Creighton and the new Catholic 7 league

[Da Coach]

The 7 Catholic schools that have banded together and withdrawn from the Big East are progressing with serious talks about forming their own league and striking a TV deal with Fox network.
As of now the Catholic 7 seems to be leaning toward accepting 3 more schools to begin their league with 10 members. As of now, Ceighton seems to be "on the bubble". According to several reports, the Catholic 7 are strongly in agreement about adding Butler and Xavier, and the leading candidate for the 10th spot seems to be St. Louis. Creighton and Dayton are also being strongly considered, but if the league goes with a 10 team conference, it is possible that Creighton and/or Dayton could be left out.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20130109/catholic-7-tv/

[Rusty 54]

Guess the St. Louis market trumps a better program, better fan support and a larger arena. Figure that the difference in distance is pretty negligible.

CU staying the the MVC is good for the Valley, I think it would be a mistake on the part of the C7 to take St. Louis over the Jays.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Guess the St. Louis market trumps a better program, better fan support and a larger arena. Figure that the difference in distance is pretty negligible.

CU staying the the MVC is good for the Valley, I think it would be a mistake on the part of the C7 to take St. Louis over the Jays.

Negligible for men's basketball yes. Negligible for men's golf and women's tennis, maybe not as much.

[SFP]

Negligible for men's basketball yes. Negligible for men's golf and women's tennis, maybe not as much.

Exactly and that is one reason the C7 will expand in order to create divisions so they can limit travel for all the other programs.

[BUBalum05]

This doesn't necessarily mean that Creighton is coming back to the MVC necessarily either. I think there still could be some mid-major realignment in the coming months.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

This doesn't necessarily mean that Creighton is coming back to the MVC necessarily either. I think there still could be some mid-major realignment in the coming months.

As do I.

I think you might see some separation at the mid-major level between the basketball only schools, and the FCS football schools. Especially if some FCS school start making big facilities upgrades and consider the move to FBS football.

[TheAsianSensation]

The funny thing is, in every other place, I've heard the argument is Dayton v Creighton for #10 with St Louis solidly out.

The C7 is talking television contracts right now with FOX, it's been reported, so I think those two topics might be hand-in-hand over the next couple of weeks.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

The funny thing is, in every other place, I've heard the argument is Dayton v Creighton for #10 with St Louis solidly out.

The C7 is talking television contracts right now with FOX, it's been reported, so I think those two topics might be hand-in-hand over the next couple of weeks.

St. Louis - 21
Dayton - 63
Omaha - 76

Quality of product matters, but a top 25 media market would be awfully tough to pass on.

[AZ BU Fan]

12 teams, with two divisions, would seem to make more sense than 10 teams... Don't know if the geography would favor two 6 team divisions re travel, but, perhaps there is some revenue sharing deal that could compensate teams with excessive travel with a 12 team conference....

Just a thought....

[SFP]

12 teams, with two divisions, would seem to make more sense than 10 teams... Don't know if the geography would favor two 6 team divisions re travel, but, perhaps there is some revenue sharing deal that could compensate teams with excessive travel with a 12 team conference....

Just a thought....

16 team conference will be IMO what they will go after in the next few years. Two divisions mid-west and east coast. Keeps travel cost down and creates a nice flow for scheduling.

Doesn't Dayton and Xavier share the same market practically? St. Louis makes sense over those two and I know DePaul wants CU in the discussion.

[BUBalum05]

ESPN reporting the C7 meeting from yesterday says they expect to pick up 5 more teams. Also discusses TV deal.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8831345/catholic-7-talk-tv-deal-commissioners-sources

[stevebu91]

Under a 12 team format, this leaves Creighton taking the $$$ and heading to a strong C7 conference. I don't blame them.

I suspect that Wichita State is having discussions with other conferences as well. They are past due for a departure from the MVC. Any way that, and don't laugh, the B12 picks them up? No football, but they field baseball and have been in the Top 25 for the past nearly 100 years (jk!) and basketball top 50 on average....

[tornado]

There's enough left-over good, mostly-private, basketball-only schools like Bradley to at least have some discussions of getting another league with BU,
maybe SLU, ORU, Drake, Detroit, Valpo, etc...and throw in Wichita, and a few more...........we need to be negotiating...

[TheAsianSensation]

I actually think if there is any backroom deals, it's Wichita and the MWC, who eventually will probably need a non-football program to balance out Hawaii's unique membership at some point down the road.

If the C7 becomes the C12, I can't see how Creighton or St Louis get left out. Dayton is the tricky one because they share a market, and they actually complicate the geographic breakdown of 2 divisions.

East: The C5 and Xavier
West: Marq, DeP, Crei, StL, Butler, ?

It might be easier to add Richmond to the east rather than split Xavier and Dayton.

We'll have to see what details come out of these FOX meetings, and how these dollar figures were arrived at - with or without specific teams and invites in the discussion.

[SFP]

TAS I pretty much agree. It will also be in BU's best interest in the short term to keep the MVC intact. I'd bet that the C12 will be the C16 plus their sister conference out west within the next 4-5 years. The landscape is still playing itself out and within that time frame BU basketball needs to become relevant.