Bryant to CAA Football

[Dane96]

In a move I predicted (long ago), Bryant is going to the CAA for football.  I will repost what i posted on the AE board and based on some talks with some heavy hitting contacts in the CAA and just generally the world of TV/College Sports (executives at networks and in leagues, including lawyers / accountants advising the P5).

"This is very interesting and to me, it solidifies one thing, and one thing only: ANY CAA expansion will be either a hoops only school or will come from the AE. That's if the CAA expands.

The NCAA Tourney is going to 96 teams, likely within 3-5 years. Don't expect the CAA to get multiple bids in that scenario. In addition, you will likely see the reduction--to the bare minimum--of buy games. Just won't happen the way the TV inventory push is moving the P5 around. Therefore, I strongly believe that you will see one of the following: 1) Single sport regionalized leagues with bids; or 2) THE CAA breaking along N/S lines.

Ultimately, the latter would be interesting because now you have the following "Northern" teams that host "all-sports" as we know "all-sports": Maine, UNH, Albany, Bryant, Monmouth, Stony Brook, Delaware, and Towson. Affiliate-wise, you will not see Villanova or URI veer from that group. That's a 10 team football league, with 8 who sponsor all-sports. Does that group of Northern 8 head to their own league and combine with a mix and match of the AE and CAA? Do the southern CAA schools form their own league or move to the southern? Do some "profile" or "wanna be" schools attempt a move up (looking at you, Campbell and Charleston).

So many things will change in the next 3-5 years, you can bank it. The P5 moves will absolutely trickle on down.

As for CAA Football, it is so, so interesting because I actually liked the way they set the pod format up. Now, here's how I see the 16 team league:

North
Maine
UNH
Albany
URI
Bryant
Stony Brook
Monmouth
Villanova

South
Delaware
Towson
Richmond
W&M
Hampton
Elon
Campbell
NC A&T

Look to see 9 conference games and 2 OOC (goes back to my "buy games" will be a thing of the past. That gives you 7 on you side and 2 rotating games each year.

This poses a solvable problem and unsolvable problem. Solvable- preserving the Villanova-Delaware rivalry (you make it a protected cross-over game. However, that means they will play only 1 team in the North every 7 years. That's ridiculous but doable.

Unsolvable problem: Towson- they DO NOT want to be in the South for Football, they've made that VERY clear.

One other side note: this could be a move to protect against the loss of Delaware if they make the stupid decision to go FBS (and it is absolutely stupid considering the current landscape in the FBS)."

 

[GreatDanes06]

In a world that regions really don't mean anything...why not just flip Villanova into the south and move Townson to the North. This way Delaware-Villanova get to play each other without crossover?

[GreatDanes06]

I beg the CAA to stop w/ FloSports...I despise and can't stand it. I can't watch any games because I refuse to pay the $ they are asking for. I don't get how ESPN/ESPN+ would let the premier east coast FCS football conference slip through their fingers.

[jimbo]

11 hours ago, GreatDanes06 said:

I beg the CAA to stop w/ FloSports...I despise and can't stand it. I can't watch any games because I refuse to pay the $ they are asking for. I don't get how ESPN/ESPN+ would let the premier east coast FCS football conference slip through their fingers.

Do you access Flo through the CAA site? They have a football only option, payable monthly and can be cancelled at the end of the season. I think it was about $13+- last year. It’s a different choice than if you go directly through Flo. It seemed reasonable to me. I do wish it was on ESPN though. 

[alum73]

Thanks for that Info, I was not aware of that option. 

[dslyank]

14 hours ago, jimbo said:

Do you access Flo through the CAA site? They have a football only option, payable monthly and can be cancelled at the end of the season. I think it was about $13+- last year. It’s a different choice than if you go directly through Flo. It seemed reasonable to me. I do wish it was on ESPN though. 

That makes CAA $65 for the football season. Still ridiculous since the quality sucks and ESPN for 5 months (which would give you ALL sports not just football) would be less than $50 or even less if packaged with Disney .

The CAA simply sucks overall IMHO. Rather than join for all sports, like some recommend; UA should just get out of it completely. Find another football league & hopefully when row gets going--NOT CAA please.

[Dane96]

This is not how flo works.  Flo is a server. They produce nothing.  Flo is the future (and other app servers like Flo) for streaming services.  If the quality is an issue, it’s the school’s production of the game.  It’s why, for the most part, Albamy games are decent to watch when they are home games.  

[jimbo]

21 hours ago, dslyank said:

That makes CAA $65 for the football season. Still ridiculous since the quality sucks and ESPN for 5 months (which would give you ALL sports not just football) would be less than $50 or even less if packaged with Disney .

The CAA simply sucks overall IMHO. Rather than join for all sports, like some recommend; UA should just get out of it completely. Find another football league & hopefully when row gets going--NOT CAA please.

If I recall correctly, I joined the day of or day before the first game and cancelled right after the last. That’s three months…again, reasonable to me. The production does vary though as you say. And some of the homer announcers are a little tough to take. Overall though I agree that the CAA ain’t what it used to be.