CAA Staying Together

[danefan]

http://www.gazettenet.com/2009/01/15/caa-w...-one-conference

 

So much for wishful thinking.

 

What now for Albany football?

 

Sounds like it will be NEC for life.

[B9j2j6s]

Not the end of the world especially with the NEC getting an automatic bid to the playoffs. We should stay the course.

[UAalum72]

Not the end of the world especially with the NEC getting an automatic bid to the playoffs. We should stay the course.

"Stay the course" with the NEC as it is now means low limits on scholarships and no games vs FBS schools for at least another five or six years. Also means league games against tiny, nearly unknown private colleges who've mostly been shown to have minimal name recognition and fan bases.

[ATL_DANE]

Disappointing

 

Years of stagnation in a barely D1 conference. NEC is not acceptable.

[Clickclack]

Wow....disappointing news. Where do we go from here?

 

It looks like with or without a stadium, we have absolutely no where to go.

[ATL_DANE]

This just seems completely idiotic. The Northeast has enough large state universities between the AE, CAA and NEC to have its own all sports conference that includes competitive D1 football.

 

Instead of coming together in a win-win situation, we have lose-lose. The New England CAA teams will be traveling to Virginia and Georgia. The NEC only sponsors 40 scholarships, which is just below the threshold to schedule FBS teams and thus benefit financially from the games. The AE doesn’t even sponsor football due to BU and Vermont's selfishness.

 

Three Northeast conferences and nothing to show for it? Nice.

[uofalbany]

We were all getting too excited over a long shot.

I guess that leaves us in the half scholarship NEC football.

 

There will probably never be America East Football.

 

And for those who are wishful thinkers, the NEC, when it finally reaches the 40 scholarships, will stay at forty scholarships for probably a decade or two. That's the reality.

 

From what I analyze, the only option for improvement would be the Big South.

I hate to say it, but it is really the only other option than staying in the NEC.

[Clickclack]

From what I can gather, we do not have enough money to go full scholarship right now...moving to the Big South could be a serious struggle financially. Look at what SB is facing with their scholarship situation. Add all of the travel on top of that....I'm not sure how viable the Big South is.

[uofalbany]

I'm not specifically talking about right now.

It seems like it would be the only other option for a long long time, other than the NEC or going Independent. Being Independent, we could go FULL rides, but we'd be missing out on an Auto Qualifier in the NEC.

 

Travel costs would be tougher, in the Big South.

 

Although, with six league games, 3 would be away (travel) games down south.

Every other year, the SB game would be away and the travel wouldn't be bad,

leaving only 2 long distance away games down south.

[ATL_DANE]

Lets go to the Big South!

 

It gives us one local game with a historical rival (SBU). It gives us full scollie FCS. Add in a few OOC games and we won't be traveling that much more (We're going to Statesboro Ga next year anyway). The FBS money games will help break us even on the costs.

 

Hey, the Big South isn't that different of a model than the CAA. It's an all east coast sports conference. Its a similar model as the ACC (Mass to Florida). Get in now before they change their minds! If we join the Big South, the only thing southern will be the name. Rename the conference to something that reflects it being an east cost conference. "East Coast Conference"?

[Clickclack]

I'm not specifically talking about right now.

It seems like it would be the only other option for a long long time, other than the NEC or going Independent. Being Independent, we could go FULL rides, but we'd be missing out on an Auto Qualifier in the NEC.

 

Travel costs would be tougher, in the Big South.

 

Although, with six league games, 3 would be away (travel) games down south.

Every other year, the SB game would be away and the travel wouldn't be bad,

leaving only 2 long distance away games down south.

 

We'd be a 40-42 scholarship team playing full scholarship programs in the Big South. Would we even be able to have less then the maximum rides or is that something the league mandates, that you must be full scholarship? If so...I don't think we can afford full scholarship.

 

We need to dump the NEC, the question is how do we get to a point where we can afford full rides and where do we go?

[Clickclack]

Lets go to the Big South!

 

It gives us one local game with a historical rival (SBU). It gives us full scollie FCS. Add in a few OOC games and we won't be traveling that much more (We're going to Statesboro Ga next year anyway). The FBS money games will help break us even on the costs.

 

Hey, the Big South isn't that different of a model than the CAA. It's an all east coast sports conference. Its a similar model as the ACC (Mass to Florida). Get in now before they change their minds! If we join the Big South, the only thing southern will be the name. Rename the conference to something that reflects it being an east cost conference. "East Coast Conference"?

 

I think one thing is clear....NEC isn't gonna cut it.

[uofalbany]

Lets go to the Big South!

 

It gives us one local game with a historical rival (SBU). It gives us full scollie FCS. Add in a few OOC games and we won't be traveling that much more (We're going to Statesboro Ga next year anyway). The FBS money games will help break us even on the costs.

 

Hey, the Big South isn't that different of a model than the CAA. It's an all east coast sports conference. Its a similar model as the ACC (Mass to Florida). Get in now before they change their minds! If we join the Big South, the only thing southern will be the name.

 

Exactly.

We usually see things exactly the same in terms of football, ATL.

Oh, except for the fact that I"m also a GATORS fan, due to living near Gainsville for 7 years.

I know you'll hate hearing that.

[ATL_DANE]

I'm a Gator Hater. Very True.

 

I think anyone who has lived outside of New York quickly sees the disparity in funding, pride and respect that the state university gets in New York versus the other 49 states.

 

What is the difference between the Langsing and Albany? Both are state capitols. Both are similar size. Both have state universities. Why is one Big 10 and the other is NEC? Why does UA receive so little support? Why so much aparthy in New York? Even Buffalo sees the advantage of their SUNY Center and they lobby hard. They were happy to throw us under the bus. They were happy to go D1 when all the other SUNYs were content at D3.

 

Lets go Big South. Its a young CAA. We'd be playing Stony Brook again and maybe take a money game against Army, Temple or Buffalo?

 

I think I just sold myself on the idea.

[Clickclack]

I have good reason to say what I'm about to say.....(some of you know why). Why doesn't someone grow a pair in the Athletic Dept and stop giving the UA faithful the runaround? There is never anything of any substance offered, everything is shrouded in secrecy, the study was supposedly completed and now it won't be done for another month+. How many times was the study supposedly started only to hear a couple of month's later....OK WE ARE STARTING THE STUDY. Really? I thought you were just about done with it.

 

On the stadium issues....we are a ship adrift. Very frustrating!