If McDonald’s would kick in $1M/team, it could be arranged.
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“And this week in the Big Mac, Bowling Green travels to Bowling Green!”
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By the way I believe MTSU is technically in the footprint of what is considered metro Nashville so it would theoretically bring the 28th largest metro area into the MAC.
James Madison’s board just approved their moving from FCS to FBS and pursuing membership in Sun Belt.
At the rate cable tv is dying, how much longer are markets going to be a viable way to judge these moves?
Cable and viewership aren’t the same thing. ESPN is making a play to own The sports streaming market. They have the entirety of the MLS and NHL, a weekly NFL game, MLB games, NBA games, and almost all of FBS. There aren’t many other leagues left in the US for them to make ESPN+ a no-brainer for every domestic sport.
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Its nice being able to link tweets
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Per Brett McMurphy on Twitter, MAC may add MTSU and WKU as early as this week!! MAC moved quickly on this one! I think overall this is a good move if true. Pluses and minuses but I think overall the ledger tips to the plus side.
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If MTSU and WKU are added it makes the MAC one of 6 conferences with at least 14 members, which generally is being viewed as a positive when it comes to increasing financial worth of the conference to ESPN etc.
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Per the article I linked above some facts on MTSU and WKU as far as football product:
As far as the MAC, the addition of the two Conference USA schools will improve the football product.
Since leaving the Sun Belt for C-USA in 2014, Western Kentucky has gone to six bowls in seven years and won C-USA in 2015 and 2016. Middle Tennessee has gone to bowls in five of the last eight years since joining C-USA under long-time coach Rick Stockstill.
It’s unknown how the MAC divisions would be impacted with Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. The MAC is currently split into six-team East and West divisions.
The MAC’s current division split is:
- East : Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio
- West : Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan.
And from The Towel Rack, a discussion of how WKU fits in the MAC:
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Curious how this will impact the MAC division alignment. You could throw WKU in the West and MTSU in the East and make it a protected rivalry (like BG/Toledo and Miami/BSU), but I think there are better options. North/South maybe?
Side note, but based on Ball State’s forum, they’re upset we see the Redbird Rivalry as manufactured. Apparently they really don’t like Miami, but I’m not sure many of us think much of BSU anyway.
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I’d be curious how many of us even consider BSU our third biggest rival as opposed to Marshall or someone else.
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1a. OU
1b. Cincy
3. 
I dislike Marshall the most of anyone remaining. I particularly dislike BG in hockey. Maybe some other Miami Valley schools for basketball. BSU just kind of exists for me. They’re ok but they’re never particularly offensive. The only time BSU really comes to mind is when I had a breakup happen after calling it balls taint to someone I was dating that graduated from there.
I think North/South makes the most sense if WKU and MTSU are added.
South-Akron, Ball State, Kent State, Ohio, Miami, WKU, MTSU
North-Buffalo, CMU, EMU, NIU, Toledo, WMU, BG
Gets Ball State and Miami in same division as well as Toledo and BG which they should be from geographic standpoint.
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My buddy is a Purdue grad and Indiana native. He refers to Ball St as Testicle Tech.
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I’d swap BG and Toledo with Kent and Akron…keeps Buffalo with two road trips under forever.
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That leaves NIU on an island. We’ll probably end up with these two divisions. The names are negotiable.
River Division:
NIU
Ball St
WKU
MTSU
Miami
Ohio
WMU
Lake Division:
CMU
EMU
Toledo
BG
Akron
Kent
Buffalo
They’d then have to set up a permanent crossover for WMU/CMU.
That River Division looks like a slugfest. Gotta be one of the best G5 divisions post-realignment, just off the top of my head.
Here’s what I suggested last week: it puts BG and Toledo together again, leaves all the Michigan teams together, puts Kent and Akron together, and clusters the Redbirds and Bricks.
MAC
NORTHERN Division
Buffalo
Akron
Kent
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan
NIU
SOUTHERN Division
Toledo
Bowling Green
Ball State
Miami
Ohio
Middle Tennessee
Western Kentucky
◦
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