supports Villanova FAR more than they do any other city school.  Nova is the private school that attracts the suburban Delaware County following and "Main Line" money and fans.  The reality is that Temple is seen as a "city" school (used to be in a real bad neighborhood, was the safety school), whereas 'Nova is the suburban school with the corresponding fan base and better academic reputation. 

They regularly sell out basketball games when they play at the Wachovia Center (over 20k seats), and the financial base is there to make it work.  Main Line Philadephia has two types of incomes; old money and really old money.  If Nova launched a campaign to raise $15 million for football, I think they could do it.  They could play at The Linc (the Eagles have been far friendlier about hosting other schools and events than the Bucs have been with Ray Jay), and there's enough high school talent to make a competitive squad. 

But if the school doesn't want to go there, we can't want it for them.  If they ever decided to do it, however, I think they could succeed and quickly. 

Yeah, but the Philly area supports Delaware more than they do Nova or Temple.  Delaware has the best average attendance in the FCS over the last several years and is a power that would be able to harness the Philly area while also drawing from surrounding States.

Delaware would probably be the best bet of any FCS team moving up, though they'd also need to expand that stadium beyond 30,000.  There's talk that Delaware is planning on building a new stadium that will accommodate more than 30,000, so they might be willing to move.  They also do very well financially right now and could afford to front a move to I-A. 

They'd really be the only I-AA team I'd want at this point.  But I only see that happening if the Big East ever tries to move to 12 teams.  A ninth team will need to be established in I-A.  Navy has made me interested again after today, but I doubt they join up without Army.