CAA future may be decided in January......

[danefan]

http

://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports.apx.-...0-14-0099.html

CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager will meet with league athletic directors in January to discuss the future of CAA football, and Yeager said "The transportation issue is going to be paramount . . . costs are going to continue to escalate."

 

There's another major, related topic in the Colonial. Old Dominion starts playing CAA football in 2011, with Georgia State coming aboard in 2012. The Colonial already has 12 members, and hardly anybody believes a 14-team football league can fairly function.

 

There has been no clear signal, according to Yeager, that any of the CAA's six North Division members Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Northeastern, Hofstra and New Hampshire want out of the Football Championship Subdivision's best conference. The same goes for the South Division teams UR, William and Mary, James Madison, Towson, Delaware and Villanova.

 

But January's meeting is expected to involve an unvarnished examination of which league schools are committed to what Yeager called the "different competitive emphasis" that CAA football acquired in recent years. No league had qualified five teams for the 16-team FCS playoffs before the Colonial did last season. A few CAA programs are now annually viewed as national-championship contenders. In the FCS poll released yesterday, five CAA teams are ranked in the top 11. Nine of 12 Colonial teams received votes.

 

"Different competitive emphasis" sounds like Maine, Northeastern, URI and Hofstra may be involved in something here.

[Dane96]

Hmmmmmm....Danefan...do I smell a bunch of I told you so's for both of us and ACE.

 

I do know that no matter what NU's program is still tenuous.

 

What really is interesting is would we ramp up to 63...and move into the CAA for all sports if something came to pass...or would we stick with 55 so we can get FBS games...and would the rest of the league do the same (if a league happened).

 

Would Stony Brook cut back a bit on rides and come home where it belongs?

 

Would the league look like:

 

Albany

Stony Brook

NU

Hofstra

Maine

URI

UNH

Central

[danefan]

Hmmmmmm....Danefan...do I smell a bunch of I told you so's for both of us and ACE.

 

I do know that no matter what NU's program is still tenuous.

 

What really is interesting is would we ramp up to 63...and move into the CAA for all sports if something came to pass...or would we stick with 55 so we can get FBS games...and would the rest of the league do the same (if a league happened).

 

Would Stony Brook cut back a bit on rides and come home where it belongs?

 

Would the league look like:

 

Albany

Stony Brook

NU

Hofstra

Maine

URI

UNH

Central

 

Its hard for me to believe that UNH would go anywhere without UMass. Add UMass to that list and you have a conference that is already qualified for an AQ (6 members having played together for at least two years).

 

I can definitely see SBU cutting back. I don't think they are at 63 yet. I believe they have 57 this year.

 

And we'd need 57 to get FBS games as counters. What's another 6 rides?

[Dane96]

I agree go to 63. I think it comes down to saving $$$ for travel.

[Clickclack]

Would there be a north and south division in the CAA? Or would they simply split along football lines? I know that a number of schools in the CAA do not play football. Allot of questions here, is this a meeting to kick teams out? Restructure the CAA? Will this effect just football or all sports?

[Clickclack]

Reading the AGS forums....I'm even more confused. What does all of this mean for UA? Our football team? Our conference affiliation in football and all sports?

[Dane96]

It means in "McElroy I TRUST," will be put to the test. He should be pro-active on this.

 

Here is how I work it if I am him: Call Yaeger...express interest in being in the "discussion" at some point. I go to the State and say "we have an oppty to raise our athletic profile, but more importantly be associated with LIKE MINDED TOP ACADEMIC EASTERN INSTITUTIONS (W&M, 'Nova, Delaware, JMU, etc). Please give us some coin for the stadium...it is a requirement for entry with these schools.

 

Then I go back to Yaeger and say "look at our commitment, look at our success with the resources we have, look at what we are getting, look at a 500,000 person market...etc."

 

That...would be my game plan.

[danefan]

It means in "McElroy I TRUST," will be put to the test. He should be pro-active on this.

 

Here is how I work it if I am him: Call Yaeger...express interest in being in the "discussion" at some point. I go to the State and say "we have an oppty to raise our athletic profile, but more importantly be associated with LIKE MINDED TOP ACADEMIC EASTERN INSTITUTIONS (W&M, 'Nova, Delaware, JMU, etc). Please give us some coin for the stadium...it is a requirement for entry with these schools.

 

Then I go back to Yaeger and say "look at our commitment, look at our success with the resources we have, look at what we are getting, look at a 500,000 person market...etc."

 

That...would be my game plan.

 

And do it before Stony Brook does.

[Dane96]

They probably already have.

 

Just sayin....

[ATL_DANE]

Thank god. We are trapped in limbo until something happens to the CAA so the sooner that happens the better. We need to be admitted into an expanded North/South CAA or for the CAA to break up and a new northern school conference be established. Either way, lets be done with it already. UA can compete now and will only be stronger with more rides. Let us join our peers UMass, UNH and Maine.

 

The holy grail is for these northern schools to come together and establish a FBS conference. There is no true northeastern FBS football conference. Not one conference in America's most densely packed college region. The Big East is USF for god's sake.

[UA_MA_2000]

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</a>

CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager will meet with league athletic directors in January to discuss the future of CAA football, and Yeager said "The transportation issue is going to be paramount . . . costs are going to continue to escalate."

There's another major, related topic in the Colonial. Old Dominion starts playing CAA football in 2011, with Georgia State coming aboard in 2012. The Colonial already has 12 members, and hardly anybody believes a 14-team football league can fairly function.

 

There has been no clear signal, according to Yeager, that any of the CAA's six North Division members Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Northeastern, Hofstra and New Hampshire want out of the Football Championship Subdivision's best conference. The same goes for the South Division teams UR, William and Mary, James Madison, Towson, Delaware and Villanova.

 

But January's meeting is expected to involve an unvarnished examination of which league schools are committed to what Yeager called the "different competitive emphasis" that CAA football acquired in recent years. No league had qualified five teams for the 16-team FCS playoffs before the Colonial did last season. A few CAA programs are now annually viewed as national-championship contenders. In the FCS poll released yesterday, five CAA teams are ranked in the top 11. Nine of 12 Colonial teams received votes.

"Different competitive emphasis" sounds like Maine, Northeastern, URI and Hofstra may be involved in something here.

 

 

Hmmmmmm....Danefan...do I smell a bunch of I told you so's for both of us and ACE.

 

I do know that no matter what NU's program is still tenuous.

 

What really is interesting is would we ramp up to 63...and move into the CAA for all sports if something came to pass...or would we stick with 55 so we can get FBS games...and would the rest of the league do the same (if a league happened).

 

Would Stony Brook cut back a bit on rides and come home where it belongs?

 

Would the league look like:

 

Albany

Stony Brook

NU

Hofstra

Maine

URI

UNH

Central

 

 

Thank god. We are trapped in limbo until something happens to the CAA so the sooner that happens the better. We need to be admitted into an expanded North/South CAA or for the CAA to break up and a new northern school conference be established. Either way, lets be done with it already. UA can compete now and will only be stronger with more rides. Let us join our peers UMass, UNH and Maine.

 

The holy grail is for these northern schools to come together and establish a FBS conference. There is no true northeastern FBS football conference. Not one conference in America's most densely packed college region. The Big East is USF for god's sake.

 

 

All of the foregoing compels me to conclude that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the America East to create the America East Football Conference, featuring the aforementioned schools! If not now, when? This is a great opportunity to hit the ground running with a America East football conference full of competitive programs. Moreover, maybe somewhere down the line the AE can snatch up a school like URI for all sports! Where am I going wrong? Is this too lofty a vision?

[Clickclack]

UA_MA,

 

That's what some of the posters on AGS are saying, this would be a good time for AE football with UMass and URI and a couple of others as affiliate members. Geographically that would be a very tight fit.

 

Didn't Nero promise AE Football some years ago (before I was an AE fan)?

[UA_MA_2000]

UA_MA,

 

That's what some of the posters on AGS are saying, this would be a good time for AE football with UMass and URI and a couple of others as affiliate members. Geographically that would be a very tight fit.

 

Didn't Nero promise AE Football some years ago (before I was an AE fan)?

 

Boisy, thanks for your reply about the posts on AGS. I'd be very happy to see the AE adopt football (as I'm sure many of us on here would)!

[danefan]

AEast football will only work (IMO) if UMass gets on board as an affiliate.

 

Without UMass you are going to have a very hard time getting UNH out of the CAA.

 

Additionally, the league would have to be guaranteed an Auto-Bid, which should be possible in 2010 when the expansion occurs.

[reeder]

Not clear that this will have any impact on us.

1. Why would UA want to join them in a league when we are perennial contenders in the NEC, the conference will have an autobid...

2. The NEC already has 8 teams - maybe there's room to add a couple more but they we'd be at a disadvantage as we need to phase in scholarships (unless they reduce there scholarship numbers).

 

The only possibility that I see is if the NEC expedites scholarships and some of the schools leave (Sacred Heart, St. Francis?).