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From todays B'ham News:
http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamn...9341226870.xmlStill, the decision to accept UTEP was not easy, said Brown.
"The league's presidents spent a lot of time on this," he said. "(The vote) was a little closer than people think."
I bet the first vote was 6-5, with the 6 eastern teams voting for UTEP and the 5 western teams (including Tulane) voting La Tech.
Close losses are not wins. Thanks for posting.
I'm sure that the Memphis, UAB, and USM folks will appreciate their decision when UTEp brings all 250 of their fans on the road.
Why would the WEST teams allow the EAST teams to choose their travel partner?
I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
Because the East teams outnumber the West, and as you well know many out East were violently opposed to Tech.Originally Posted by CARTEK
Tiger, I can see why some didnt want Tech. We arent without our weaknesses. We have much work to do. I guess I just don't see UTEP as a step up from Tech. I can find just as many weaknesses or more with them.
Actually, MANY more for UTEP, Bigdog.
If the vote was close, none of the Western teams put up much of a fight. That meeting was WAY too short for much discussion to have taken place. The West teams must have just given up.
Amazing......... The very teams that had been in our conference and in our state were for us. The teams in the other division and not associated with us in the past voted against us. Something just strange about this whole situation.
Exactly may point!
I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
It does seem very strange as far as football goes. As far as traveling fans go, I don't think it makes much difference to UAB. I don't know about your home games, but we get very small crowds from opposing schools except Troy St. Memphis and USM may bring 2 to 5 hundred.
I bet TV markets was the deal breaker for the eastern teams. The TV contract is the major source of revenue for the conference with basketball tourney units a distant second.
If TECH had joined CUSA, UAB would have seen an additional 1,500 to 3,000 tickets sold tpo its home FB games with TECH and probably 150 to 200 additional tickets sold to its BB games...that is money in the hand! Memphis, USM, SMU, Rice, Houston, and Tulane would have seen twice that much. Now, you will all see less than 10% of that...a great business deal!
I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
Everyone,
I personally spoke with someone that was on the phone Friday(not someone who knew someone), however, out of respect for his position, I will not reveal who. He was very sorry about what happened to Tech and assured me that we had our supporters (very much the same way that we thought going in) and the vote was close. He did tell me that the consultant provided a different point of view then what we were told he would present. It came down to "size of tv market, attendance, & the recommendation of the AD's". He held out hope that this wasn't over in regards to our opportunity with CUSA. He felt (and it was brought out in the conference call) that there will still be some 'resorting of conferences' and that ' they will be back to the point of adding another member sooner rather than later'.
The gentleman did not have to take my call, nor did he owe me any explanations. He was a class individual about it all and I felt he was sincere. Take it for what it is worth. Not a real bright spot, but at least a small positive.
DFIH
Did the gentleman offer any ideas on how to make TECH appear more attractive to CUSA "sooner rather than later"? Did you discuss short term plans with him?
No, I am afraid he didn't offer any solutions, except that we need to work on the parameters listed and that our administration knew that and that they were all great people(blah, blah, blah). He did say that the consultant was not negative about Tech, but rather more positive about UTEP(if that makes sense).
He wouldn't go into what he meant by 'sooner rather than later' comment, although I asked specifically about someone joining the Big East from the eastern side and he didn't disagree. He made me think there is not a great deal of solidarity amongst the member schools; without coming out and saying it. I used his specific words as to not add my own interputation.
I agree that no non-BCS conference is stable. I just wonder how we avoid being an also-ran next time.
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