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Loyola Leaving MVC for A-10
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Originally posted by houstonbrave View Post
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How is this a bad move???? I’m 8 seasons they have won 3 conference championships in the Valley. The A-10 is a MUCH better conference. Since ‘96 BU hasn’t won 1 regular season conference championship. Tulsa has left. Creighton has left. Wichita St has left. Now Loyola. The only question that remains: how many conference championships will Belmont win before the Braves? Now, I know y’all are gonna hammer this post… and I don’t like it either….but facts are still facts. I’ve been a Bradley fan for decades and I am sick of seeing the success of these other programs while we hover in perpetual mediocrity. Just my 2 cents…
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No doubt this move is driven almost exclusively by money. Loyola will make more money in the A-10, mostly because the A-10 has a couple TV deals that generate a few million dollars more than anything the MVC has-
CBS Sports Network- https://atlantic10.com/news/2020/11/...rtnership.aspx
ESPN- https://atlantic10.com/news/2020/11/...-coverage.aspx
But the difference is not as much as is usually the case when schools jump conferences. The A-10 does not get any of the lucrative NCAA football money. Several of it's members do play football in lesser conferences, but the A-10 conference does not sponsor football.
But a big chunk of that extra money will be eaten up with all the extra travel expenses. It's not just basketball, but every other sport that will have to travel far greater distances for conference matches to distant destinations, most of which are as far as 500-1000 miles away like North Carolina (Davidson), Pittsburgh (Duquesne), NYC (Fordham), Washington DC area (George Washington, George Mason), Philadelphia (La Salle, St. Joseph's), Massachusetts (UMass), Rhode Island (URI), Richmond VA (Richmond, VCU), and Western NY (St. Bonaventure).
The only two A-10 schools less than 500-1000 miles are St. Louis and Dayton, both of which are about 300 miles from Loyola. That means every sports team will be doing a lot more flying. And there are other expenses like food and hotels, which are far more expensive in cities like Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York City, etc. compared with MVC cities like Carbondale, Valparaiso, Terre Haute, etc.
Though the MVC has ranked higher in Conference RPI than the A-10 in most recent years, the A-10 has had more NCAA bids. They have had at least 2 bids every year since 2005.
In recent years, the 14-team A-10 conference has had-
2016- 3 bids
2017- 3 bids
2018- 3 bids
2019- 2 bids
2020- no NCAA Tournament
2021- 2 bids
Here are the schools now in the A-10-- Davidson
- Dayton
- Duquesne
- Fordham
- George Mason
- George Washington
- La Salle
- Loyola Chicago (joining in 2022-23)
- UMass
- Rhode Island
- Richmond
- Saint Bonaventure
- Saint Joseph's
- Saint Louis
- VCU
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Originally posted by Braves2006 View PostHow is this a bad move???? I’m 8 seasons they have won 3 conference championships in the Valley. The A-10 is a MUCH better conference. Since ‘96 BU hasn’t won 1 regular season conference championship. Tulsa has left. Creighton has left. Wichita St has left. Now Loyola. The only question that remains: how many conference championships will Belmont win before the Braves? Now, I know y’all are gonna hammer this post… and I don’t like it either….but facts are still facts. I’ve been a Bradley fan for decades and I am sick of seeing the success of these other programs while we hover in perpetual mediocrity. Just my 2 cents…
Other schools with sustained success (like UNI) have stayed in the Valley because it’s the best fit for them, or perhaps they didn’t attract attention for other reasons. These moves are also about your potential to attract an ad market.
I personally have no real desire to leave the Valley for a “bigger conference.” I do have an intense desire to dominate our conference and progress in our NCAA tourney successes. We can do that from within the Valley.
Compete. Defend. Rebound. Win.
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We have to realize that Peoria is not Chicago. It isn't even Wichita or Omaha or Tulsa. Not even close. There is a reason those schools from those much larger cities and larger media markets, became targets for other conferences to cherry pick teams away once they had success. I'm not saying we shouldn't expect success for Bradley, but being located in Peoria has a number of disadvantages in recruiting and ability to draw media attention. And Bradley needs to be satisfied with the MVC, because they will not be asked to join the A-10 or AAC, even if they had the same level of success as Loyola. In fact, if Bradley was currently in a different conference, would they even be a candidate to be asked to join the MVC?
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Originally posted by Da Coach View PostNo doubt this move is driven almost exclusively by money. Loyola will make more money in the A-10, mostly because the A-10 has a couple TV deals that generate a few million dollars more than anything the MVC has-
CBS Sports Network- https://atlantic10.com/news/2020/11/...rtnership.aspx
ESPN- https://atlantic10.com/news/2020/11/...-coverage.aspx
But the difference is not as much as is usually the case when schools jump conferences. The A-10 does not get any of the lucrative NCAA football money. Several of it's members do play football in lesser conferences, but the A-10 conference does not sponsor football.
But a big chunk of that extra money will be eaten up with all the extra travel expenses. It's not just basketball, but every other sport that will have to travel far greater distances for conference matches to distant destinations, most of which are as far as 500-1000 miles away like North Carolina (Davidson), Pittsburgh (Duquesne), NYC (Fordham), Washington DC area (George Washington, George Mason), Philadelphia (La Salle, St. Joseph's), Massachusetts (UMass), Rhode Island (URI), Richmond VA (Richmond, VCU), and Western NY (St. Bonaventure).
The only two A-10 schools less than 500-1000 miles are St. Louis and Dayton, both of which are about 300 miles from Loyola. That means every sports team will be doing a lot more flying. And there are other expenses like food and hotels, which are far more expensive in cities like Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York City, etc. compared with MVC cities like Carbondale, Valparaiso, Terre Haute, etc.
Though the MVC has ranked higher in Conference RPI than the A-10 in most recent years, the A-10 has had more NCAA bids. They have had at least 2 bids every year since 2005.
In recent years, the 14-team A-10 conference has had-
2016- 3 bids
2017- 3 bids
2018- 3 bids
2019- 2 bids
2020- no NCAA Tournament
2021- 2 bids
Here are the schools now in the A-10-- Davidson
- Dayton
- Duquesne
- Fordham
- George Mason
- George Washington
- La Salle
- Loyola Chicago (joining in 2022-23)
- UMass
- Rhode Island
- Richmond
- Saint Bonaventure
- Saint Joseph's
- Saint Louis
- VCU
Loyola is a school in a big city (Chicago) joining a conference with other schools in (primarily) big cities. The rest of the MVC schools are all in small to medium sized cities. The A-10 is also comprised of half Catholic schools, while Loyola was the lone Catholic school in the MVC. The better basketball likely did play a factor and probably the reason they got offered to join, but otherwise I see it making sense for them.
I agree the ultimate goal down the line would likely to join the Big East (primarily Catholic schools with great basketball success).
I am just kind of questioning how good Loyola will be the next couple years. No more Krutwig or Moser, arguably the two biggest constants during their success the past 4 years. Can they keep their momentum going and become perennial power?
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Originally posted by BUfan17 View Post
I think Loyola fits in with the A-10 fairly well other than just purely athletics and money, but that is likely a factor too.
Loyola is a school in a big city (Chicago) joining a conference with other schools in (primarily) big cities. The rest of the MVC schools are all in small to medium sized cities. The A-10 is also comprised of half Catholic schools, while Loyola was the lone Catholic school in the MVC. The better basketball likely did play a factor and probably the reason they got offered to join, but otherwise I see it making sense for them.
I agree the ultimate goal down the line would likely to join the Big East (primarily Catholic schools with great basketball success).
I am just kind of questioning how good Loyola will be the next couple years. No more Krutwig or Moser, arguably the two biggest constants during their success the past 4 years. Can they keep their momentum going and become perennial power?
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Originally posted by Braves2006 View PostHow is this a bad move???? I’m 8 seasons they have won 3 conference championships in the Valley. The A-10 is a MUCH better conference. Since ‘96 BU hasn’t won 1 regular season conference championship. Tulsa has left. Creighton has left. Wichita St has left. Now Loyola. The only question that remains: how many conference championships will Belmont win before the Braves? Now, I know y’all are gonna hammer this post… and I don’t like it either….but facts are still facts. I’ve been a Bradley fan for decades and I am sick of seeing the success of these other programs while we hover in perpetual mediocrity. Just my 2 cents…
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