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OK so UNLV. WTF?

Loyal Coug1

Loyal Coug1

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Why were they not invited (yet)? Or were they, and they said no? The UNLV/UNR "package deal" hypothesis is out there but doesn't seem to be the reason - but maybe it was. Regents are saying they didn't deep-six it, they don't know anything apparently.

So WTF happened? UNLV is an absolute no-brainer and should have been the first or second invite. UNLV fans think we dogged them and don't want them. I don't believe that. This needs to be fixed. I dunno who else we will invite, but UNLV HAS TO BE the next one.
 
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Loyal Coug1 said:
Why were they not invited (yet)? Or were they, and they said no? The UNLV/UNR "package deal" hypothesis is out there but doesn't seem to be the reason - but maybe it was. Regents are saying they didn't deep-six it, they don't know anything apparently.

So WTF happened? UNLV is an absolute no-brainer and should have been the first or second invite. UNLV fans think we dogged them and don't want them. I don't believe that. This needs to be fixed. I dunno who else we will invite, but UNLV HAS TO BE the next one.
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Only explanation is that WSU/OSU wanted to keep two seats for Cal & Stanford….although I probably would have taken UNLV over Boise, all things considered.
 
95coug said:
Only explanation is that WSU/OSU wanted to keep two seats for Cal & Stanford….although I probably would have taken UNLV over Boise, all things considered.
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They aren't coming back. And sure as F not coming back in time for the deadline. And there is no shortage of seats - 8, 10, 12, whatever. That is not it at all.
 
UNLV is supposedly linked with Nevada and the "state government" (or whatever you want to call it) wants Nevada to be in so they won't have to drop to Big Sky / Independent.

I don't blame them, but Nevada really doesn't have a ton of fans/viewership.

Side note...

The Mountain West will probably make a run to pick University of Montana.

I know it's a weird "backwards" and a lot of money, but I do wonder how close Idaho, Montana, and Montana State are to being able to do the Mountain West.
 
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Colorado has a population of about 6 million, Nevada has about 3 million. Oregon State and Washington State have comparable academics as Colorado State, which is probably much better than UNLV. Finally, Colorado State has been making investments for years in athletics in an effort to move up from the MWC. For example, they have built a new football stadium about 7 years ago.

Jon Wilner and John Canzano podcast, and they talk about UNLV being left out:
Jon and John talk

Oregon State's athletic director talks about the expansion:
Scott Barnes talks

Colorado State's president and athletic director talk about joining the PAC 12
Colorado State is excited to be joining the PAC 12
 
The package deal issue with Nevada is apparently the roadblock, as it should be. Nevada is a wreck of an athletic department. I don't think we should just say yes based on the fact that UNLV makes some sense, because lets face it, if UNLV made a ton of sense they'd be playing in the Big12 by now. UNLV is seemingly a good partner, but not if you have to package them with one of the worst programs in the MWC.

Tulane and Memphis are rumored to be very interested in joining. So is Texas San-Antonio and Texas State. I know they're not big names out here, but they're in big markets. Memphis averages close to 30K/game in football as well. Tulane is around 25K. For comparison's sake, Nevada averages around 15K/game. Texas San-Antonio is pushing 30K/game and Texas State is around 22K. UNLV is averaging 23K and growing.

A lot of people are dismissing attendance, claiming that TV ratings are all that matters, but that's not true. If it were, we'd probably be in the Big12. If we're going to rebuild the conference, we need to be selective. We need to make sure we at least have the best G5 league in the Nation. For starters, take the best 8 teams you can. Add UNLV, Tulane, Memphis or Texas San Antonio. When the ACC blows up, maybe we can merge with their reformed league and have an East/West pod. Mid-level ACC programs average around 30-35K/game.
 
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Yes, it is all about UNLV leaving Reno. They will get loose, but it will take time.
 
Dave_86 said:
Colorado has a population of about 6 million, Nevada has about 3 million. Oregon State and Washington State have comparable academics as Colorado State, which is probably much better than UNLV. Finally, Colorado State has been making investments for years in athletics in an effort to move up from the MWC. For example, they have built a new football stadium about 7 years ago.

Jon Wilner and John Canzano podcast, and they talk about UNLV being left out:
Jon and John talk

Oregon State's athletic director talks about the expansion:
Scott Barnes talks

Colorado State's president and athletic director talk about joining the PAC 12
Colorado State is excited to be joining the PAC 12
Click to expand...
Shit CSU's President is a babe. Gawd what is she, 38?
Edit - she's 49 or 50. Smoking hot.
 
Last edited:
Loyal Coug1 said:
They aren't coming back. And sure as F not coming back in time for the deadline. And there is no shortage of seats - 8, 10, 12, whatever. That is not it at all.
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I don’t think Stanford will, but Cal could. Neither will if we don’t ask/have room.

I don’t see this being a league of 14. I think it’s going to be a pretty select 8-10. There’s no reason to take teams that don’t bring anything to the table.
 
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95coug said:
I don’t think Stanford will, but Cal could. Neither will if we don’t ask/have room.

I don’t see this being a league of 14. I think it’s going to be a pretty select 8-10. There’s no reason to take teams that don’t bring anything to the table.
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Agree - but going 2000(?) miles away to snag a couple of teams to make 8 doesn't make sense. Grab UNLV and either Wyoming or Air Force. THEN chat with the Texas schools, Memphis, etc. When we have met the 8 team criteria and we can collaborate from a position of not desperate. If that means letting one 2nd string school in to make 8, so be it.
 
Loyal Coug1 said:
Why were they not invited (yet)? Or were they, and they said no? The UNLV/UNR "package deal" hypothesis is out there but doesn't seem to be the reason - but maybe it was. Regents are saying they didn't deep-six it, they don't know anything apparently.

So WTF happened? UNLV is an absolute no-brainer and should have been the first or second invite. UNLV fans think we dogged them and don't want them. I don't believe that. This needs to be fixed. I dunno who else we will invite, but UNLV HAS TO BE the next one.
Click to expand...
UNLV was invited and apparently the State of Nevada said it had to be a package deal with Nevada Reno.
 
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dgibbons said:
UNLV was invited and apparently the State of Nevada said it had to be a package deal with Nevada Reno.
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That theory has pretty much been debunked according to posts elsewhere and a quote or two from a Nevada Regent. Maybe round 1 went that way, but it appears that it is an avoidable obstacle.
 
Loyal Coug1 said:
That theory has pretty much been debunked according to posts elsewhere and a quote or two from a Nevada Regent. Maybe round 1 went that way, but it appears that it is an avoidable obstacle.
Click to expand...
I would suspect UNLV will be invited at some point.

I suspect it will be UNLV, Memphis and Tulane. That's the magic 9 number they want for hoops scheduling.
 
LoveJeffersonFanClub said:
The Hornets and Grizzlies are in the NBA Western Conference. Memphis and Tulane are basically west coast schools.
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New Orleans is located on the Pacific Ocean coast? I did not know that. And Memphis is on the Mississippi River, which I guess flows into the Pacific Ocean. Damn, thought I knew my US geography.
 
Loyal Coug1 said:
That theory has pretty much been debunked according to posts elsewhere and a quote or two from a Nevada Regent. Maybe round 1 went that way, but it appears that it is an avoidable obstacle.
Click to expand...
Well since you know the answer to the question you posed, how about this: be patient.
 
Loyal Coug1 said:
Agree - but going 2000(?) miles away to snag a couple of teams to make 8 doesn't make sense. Grab UNLV and either Wyoming or Air Force. THEN chat with the Texas schools, Memphis, etc. When we have met the 8 team criteria and we can collaborate from a position of not desperate. If that means letting one 2nd string school in to make 8, so be it.
Click to expand...
I don't have any issue with giving first shot to Stanford & Cal, even knowing it's not likely they're coming. After that, UNLV makes all the sense in the world. The rest of the MWC members all have more arguments against inclusion than arguments in favor.

UTSA & Texas State bring some Texas market and a little bit of Texas presence, but they're probably the #5 & #6 schools in the state. I haven't looked very closely at either of them to see what they really bring, but on the surface...it's not exciting. (OK, I looked. The only team with fewer viewers than Texas State in 2023 was ULM. UTSA was just ahead of UNLV)

Memphis & Tulane might be fun road trips. Neither has a lot of market, both of them are near fertile recruiting ground, but not in them...and they're both 1000+ miles from the nearest conference competitor.

I guess it depends what our goal is. SJSU gets us into the Bay Area market, if Stanford/Cal don't. Air Force gets us close to the Denver market - although CSU does that better. Utah State chips at the SLC market, for whatever that's worth. UTSA/TSU gives us a piece of San Antonio/Austin...but probably not a big piece. Memphis/Tulane get us a couple of time slots early in the day. A combination of those gives us a pretty solid grip on all of the mid-level teams in the western half of the country, so we can pull some money from the P4.

Whatever. It's still getting too mercenary for me.
 
95coug said:
I don't have any issue with giving first shot to Stanford & Cal, even knowing it's not likely they're coming. After that, UNLV makes all the sense in the world. The rest of the MWC members all have more arguments against inclusion than arguments in favor.

UTSA & Texas State bring some Texas market and a little bit of Texas presence, but they're probably the #5 & #6 schools in the state. I haven't looked very closely at either of them to see what they really bring, but on the surface...it's not exciting. (OK, I looked. The only team with fewer viewers than Texas State in 2023 was ULM. UTSA was just ahead of UNLV)

Memphis & Tulane might be fun road trips. Neither has a lot of market, both of them are near fertile recruiting ground, but not in them...and they're both 1000+ miles from the nearest conference competitor.

I guess it depends what our goal is. SJSU gets us into the Bay Area market, if Stanford/Cal don't. Air Force gets us close to the Denver market - although CSU does that better. Utah State chips at the SLC market, for whatever that's worth. UTSA/TSU gives us a piece of San Antonio/Austin...but probably not a big piece. Memphis/Tulane get us a couple of time slots early in the day. A combination of those gives us a pretty solid grip on all of the mid-level teams in the western half of the country, so we can pull some money from the P4.

Whatever. It's still getting too mercenary for me.
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Maybe UCLA and UW will have second thoughts. UCLA getting hammered and UW visits Rutgers, Iowa and Indiana three out of four weekends. That is a lot of travel.

And crazy to think fans have to "search and hunt and peck just to see their teams play.

Pac 12 had a great thing with the Pac 12 network...it is a shame they didn't have the right minds to make it work. I enjoyed watching CU play Utah, catch a late game at ASU. Maybe they all will figure it out.
 
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CougEd said:
Maybe UCLA and UW will have second thoughts. UCLA getting hammered and UW visits Rutgers, Iowa and Indiana three out of four weekends. That is a lot of travel.

And crazy to think fans have to "search and hunt and peck just to see their teams play.

Pac 12 had a great thing with the Pac 12 network...it is a shame they didn't have the right minds to make it work. I enjoyed watching CU play Utah, catch a late game at ASU. Maybe they all will figure it out.
Click to expand...
I think UW is going to really regret the way this played out. They traded in their place at the top of the P12 for what will likely become a new goal of finishing 4th or 5th in the B!G. Basically, they have become a WSU of the B!G.
 
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OK guys, UNLV is apparently talking to the AAC, and Air Force sounds like they may jump ship to join the other service academies. We absolutely must pounce on UNLV RIGHT NOW.
 
CougPatrol said:
I think UW is going to really regret the way this played out. They traded in their place at the top of the P12 for what will likely become a new goal of finishing 4th or 5th in the B!G. Basically, they have become a WSU of the B!G.
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I've thought this since day one. If they and Oregon had stayed, one of the two...and occasionally both...would be in the CFP every season (and it's not like the Ducks needed a mega-TV deal to keep the AD afloat). Now the Mutts are a midling in a conference where they'll be playing 2-3 difficult games in winter weather each year (in front of 100K+ enemy fans). Idiots...
 
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Loyal Coug1 said:
OK guys, UNLV is apparently talking to the AAC, and Air Force sounds like they may jump ship to join the other service academies. We absolutely must pounce on UNLV RIGHT NOW.
Click to expand...
Like Loyal on the senior Senator from the great State of Washington.

Meow.
 
CougPatrol said:
Unfortunately, I just read that they're not interested in joining. Don't know if that's a reputable source or not, but we'll see.
Click to expand...

I have seen sources that have said that PAC leadership is targeting, is gonna target Memphis, Tulane, and that Memphis, Tulane, either are, will probably be interested, are semi interested but waiting to see what happens with ACC, etc.
 
mikalalas said:
I have seen sources that have said that PAC leadership is targeting, is gonna target Memphis, Tulane, and that Memphis, Tulane, either are, will probably be interested, are semi interested but waiting to see what happens with ACC, etc.
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Admit it. You just want me to eat more crow. :)

bleacherreport.com

Report: Tulane, Memphis Eyed by Pac-12 amid Additions of Boise State, More

As the Pac-12 looks to keep adding more teams to its roster, Tulane and Memphis have emerged as potential targets for the conference. On Saturday's Big Noon…
bleacherreport.com bleacherreport.com
 
I would like to see Cal, Memphis, Tulane, UNLV, SMU, UTSA join PAC 8 to PAC 10 as top choices.

If ACC falls apart Cal, could, would join PAC as CAL not as academically snobby as Stanford, and wouldnt do what Stanford would do, would not go IVY, independent, and CAL needs money, so CAL would join PAC, if it's likely the media deal is 14 mil to 16 mil to 18 mil to 22 mil per team, per year. And that would be likely if PAC gets Cal, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, UNLV.

And SMU would join PAC if ACC fell apart.

I think PAC 6 should do things in a way that they semi wait, target Cal, SMU, but also targeting Memphis, Tulane, UNLV, in addition to, as standby, as back up, etc, and then if it looks like that either ACC take to long to maybe fall apart, or if ACC fall apart, and Cal, SMU say no, etc, then immediately next second either Target Memphis, Tulane, UNLV, an or if Memphis, Tulane, UNLV said yes to standby status, immediately announce them as joining PAC.

And if Cal, SMU, Memphis, Tulane, all say no.

Then UNLV, UTSA, Rice, Liberty(12-0(MAAC, G5), JMU(James Madison(Conference Champ, Sun Belt G5), SJSU, are then Top choices.

Utah St, Airforce, Wyoming, Texas State, North Texas, NDSU, are the next tier down if UNLV, either say no or if tied to Nevada, UTSA, Rice, Liberty, JMU, say no
 
Loyal Coug1 said:
Admit it. You just want me to eat more crow. :)

bleacherreport.com

Report: Tulane, Memphis Eyed by Pac-12 amid Additions of Boise State, More

As the Pac-12 looks to keep adding more teams to its roster, Tulane and Memphis have emerged as potential targets for the conference. On Saturday's Big Noon…
bleacherreport.com bleacherreport.com
Click to expand...

I heard rumblings that UNLV was looking at the AAC.....Taking Tulane and Memphis out of the AAC will be a pretty big hit to that conference. Tulane is projected by Massey to run the table and Memphis is the probable G5 representative in the playoff if they beat Tulane to finish the season. If we get those two, the appeal of the AAC drops somewhat. Get UNLV and Air Force to get us back to the Pac-10 (ish).
 
Flatlandcoug said:
I heard rumblings that UNLV was looking at the AAC.....Taking Tulane and Memphis out of the AAC will be a pretty big hit to that conference. Tulane is projected by Massey to run the table and Memphis is the probable G5 representative in the playoff if they beat Tulane to finish the season. If we get those two, the appeal of the AAC drops somewhat. Get UNLV and Air Force to get us back to the Pac-10 (ish).
Click to expand...
This probably isn’t settled until the fuse is lit on the ACC. Seems like this move was either a case of hedging our bet or showing the future homeless ACC teams we have a legitimate conference for them to consider. Either way this is probably a more desirable place to be than putting all eggs in one basket and hoping for an invite to a rebuilt ACC in the future. If you don’t get that the. You are truly F’d.
 
Flatlandcoug said:
I heard rumblings that UNLV was looking at the AAC.....Taking Tulane and Memphis out of the AAC will be a pretty big hit to that conference. Tulane is projected by Massey to run the table and Memphis is the probable G5 representative in the playoff if they beat Tulane to finish the season. If we get those two, the appeal of the AAC drops somewhat. Get UNLV and Air Force to get us back to the Pac-10 (ish).
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Yeah. We need to move on this. But interesting twist - the scheduling agreement stipulates that the Pac-2 has to pay this $43M within 30 days after teams announce their withdrawal intentions. So the question becomes when does the MW distribute this windfall? Could UNLV and AF hang tough and collect this poaching money, then bolt?

Seems weird that we will/may have to pay this penalty almost 2 years before they actually leave. I hope whatever they signed is ironclad. What if they changed their minds? SDSU did, although they didn't have an offer when they announced their intent to leave a couple of years ago so there was no agreement to join the Pac or anyone else.

I can see AF bolting to the AAC. UNLV, not so much. Wish I was a fly on Teresa's wall right now.
 
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Flatlandcoug said:
I heard rumblings that UNLV was looking at the AAC.....Taking Tulane and Memphis out of the AAC will be a pretty big hit to that conference. Tulane is projected by Massey to run the table and Memphis is the probable G5 representative in the playoff if they beat Tulane to finish the season. If we get those two, the appeal of the AAC drops somewhat. Get UNLV and Air Force to get us back to the Pac-10 (ish).
Click to expand...

The PAC 6/2/8/12 should try to get Memphis, Tulane now. If ACC falls apart anytime after Jan 1, 2026, Memphis, Tulane won't join PAC. Better to get Memphis, Tulane to join PAC now, BEFORE, ACC falls apart. And should try to get UNLV as well, but if have to take Nevada to get UNLV, then no to UNLV, Nevada. And if UNLV goes to AAC, or when, if say no to UNLV, Nevada, then don't get Airforce, and get UTSA, Rice instead.

Airforce while it has done ok due to superb coaching, Airforce has strict Militiary Academy, Govt rules, etc, that limit recruiting, spending, budget, hiring, getting better recruits, coaches. Yes their coaches have been superb, but Airforce got very lucky to get those coaches, recruits. Also Airforce does NOT bring value, and UTSA, Rice, Liberty, James Madison, bring more value then Airforce, and should try to get one of them, if can't get Memphis, Tulane, UNLV.

UTSA is ROCK SOLID. Delivers San Antonio, Texas Recruiting, and UTSA has been doing good, and has no significant college competition in San Antonio, and has a semi lot of TV eyeballs, and brings a lot of value, and will probably continue to bloom like a rose.

Rice is in AAC, G5, and gives PAC a piece of Houston, and only other college in Houston, is the Houston Cougars. Rice also used to be in the SWAC with Texas, etc. Rice, if it joins the PAC 8/10 could blossom like a rose. Rice is also in the Southwest, and better delivers Texas as a recruiting ground for PAC 8, then North Texas, Texas St, and is about tied with UTSA. The only reason why Rice hasn't been good, is Rice has been unlucky, semi incompetent, etc, in NOT getting good coaches, NOT getting good recruits, etc.

Liberty went 12-0, was MAAC G5 Champ, and if in PAC 8, could blossom like a rose, and is in a big city, has semi lot, a lot more TV eyeballs then people think, and brings more value then people think, and has more value then Airforce, Wyoming, Utah St, North Texas, Texas St, NDSU, etc.

James Madison is worthy because they are usually one of the G5 champs, 1st runner up to champ, 12-0, 11-1, 10-2, 9-3, 9-4 year in, year out(Not AAC), have a lot of value. Only problem with them is they in western Virginia, so some might say that if gona get James Madison, why not get USF, in Florida instead, since both Virginia, Florida are both very far away from west, are not western.
 
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