[NU Sports] yay and more

[JHCCLARK at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/22/2005 10:36:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com writes:

And,  Jim, I agree completely: no games AT MAC schools.
None. They have  everything to gain, and we don't, and
all we can do is turn into ESPN  highlight fodder to
show how "underrated" the MAC is. If the MAC wants  to
make their reputation against the Big Ten, they can do
it in our  stadiums -- or not at all.



>From what I remember from the news reports during 2003's "MAC Attack", the  
new MAC commissioner told all MAC schools not to schedule Away-and-Away  games, 
especially with Big Ten schools, unless it is Michigan (major paycheck  and 
guaranteed TV coverage).  The new commandment from on high was that at  the 
least, VERY least, MAC schools should schedule is an Away-Home-Away  series.  
This strategy was then picked up by the Sunbelt and the WAC.  
 
The upshot of this, is that Major conference schools (who want to pad their  
schedules but who do not want to play in MAC-Sunbelt-WAC stadiums) either have 
 to play Home-and-Away series with each other (and therefore lose out on the 
home  ticket sales every other year), or pad their schedules with I-AA 
schools.   This is why a lot of Major conference schools are playing Maine, New  
Hampshire and Eastern Illinois.
 
And I guess it is working.  Virginia Tech, Maryland, Indiana,  Pittsburgh, 
Kansas, Missouri, etc. have all visited MAC stadiums lately, some  more than 
once.  I guess the Athletic Department crunched the numbers and  found that it is 
better financially to have that extra Miami (OH) home date  rather than play 
South Carolina Home-and-Away.