If we go to 12 who do you want (choose 2) poll?

[uniftw]

I think we should do a mix. Both dakota state schools and Murray State plus nku.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many public schools.

Not a horrible idea but will never pass because it's more than 1 public school and it involves 3 schools that play football.

[Red]

So here's the options on the table I would like the MVC to consider in order of what I would like to see happen and then I'll explain the steps the conference needs to take to make each one happen.

Option 1= Murray State and St Louis
Our conference office is in St Louis, so this shouldn't be difficult. An MVC representative and occasionally Elgin himself needs to walk (or take a taxi) everyday Monday through Friday and go to the Billikens office and try to convince them to come to the league. Make SLU file a restraining order against the MVC if necessary. We don't have to add anyone at all, so let's think big here. There are a lot of pros for SLU to join the league so let's sell them.

Option 1 has literally zero chance of happening. I sort of tuned out after that.

[mvfcfan]

Well that's why I included 5 different options (6 if you count do nothing as an option) Red. There are three other schools that I paired with Murray State for that reason and I clearly stated that of the other three Oral Roberts is my favorite #12. I don't live in a fantasy land. I just think we should at the very least make an effort to go after St Louis, especially since our conference's office is there. It doesn't take that much effort to take a 5 minute walk over to SLU's campus and make a pitch. If it doesn't work, then what did we lose?

[VUGrad1314]

If you're going to list SLU as an option isn't it reasonable to expect that Belmont be listed as well? Both programs seem unlikely for different reasons but you can't list one without the other.

[IllinoisState]

Murray State (assuming they can start winning again) and Belmont, SLU, or Dayton if somehow possible.

[VUGrad1314]

Murray State (assuming they can start winning again) and Belmont, SLU, or Dayton if somehow possible.

This. Even though I mentioned before that I am cooling on Belmont, it is still my preference that they somehow come to their senses and join this conference.If,at the same time, SLU decides they're done being the east coast schools' whipping boy, then I think it would be prudent for the Valley to even consider a 14 team model, but only in this case unless some schools start to distinguish themselves and stand out among the rest.

[mvfcfan]

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/ ... _final.pdf

List of team by team D1 attendance averages from 2016. Here's the attendances of pretty much all of the schools mentioned.

Belmont= 2536
St Louis= 6757
Dayton= 12941
N Dakota St= 2778
S Dakota St= 2781
Oral Roberts= 3317
Northern KY= 2296
Murray State= 3266
Milwaukee= 2677
Green Bay= 3029
IPFW= 1278
SFA= 3274
New Mexico St= 4767
Grand Canyon= 5805
North Dakota= 1850
South Dakota= 1873

[VUGrad1314]

Attendance isn't the be all end all, the quality of the program matters too and Belmont is ahead of most every realistic option. The attendance average is so low because with the exception of Murray State and maybe a couple other members if I'm feeling charitable, no team in the OVC offers any kind of name, national pull, brand recognition or even competition for Belmont because the teams in the OVC are terrible and consistently so. If my memory serves the OVC has ranked above 20 in conference RPI exactly once since 2004 when they had a flukey run all the way to the 16th or about the current level of the Summit or the Horizon. Of course, they couldn't sustain i. Who wants to watch that when there are so many other things to do in Nashville?

The MVC offers a higher profile more exposure better name and brand recognition and much better competition. I guarantee they would draw 3000-2500+ in the MVC. That + being a better team puts them ahead of Oral Roberts.

[uniftw]

SFA also had a bad year following the loss of Underwood as a coach and one of their best players in school history. They won't stay down like that.

They also play in a conference with the following teams:
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Houston Baptist
Lamar
Nicholls
Abilene Christian
Incarnate Word
Sam Houston State
New Orleans
Southeastern Louisana
Central Arkansas
Northwestern State
McNeese State

Not exactly much to draw against/from. I could have literally made schools up and played which one of these is made up and most would struggle with that conference.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Oral Roberts drew over 3000 in their worst season in 23 years (8-22, last in Summit).
Murray State drew over 3000 in their worst season in 30 years (1987).

Sign me up.