CAA Expansion

[triplec2195]

Newsday has a story, titled "Stony Brook in negotiations to join CAA, where Hofstra competes."

Pretty much a rehash of everything we know. Says that a decision could come next week and that a stronger northern presence might move the CAA tournament to the USB Arena.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... 1.50481959

What nobody is mentioning here as far as this article is concerned is this small paragraph; The CAA appears to be making a bid to become more of a multi-bid conference; its television broadcast rights could be considerably more valuable if it is viewed as more than a one-bid conference.

Is this just fanciful or is there merit to this. While the addition of Iona could really hurt us on the one hand would it be enough to put the CAA over the top in helping us to get a 2nd BID. All of the extra school additions would be offset in terms of making the NCAAT if the conference could get a second bid. I'll leave that discussion for others here who have more concrete info. on what it takes to make that 2nd bid happen. Without that second bid this would be a watered down conference with it being difficult to get into the tournament.

[HofstraPride1]

Adding Iona would be beyond foolish. While a hot name now because of Pitino, as soon as he leaves that ends .

[HUSID74]

Newsday article says Iona and Albany in the mix, too. I'd be on board for a CAA with SBU, Monmouth and Iona

SBU, Monmouth and Hampton are definites. I've seen rumors elsewhere about Albany, but still nothing concrete about them yet. I was wondering about Iona but they've had sustained success in the MAAC - moving to a weakened CAA vs. what the CAA used to be (with VCU, GMU, ODU) seems like a lateral move at best, maybe even a slight step down for them. I'm not sure why Iona would want that. They no longer have football, so not sure what the draw would be. CBS SportsNetwork? Flo Hoops? It doesn't seem like there's much of an advantage for them to join the CAA. As for the effect of adding Iona on Hofstra, no thanks - to Polito's point of making the path tougher, adding Iona would be one of the most hindering things Hofstra could face. After the final approval on SBU, Monmouth and Hampton next week, we'll probably start hearing more specific news on Albany and/or anyone else the CAA may be targeting.

Would be an expensive move for an Iona...all MAAC schools have part time coaches in all of their sports besides basketball, with the exception of a Monmouth which clearly has higher ambitions with football and some other sports.

I highly doubt they would move and remember Iona is only where it is because of a close to 70 old coach...what happens when he either jumps to a desperate P5 job or retires.

Their facility only matches Drexel in the CAA, which is by far the smallest.

[HofstraPride1]

Newsday article says Iona and Albany in the mix, too. I'd be on board for a CAA with SBU, Monmouth and Iona

SBU, Monmouth and Hampton are definites. I've seen rumors elsewhere about Albany, but still nothing concrete about them yet. I was wondering about Iona but they've had sustained success in the MAAC - moving to a weakened CAA vs. what the CAA used to be (with VCU, GMU, ODU) seems like a lateral move at best, maybe even a slight step down for them. I'm not sure why Iona would want that. They no longer have football, so not sure what the draw would be. CBS SportsNetwork? Flo Hoops? It doesn't seem like there's much of an advantage for them to join the CAA. As for the effect of adding Iona on Hofstra, no thanks - to Polito's point of making the path tougher, adding Iona would be one of the most hindering things Hofstra could face. After the final approval on SBU, Monmouth and Hampton next week, we'll probably start hearing more specific news on Albany and/or anyone else the CAA may be targeting.

Would be an expensive move for an Iona...all MAAC schools have part time coaches in all of their sports besides basketball, with the exception of a Monmouth which clearly has higher ambitions with football and some other sports.

I highly doubt they would move and remember Iona is only where it is because of a close to 70 old coach...what happens when he either jumps to a desperate P% job or retires.

Their facility only matches Drexel in the CAA, which is by far the smallest.

Great point about commitment Iona would need to make to other sports to make jump and what incentive do they have for that at moment? Monmouth does seem to have commitment to upgrade their athletics so makes sense for them.

[Wags]

What nobody is mentioning here as far as this article is concerned is this small paragraph; The CAA appears to be making a bid to become more of a multi-bid conference; its television broadcast rights could be considerably more valuable if it is viewed as more than a one-bid conference.

Becoming a multi-bid conference was always the league's goal, but it stopped being reality after the likes of VCU, Mason, ODU left. Monmouth, which flirted with an at-large five and six years ago (winning 27 and 28 games) could help make it a multi-bid league, but I don't see Stony Brook or Hampton helping with that any time soon. The only way that happens is being good enough within the league (usually no worse than around 14-4) and making enough of a statement OOC. If Hofstra were 4-1 in the CAA now (instead of 3-2 with the loss at W&M) and had beaten Houston and either Maryland or Iona, or both, in addition to Arkansas, they'd be on that path. But once they missed the chance against Houston, especially, and then the Maryland and Iona opportunities, any at-large possibility was gone. That's what it takes in a league like the CAA, whether they go to 12, 14 or 16 teams. They can expand like the likes of the A10 in numbers, but unless they're also adding teams of that A10-type caliber who can be at the top of the CAA and also make a real statement OOC, the types of additions we're seeing are not going to help the CAA become a multi-bid league any time soon.

Without that second bid this would be a watered down conference with it being difficult to get into the tournament.

Unfortunately, this seems the most likely scenario for a while.

[HUSID74]

There has been no discussion re: the commitment that the new and current teams must make to their programs. Maybe, just maybe all are being asked to step it up in terms of resource commitments...moving in this direction indicates that basketball will be the primary sport...maybe its time for members to step it up.

[Wags]

There has been no discussion re: the commitment that the new and current teams must make to their programs. Maybe, just maybe all are being asked to step it up in terms of resource commitments...moving in this direction indicates that basketball will be the primary sport...maybe its time for members to step it up.

The only thing mentioned in this regard in the Newsday article was about Hampton having to commit greater resources to its football program to join the CAA, but nothing about them, Stony Brook, Monmouth or any other potential targets having to commit resources to basketball. What you're saying would be great, but when I see nothing mentioned about hoops resources and the one time resources are mentioned, it's about Hampton football, that doesn't provide a lot of confidence about raising the overall profile of the CAA as a basketball league or trying harder to return it to a multi-bid league.

[HUSID80]

You don’t know what the nature of the discussions are….much behind the scenes negotiating I would surmise.

It’s like a duck swimming in the water….all is calm above the surface, yet those feet are paddling furiously underwater.

[EvanJ]

A Drexel fan speculated that the CAA is adding northern teams to thank teams like us by joining in 2001-2002 to save the CAA when three of nine teams left.

There is talk about North Carolina A&T joining. Stony Brook and us, and Hampton and W&M make two new pairs of nearby teams, and Elon and NCA&T would be another. I'm not saying I want them.

[Captain]

Is the possible basketball configuration a northern division with Monmouth and Stony Brook joining Hofstra NU Delaware and Drexel with a southern division of Hampton joining Elon W&M UNCW Charleston and Towson?

[Wags]

Is the possible basketball configuration a northern division with Monmouth and Stony Brook joining Hofstra NU Delaware and Drexel with a southern division of Hampton joining Elon W&M UNCW Charleston and Towson?

See Page 1 of this thread.

[HofstraPride1]

A Drexel fan speculated that the CAA is adding northern teams to thank teams like us by joining in 2001-2002 to save the CAA when three of nine teams left.

There is talk about North Carolina A&T joining. Stony Brook and us, and Hampton and W&M make two new pairs of nearby teams, and Elon and NCA&T would be another. I'm not saying I want them.

NCA&T would be ludicrous addition. Howard and Hampton at least are solid academic schools and make sense geography wise, but NCA&T would bring zero to the table.

[EvanJ]

Somebody said that NCA&T is good for Football, which wouldn't help us. Fans have debated NCA&T and UNC Greensboro, who doesn't play Football.

I went to Stony Brook's and Monmouth's websites, and neither wrote about joining the CAA.

[HofstraPride1]

Somebody said that NCA&T is good for Football, which wouldn't help us. Fans have debated NCA&T and UNC Greensboro, who doesn't play Football.

I went to Stony Brook's and Monmouth's websites, and neither wrote about joining the CAA.

If that is case should add them as associate football member. Adding them for all sports would be ridiculous though. Would much prefer Furman or Wofford if we want to target more teams in Carolinas.

[EvanJ]

The Southern Conference is good, and those teams won't want to leave for the CAA to have more travel and rarely be on national TV.

[HofstraPride1]

https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/ ... 02978?s=20

Looks like we will get some answers tomorrow with CAA holding a press conference on conference expansion matters.

[ProudofPride]

https://gohofstra.com/news/2022/1/25/at ... -2022.aspx

It’s official

[EvanJ]

Ray is from Hampton, VA, and after he plays for us for five seasons, Hampton University joins.

I was going to link to the CAA's article, but Hofstra copied the CAA's article and added to it.

Edit: Multiple reports say North Carolina A&T and High Point will join, which would make four North Carolina schools. According to Google Maps, it is 37 minutes from Elon to High Point, and it's 51 minutes from Elon to High Point stopping at North Carolina A&T in between. If the CAA has 14 teams, 9 will be within 2 hours of at least two schools, W&M and Hampton are under an hour from each other, and Northeastern, UNCW, and Charleston would be over 2 hours from their nearest CAA opponent.

[Jojogunne]

Roger Rubin has an article entitled "Will Stony Brook's move to CAA hurt in short term?" It's mostly about the affect joining the CAA will have on SBU, but here are some quotes from his piece:

***Hofstra was a huge advocate of bringing Stony Brook in. As Pride AD Rick Cole Jr. explained "we’re already competing against them in every sport and now going to be twice a year and have conference impact . . . it’s very healthy for the college marketplace on Long Island. Every time we play them in any sport, the spectatorship goes up and the presence in the local media market goes up."

***There could be greater earning opportunities for conference members with a stronger men’s basketball conference. The CAA will enter the final year of its primary media rights deal with streaming service FloSports. [CAA Commissioner Joe] D’Antonio said media "arrangements going forward will likely include both streaming options as well as national linear TV options and potentially local linear TV options."

***The CAA will play its men’s basketball tournament in Washington, D.C., this season and next. With a stronger presence in Greater New York and the myriad of venues — including the Coliseum and UBS Arena on Long Island — D’Antonio said he "wouldn’t close the door" on having the tournament in the area.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... 1.50487728

Couple of thoughts:

The CAA will have no excuse for not getting a significant TV deal (i.e., most in-conference MBB games on CBS Sports, NBC Sports or ESPNU).

At the same time, I see some downsides for us, especially in recruiting outside of basketball. If athletes want to stay closer to home, SBU will be a more cost-effective option, now that both Hofstra and SBU are in the same conference.

As for multiple NCAAT bids for a newly formed 12-team mid-major league, I'll believe it when I see it. How many at-large bids has the A10 received in recent years?

[HofstraMathew]

Roger Rubin has an article entitled "Will Stony Brook's move to CAA hurt in short term?" It's mostly about the affect joining the CAA will have on SBU, but here are some quotes from his piece:

***Hofstra was a huge advocate of bringing Stony Brook in. As Pride AD Rick Cole Jr. explained "we’re already competing against them in every sport and now going to be twice a year and have conference impact . . . it’s very healthy for the college marketplace on Long Island. Every time we play them in any sport, the spectatorship goes up and the presence in the local media market goes up."

***There could be greater earning opportunities for conference members with a stronger men’s basketball conference. The CAA will enter the final year of its primary media rights deal with streaming service FloSports. [CAA Commissioner Joe] D’Antonio said media "arrangements going forward will likely include both streaming options as well as national linear TV options and potentially local linear TV options."

***The CAA will play its men’s basketball tournament in Washington, D.C., this season and next. With a stronger presence in Greater New York and the myriad of venues — including the Coliseum and UBS Arena on Long Island — D’Antonio said he "wouldn’t close the door" on having the tournament in the area.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... 1.50487728

Couple of thoughts:

The CAA will have no excuse for not getting a significant TV deal (i.e., most in-conference MBB games on CBS Sports, NBC Sports or ESPNU).

At the same time, I see some downsides for us, especially in recruiting outside of basketball. If athletes want to stay closer to home, SBU will be a more cost-effective option, now that both Hofstra and SBU are in the same conference.

As for multiple NCAAT bids for a newly formed 12-team mid-major league, I'll believe it when I see it. How many at-large bids has the A10 received in recent years?

Completely agree; with these moves there is no excuse for them not getting a significantly better tv deal. At the very least games should be streamed on ESPN+ with probably about two CAA games per week on national tv. Add to that schools ability to get regional tv coverage (Hofstra with SNY) should be a big improvement.

And of course the CAA tournament further north than DC seems to be a forgone conclusion now. Of course I am sure we all would love UBS or the coliseum but even something in Philadelphia would be better and is doable as a day trip.