BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20130404/GPG020110/130404032/More-changes-coming-Horizon-League-Oakland-UIC-out-

Likely that UIC's baseball program (and new stadium being built thanks to Curtis Granderson) played a large factor.

 

It's the we take:

Almost
Anyone
Conference

 

The Sun Belt will probably listen if YSU makes an inquiry. Helluva lot closer than Idaho and Denver were.

 

The MAC is the logical destination for Youngstown State eventually. But the Sun Belt, at the bottom of FBS, will be the catch-all conference for teams moving up.

 

Would the MAC take them though?

EDIT: And the Sun Belt needs a replacement for Western Kentucky in order to stay at the 12 teams they were planning on for football.

 

Talk is centering on James Madison finally upgrading, and if they don't, they may hold their breath and offer Liberty.

 

Seems like there's been a mass exodus from the Sun Belt. They're going to have to take the Georgia Southern and Appalachian States of the world who are moving up to I-A football.

 

Yep. This is getting like the college coaching carousel. Move up from D-II to FCS, then to FBS. Spend a couple of years in purgatory (Sun Belt, WAC, etc.) and wait for someone else to come along with a better offer.

 

The ACC agrees to a grant of rights, which pretty much means all the big boys are staying put for a while unless somebody can convince an SEC school to bolt.


http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9200081/acc-schools-ok-media-rights-deal-sources-say

 

Yeah, but the big news over the weekend is that Loyola (Chicago) is joining the Missouri Valley.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9190516/loyola-chicago-joining-missouri-valley

 

OK, so I am trying to learn about this grant of rights thing and what it means in real English. Does that mean the school CANNOT leave the pack? Or just that if they leave, they have to leave their media rights behind?

 

Basically, if a school leaves it forfeits TV money for the duration of the agreement. The only real reason a school such as UNC would leave the ACC is for more TV money in another conference such as the Big Ten, so that pretty much locks all the ACC teams in until the grant of rights ends. The Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten already have this and at this point it doesn't look like anyone is interested in leaving the SEC, so that pretty much settles things among the major conference schools for at least a decade.

About the only thing that could really change the five major conferences now would be if the Big 12 decides it is worth it to add Cincinnati or the ACC takes in UConn.