BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

El Paso is in the middle of miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.

 

You know how you’ll see a dozen or more car dealers do cooperative advertising for the region and they’ll have some tagline like “See your Tri-State Ford Dealers” or “East Tennessee Toyota Dealers”?

I watched a UTEP hoops game one time and there was one for “Your El Paso-Las Cruces Chevy Dealers.” I looked it up. Four dealers.

 

As a grad of a MW school, I've watched the inferiority complex/happy feet of Boise and Fresno for years. But that's nothing compared to Memphis.

 

I don't know if "long-range strategy" is a thing in all of this.

 

Part of why the Pac 2 could not pay for the AAC school's exit fees was that they've been paying themselves at a Power school level while playing in the MWC.

 

I think the thought process is, better to have to maybe fluff up one program (TSU, for example) than to have to carry 6 or 7 (UMN, UW, SJSU, UNR, AFA, UNLV, Hawaii).

If you are only going after Memphis, you can divert some of the conference buyout money intended to aid Tulane and USF to the Tigers, making the package more amenable. And you've reduced travel in all sports outside of your geographic footprint to one destination, not three, and conveniently that destination is the closest one to the Pac-7 schools.

I can't speak to Memphis' fans thought process. But seeing Gonzaga every year would probably be a plus, no?

 

I did forget about Gonzaga coming in, as I was mostly thinking football. But yes, that would be a tentpole game every year. San Diego State basketball is consistently good and sometimes great but I don’t know if they are a big draw (barely) east of the Mississippi.

Elsewhere, Boise and CSU kind of hover around the bubble. Utah State is a step above them but no real draw. Wazzu occasional has a tournament team but by the time anyone realizes it most of the season is gone so probably a missed chance to sell extra tickets. And Oregon State and Fresno will be locked in a death match for the basement.

I say all of this realizing Memphis probably doesn’t rev the engine for a lot of those programs either.