The CAA faithful are greeting the possibility of expansion with mixed reviews. The conference is equally divided with 5 BB schools and 5 FB schools. So a compromise will be necessary to appease everybody. The latest is seemingly the "Big East Compromise". They are seeking to add two northern FB schools and two southern BB schools.

http://www.caazone.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=7159

in my opinon, this would be a good thing, as long as it leads to a split down the road. a 14 team mid major conference would be kinda unwieldly, but if a split is to happen down the road, then this would be a great compromise that way no one would lose an automatic bid when the split occurred, or at least for a long period of time.

Just to simplify everything going on here with the CAA...

The CAA is dead-set on sponsoring football. So much that they are willing to both increase the travel needs for all member schools, but more impacting, drastically reducing the quality of basketball, the only sport that has a chance to make money for a mid-mjor *by getting a second ncaa bid, winning games, etc).

The CAA, in order to basically take the A10 football league and change the name, is willing to add Northeastern and Northeastern as full members. Both have little fan support for sports (other than UNH hockey) and rank very low in basketball.

So the CAa figures that by adding these 2 schools for football it will have 7 of the 12 current A10 members. It puts the remaining members, UMass, URI, Maine, Pichmond and Villanova in a position where it will just be easier to play in the CAA for football. The only outside chance would be if the America East programs not int he CAA, Albany, Stonybrook were to upgrade although Villanova will certainly join with the CAA at some point.


Back to the CAA...

For years they have been telling UNCW that they will provide a travel partner for them since ECU left. College of Charleston remains at the top of the list. in fact, just last year, both C of C and Northeastern were almost accepted as full members.

To balance out the league and get to 14, schools such as Davidson, UNCG and others are being considered.


While Charleston would be an excellent addition to the CAA and improve the league RPI for basketball, the CAA WILL downgrade in quality with the addition of the other 3 schools.


The CAA seems so determined to add football that they are making the conference much worse. Any chance to catch up to the likes of the WCC, MVC, Horizon, WAC, A10, etc will be seriously stunted.


My Solution?
Put your money where your mouth is, CAA.
Start up CAA football as a 5 team league with no automatic-bid. It won't be more then a year before Villanova would decide to join as a football-only member and get the league to 6 members. They would then be able to get their automatic bid for football. More importantly, it will allow the CAA to add Charleston as it's 11th member and be more selective on a potential 12th member...being able to consider all schools with the intent on finding another strong basketball program rather then bringing in a school just becasue it sponsors football like UNH or NU.

My 2 cents.

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Seriously though wasn't GMU looking to add a I-AA scholarship program in the next decade? CAA should take a hint and at look at the plight of other similar "hybrid" conferences in recent years: BIG EAST, Big West, Sun Belt...

i hadnt heard anything on mason adding football, b/c if they were planning on it, then im sure the caa wouldnt be expanding to 14. go to caazone.com and ask the people in the mason thread, they would know better than I.

so what is the plan for associate members for caa football? they'll have their seven allsports members but who else gets in? im sure villanova will be offered an associate membership, but what about umass, uri, and maine?

the reason i ask is b/c the caa would love to screw richmond and leaving them w/o a home for their football program would be a good way to do that, but an 11 member conference w/ everyone but richmond would be a little unwieldly. what are they/should they do, and who else gets left out w/ richmond?

We hear the A-10 wants out of the football busniess. the CAA would absorb the rest the the A-10 FB teams as associates with the exception of Maine and Richmond.

You could easily make 2 new leagues by doing the following:

America East: Northeastern (AE), New Hampshire (AE), Maine (AE), UMass (A10), URI (A10), Richmond (A10)

Colonial: Delaware, Hofstra, Towson, James Madsion, Wiliam & Mary, Villanova

We all know that the league would never do that because these schools have been playing each other forever. What should happen is that the Atlantic 10 should be renamed the Yankee Conference (again!) and that it should be administered by an independent office, much like Hockey East is.

By the way, Northeastern and New Hamphsire would never make a move without Maine

i just realized a potential roadblock for caa expansion. say tcu goes to the mountain west and then temple replaces them in c-usa. that leaves a open spot in the atlantic 10, unless they dont mind having 13 teams. if the a10 wanted to get to an even number, who would they take. i doubt any colonial schools would come, due to the agreement we all signed after richmond left, so that leaves the american east's top school, NORTHEASTERN. not only are they decent in basketball, but they have a football team and provide the a10 with an outlet in boston. if the a10 takes northeastern, our football plans would be seriously damaged and therefore our expansion plan in general would be drastically altered.

No fears about Northeastern. Boston University is much higher on the list of candidates. But with Charlotte joining in 2005, I would think that Old Dominion could get bumped up the list to increase the southern presence.

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Seahawk:
you realize that NU arena seats 2500 and they only fill half of that. Not exactly A-10 standards.

http://gonu.com/facilities/cabot.html

Yes, this is obvious "piling on," but in what context is Northeastern the top school in the America East, especially for expansion of a basketball conference such as the A-10?

I am not sure of their current intentions, but ODU elected to leave the old Sun Belt Conference for the CAA (as a replacement for Navy) in the early 1990s, prior to other, more notable defections (UAB to Great Midwest; UNCC, USF, VCU to Metro). UALR was invited to replace VCU, but then intervening factors on the conference expansion front compelled the absorption of the American South Conference. In light of this episode, what indications are there that ODU would make an attractive candidate for A-10 expansion?

i sincerly doubt youll see anymore caa schools leave for the a10 especially after richmonds exit. im not positive about this, but i think an agreement was signed to keep the caa together until 2007 i think. that way if a school really wants to leave, the rest of the conference wont lose its automatic bid.

and about nu, i realize that they are not a basketball power, but if the a10 was serious about keeping its football league, getting northeastern to replace someone would be the best way to do it.