Looks like Valparaiso may be the only addition to the MVC

[Da Coach]

Rumor that the MVC is leaning toward only 1 addition- Valparaiso-

https://twitter.com/EnthusiAdams/status/859433781803069440

There has not been a vote of the 9 remaining MVC universities yet, and no official invitation yet.

Followup tweets-

https://twitter.com/EnthusiAdams/status/859436509518286848

https://twitter.com/EnthusiAdams/status/859435194394214400

Here was an interesting article from yesterday by daniel Allar, the Evansville beat writer-

http://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/college/evansville/2017/04/29/closer-look-mvc-expansion-candidates/100995410/

[Future Walk-On]

glory days are officially done and gone.

1 bid league for eternity. this sucks.

[tornado]

the window is still open for several MVC teams to get good - just 11 years ago, we had 6 teams in the Top 40 RPI and 10 years ago - all 10 teams were in the Top 140

but the MVC had better start recruiting & playing well, scheduling & beating quality opponents and win a few in the post-season
..but gotta wonder if the fan bases have given up when even the 1st place team in the MVC can't even draw 4000 for home games

[Da Coach]

Murray State's Athletic Director does not believe their school has been eliminated yet-

https://twitter.com/AKAJeffBidwell/status/859452307150323712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.valleyhoopsinsider.com%2Fmvc-meetings-in-st-louis-today%2F

[Vent]

the window is still open for several MVC teams to get good - just 11 years ago, we had 6 teams in the Top 40 RPI and 10 years ago - all 10 teams were in the Top 140

but the MVC had better start recruiting & playing well, scheduling & beating quality opponents and win a few in the post-season
..but gotta wonder if the fan bases have given up when even the 1st place team in the MVC can't even draw 4000 for home games

I could not agree more. That is why I believe we need a change in leadership at the top of the league. Eleven years ago is a long time ago. In that time span we've seen new conferences formed, others realigned and others improve. Meanwhile we have lost our two best teams over that time span, that wanted to play against better competition. All programs run in cycles. It is rare for a once proud league such as the MVC, to have so many teams constantly in the dodrums. It seems as if in our league, you have a fight for the top among two or three teams and fight among six or seven teams to stay out of last place. As I noted, we've had two quality programs dart from the league. To my knowledge there wasn't much of a line forming of established programs wanting to join us with the exiting of those teams. I feel it is time for the league to have a direction, with a new commissioner and some type of innovative incentives for teams to improve. We need to find out who is committed to making this a better league from top to bottom. The league has become stagnant in the last decade.

[Da Coach]

There are a few clear reasons there isn't a "line forming of established programs wanting to join us", and it isn't because the MVC isn't trying hard enough. They are 1) football, 2) money (TV/media revenues + NCAA distributions), and 3) geography.
The MVC is not a football league, and there will simply never be many schools from football leagues wanting to join a basketball-only conference. The money and geography issues restrict the possibilities even much further.
That pretty much leaves the teams of the Horizon & Summit Leagues as the only 2 possible leagues that the MVC can recruit new members from. Murray State appears to be a rare exception, mainly because they play football at the far less lucrative FCS level, and they are really bad at football and are willing to sacrifice their football program because they see basketball as their primary sport. I don't see any other realistic options out there.

[tornado]

why wouldn't they want their football to play against the MVC FB opponents - it would be a step up and might help grow their program

[Da Coach]

why wouldn't they want their football to play against the MVC FB opponents - it would be a step up and might help grow their program

They probably will do that. I am not sure it would bring in any more revenue for them. Their football program is bad, draws very few fans (6,000 per game), and loses a lot of money. But most football-playing schools, especially those that play FBS, would not give the MVC a minute's consideration.

[Vent]

None of the schools in the OVC are FBS teams. Nor are teams in the Southland, Southern, Big South and others. If Murray State moved to the MVFC for football, their program may improve.

[Da Coach]

In 2013, when the MVC added Loyola, they had just finished tied for 7th place that year in the Horizon League, and the prior season they had finished 10th. And just to prove it was no fluke, they finished 8th for 4 straight seasons prior to that.

It would be very hard to find any conference in history adding a team with such a miserable performance in a lower level conference for the years prior to the change. I am not trying to pick on Loyola, but I think it was a mistake in 2013 to add a bottom-dwelling team from the Horizon, when there were much better teams available. If the MVC is going to add another school from the Horizon, I hope they pick a school like Valparaiso. Valpo is coming off 1st place finishes in 5 of the last 6 years in the Horizon League.
IMO, the MVC should have taken Valpo in 2013. If that had happened, we would have gotten to see Alec Peters play his entire career in the MVC.

[Vent]

Valpo will be as good of an addition to the MVC in men's basketball as the league could expect. I don't know if they have much to offer in other sports or what their basketball venue has to offer.

[algotrader]

In 2013, when the MVC added Loyola, they had just finished tied for 7th place that year in the Horizon League, and the prior season they had finished 10th. And just to prove it was no fluke, they finished 8th for 4 straight seasons prior to that.

It would be very hard to find any conference in history adding a team with such a miserable performance in a lower level conference for the years prior to the change. I am not trying to pick on Loyola, but I think it was a mistake in 2013 to add a bottom-dwelling team from the Horizon, when there were much better teams available. If the MVC is going to add another school from the Horizon, I hope they pick a school like Valparaiso. Valpo is coming off 1st place finishes in 5 of the last 6 years in the Horizon League.
IMO, the MVC should have taken Valpo in 2013. If that had happened, we would have gotten to see Alec Peters play his entire career in the MVC.

I agree so much. Loyola's basketball team is pretty bad. And their Alumni just do NOT care about any sports programs whatsoever.

[Da Coach]

Valpo will be as good of an addition to the MVC in men's basketball as the league could expect. I don't know if they have much to offer in other sports or what their basketball venue has to offer.

Here is Valpo's basketball arena, the ARC-

http://www.valpoathletics.com/facilities/reccenter/#.WQlKhYgrI2w

It holds a maximum of 5,400 for basketball, which would place it in the small end of the range for MVC arenas, just ahead of the smallest MVC venue, Loyola's Gentile Arena, which holds a maximum of 4,486.

Here are the reported capacities of each MVC arena-
Bradley- Carver Arena- 11,433
Missouri State- JQH Arena- 11,000
Indiana State- Hulman Center- 10,200
Illinois State- Redbird Arena- 10,200
Evansville- Ford Center- 10,000
SIU- SIU Arena- 8,339
Drake- Knapp Center- 7,152
Northern Iowa- McCloud Center- 7,018
Loyola- Gentile Arena- 4,486

As for their other sports- Valpo sponsors more sports than most MVC schools (9 men's sports and 10 women's), and though they do not appear to dominate in other sports, they are competitive and most sports have W/L records equal or better than Bradley's.
They play football in the non-scholarship Pioneer League, which Drake also competes in. It is a low level FCS football league.

http://www.pioneer-football.org/

They also sponsor Women's Bowling. No other MVC school has bowling.

To see their sports programs, hold your cursor over the SPORTS tab, and select the individual sport-

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/#.WQlOc4grI2w

[Vent]

As to what Valpo has to offer in other sports, other than basketball, I was referring to success, such as won/loss records.

[tornado]

If Loyola ever starts drawing big, maybe they can swing a deal with the city to put them in the new "Wintrust Arena" since surely DePaul won't be using it all the time.