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Loyola Leaving MVC for A-10

It does explain why the Valley only added one school. The league might still be looking to expand, but Belmont is the Loyola replacement.
 
I see this as a bad move for Loyola but the Valley will be fine. Would like the Valley to bring in 2 more teams while things are hot for moves.
 
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…
 
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-
I wonder if Loyola isn't hoping this move will position them better for an eventual move to either the American Athletic Conference or the Big East?
 
Braves2006 said:
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…
Click to expand...

interesting post. We have had success, but not sustained success like the schools mentioned above. We all want that sustained success for BU.

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.
 
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?
 
Da Coach said:
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-
I wonder if Loyola isn't hoping this move will position them better for an eventual move to either the American Athletic Conference or the Big East?
Click to expand...

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?
 
BUfan17 said:
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?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind they are now recruiting against those other big market schools. I personally don't understand a basketball only school taking this approach. Look at Gonzaga in the WCC. They could probably easily leave that conference, but you have to think of non-revenue sports. They also nearly get a bye into the tournament each year. I bet if you asked some Wichita State or Creighton fans, they would rather be in the MVC again with visions of being the MVC's Gonzaga. Just as I was when WSU and Creighton left, I will be interested to watch the success they have. This was not a powerhouse team before joining the MVC, but hit on some recruiting. All it would take is for DePaul to become formidable again, and I would guess there recruiting would fall off again.
 
Braves2006 said:
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…
Click to expand...

These are two entirely different points. I think we all would like Bradley to dominate the conference. I rack my brain repeatedly trying to think of strategies that would get more talent to Peoria. However, this is about priorities. If the desire is more money, then this is probably a good short term bet for an influx of money. However, all it will take is a couple schools to leave the conference (obviously a common trend right now), and then bids start to dwindle and you end up with a conference much more similar to the MVC if not worse.
 
I dont like any teams that leave the Valley. I think they should have stayed. I think they will regret their decision. I agree with the Da Coach. They will make more money but that is going to get chewed up by the extra expenses for all the sports
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I dont like any teams that leave the Valley. I think they should have stayed. I think they will regret their decision. I agree with the Da Coach. They will make more money but that is going to get chewed up by the extra expenses for all the sports
Click to expand...

Agreed (I'm getting in the habit of agreeing with you 124). Once a team leaves the Valley, I root against them forevermore.

Let's hope Loyola leaving gives us an opportunity to own the conference.
 
Da Coach said:
I wonder if Loyola isn't hoping this move will position them better for an eventual move to either the American Athletic Conference or the Big East?
Click to expand...

Perhaps the AAC (which is sort of collapsing) but Notre Dame is the only school that the Big East would add for right now. Gonzaga would be as well if they just werent on the other side of the country. There is no chance for anyone else. Everyone loves the 20 game double round robin
 
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