The Metro Conference

[The Green Gull]

What does the future of the Horizon League Hold after its signature program, Butler, left in July, 2012?

How does a conference, which has lost 12 full-time members since its inception in 1979, continue to reinvent itself?

How does the Horizon League survive this time?

Well, maybe it doesn’t survive. What if the top six programs located in the largest markets in the Horizon League left the conference in order to form a long-term, sustainable conference consisting of leading urban universities and colleges in the nation. The top six programs from the Horizon League could join forces with 5 of the top programs from the Colonial Athletic Association as well as a leading program from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.


Horizon League Members:
• Cleveland State
• Detroit
• Loyola
• Milwaukee
• UIC
• Valparaiso

Colonial Athletic Association Members:
• Drexel
• George Mason
• Hofstra
• Northeastern
• Towson

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Member:
• Siena


The Metro Conference is a proposal of a new premier conference consisting of leading urban universities and colleges in large markets in both the Great Lakes Region and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

The Metro League would be split into two divisions determined by geography. The Western Division would consist of 6 institutions from the Horizon League. The Eastern Division would consist from 5 institutions from the Colonial Athletic Association and 1 member from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Western Division:
• Cleveland State
• Detroit
• Loyola
• Milwaukee
• UIC
• Valparaiso

Eastern Division:
• Drexel
• George Mason
• Hofstra
• Northeastern
• Towson
• Siena

[Lutzow10]

Interesting concept

[JG Panthers]

A total fantasy, but this stuff is so much fun to think about. I'm still really hopeful for an addition of Murray State and Belmont to the Horizon, though I'm not holding my breath.

[dutchpthr]

I like the idea, definitely outside the box and would make sense. And that is why i think it is fantasy, i don;t trust those in power in the HL to make the smart decision or an outside the box decision. They will make a move but it will be one that prolly won't make that many happy and will leave a good amount of fans scratching their heads as they have done for some time now.

All that said i think you are on to something b&g

[freewind]

Loyola and UIC top 6 in the horizon league? *scratches head*

[uwmplanner]

Nov 15, 2012 10:36:54 GMT -6 JG Panthers said:

A total fantasy, but this stuff is so much fun to think about. I'm still really hopeful for an addition of Murray State and Belmont to the Horizon, though I'm not holding my breath.

I agree, I would rather go after those types of teams then the east coast teams mentioned.

[The Green Gull]

The trend of NCAA Division 1 athletics is for conferences to consolidate and to target numerous members from the same conference.

• The ACC by 2015 will consist of 6 members formerly of the Big East
o Miami (2004)
o Virginia Tech (2004)
o Boston College (2005)
o Syracuse (2013)
o Pittsburg (2013)
o Notre Dame (2015)

• The Big East by 2013 will consist of 9 members formerly of Conference USA
o Cincinnati (2005)
o Depaul (2005)
o Louisville (2005)
o Marquette (2005)
o South Florida (2005)
o Houston (2013)
o Memphis (2013)
o SMU (2013)
o UCF (2013)

• The Atlantic 10 currently consists of 6 former members from the Horizon League
o Saint Louis (1991, 2005)
o Duquesne (1993)
o Dayton (1995)
o Xavier (1995)
o La Salle (1995)
o Butler (2012)

• The Horizon League currently consists of 7 former members from the Summit League
o Cleveland State (1994)
o UIC (1994)
o Green Bay (1994)
o Milwaukee (1994)
o Wright State (1994)
o Youngstown State (2001)
o Valparaiso (2007)

[The Green Gull]

The member institutions of the Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA) have very similar profiles to the members of the Horizon League. The CAA has a mix of both public and private schools with outstanding academic reputations in large markets in the East. The Markets include:
• New York City (Hofstra)
• Philadelphia (Drexel)
• Washington D.C. (George Mason)
• Boston (Northeastern)
• Baltimore (Towson)

I believe the most intriguing members of the CAA to target would be:
• Drexel
• George Mason
• Hofstra
• Northeastern
• Towson

In order to get to form an eastern division a 6th member could be invited:
• Siena (MAAC)


Proposed Conference Member by Largest Television Markets in the Nation
• According to the Nielsen Company’s Local Market Rankings for the 2012-'13 television season:

(1) New York
• Hofstra (Hempstead, NY)

(3) Chicago
• Loyola (Chicago, IL)
• UIC (Chicago, IL)
• Valparaiso (Valparaiso, IN)

(4) Philadelphia
• Drexel (Philadelphia, PA)

(7) Boston-Manchester
• Northeastern (Boston, MA)

(8) Washington D.C.
• George Mason (Fairfax, VA)

(11) Detroit
• Detroit (Detroit, MI)

(18) Cleveland-Akron
• Cleveland State (Cleveland, OH)

(27) Baltimore
• Towson (Baltimore, MD)

(34) Milwaukee
• Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)

(58) Albany-Schenectady-Troy
• Siena (Latham, NY)

[The Green Gull]

Map of Proposed Metro League Member Institutions:





Map of Proposed Metro League Divisions Sorted By State:

[milwsport]

I love the idea. It does make a lot of sense to have similar schools in the same conference. But then again when does making sense have anything to do with conference alignment?

[illwauk]

Don't get me wrong... I definitely don't begrudge anyone putting forth proposals like these. But I think it says a lot about these boards when anyone who so much as alludes to football gets chastized for having a "pipe dream," yet it's perfectly okay to discuss Milwaukee leaving the Horizon League... something that is VERY unlikely to happen without football.

I'd also try to come up with a more distinctive name than "Metro" for this new league, because this was pretty important to college hoops back in the day: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Conference

[skrapheap]

The rather slim liklihood of this ever happening has already been mentioned in this thread. The term "pipedream" may not have been used, but that's a minor point.

As Milwsport observed, "when does making sense have anything to do with conference alignment?"

[The Green Gull]

At this point the likelihood of this conference is not great. But how many people, just last week at this time, would have thought Maryland and Rutgers were going to be part of the Big Ten?

The CAA has lost a lot of it's long-term members in recent years. Since, 2001 the CAA has lost or are scheduled to lose 6 members.
• American University (2001)
• East Carolina (2001)
• Richmond (2001)
• VCU (2012)
• Georgia State (2013)
• Old Dominion (2013)

Perhaps the top remaining members of the CAA would be interested in forming a conference that could bring stability and exposure to a wider audience as well as increasing revenue through improved television contracts than the current members in the CAA have.

[illwauk]

Honestly, the chances that we have a football team in 5 years is probably greater than the chances we're playing in any conference other than the Horizon by then. If you objectively look at the academic and athletic profiles of every single conference, there's nowhere a school and program like Milwaukee fits in more than the Horizon League. I also doubt an athletic department that's as concerned with cost-cutting as much as ours would be too crazy about sending our non-revenue teams out to New York and Phily on a regular basis.

That said, I WOULD like to see MBB grab as many home & aways with teams in large east coast media markets (St. John's, Villanova, Temple, Fordham, Boston U, Northeastern, LaSalle, etc.) as possible.

[The Green Gull]

The proposed conference is predicated on increasing revenue streams. The member institutions will be located in the largest media markets in the nation. The television deal should be greater than anything the current horizon league could obtain with its recent loss of its signature program, Butler.

Furthermore, the exposure that the member institutions will enjoy in other parts of the country which they have not had a traditional footprint in will be immense. Not only will the new found exposure open doors for member institutions but for alumni, students and fans on these institutions as well.


Proposed Conference Member by Largest Television Markets in the Nation
• According to the Nielsen Company’s Local Market Rankings for the 2012-'13 television season:

(1) New York
• Hofstra (Hempstead, NY)

(3) Chicago
• Loyola (Chicago, IL)
• UIC (Chicago, IL)
• Valparaiso (Valparaiso, IN)

(4) Philadelphia
• Drexel (Philadelphia, PA)

(7) Boston-Manchester
• Northeastern (Boston, MA)

(8) Washington D.C.
• George Mason (Fairfax, VA)

(11) Detroit
• Detroit (Detroit, MI)

(18) Cleveland-Akron
• Cleveland State (Cleveland, OH)

(27) Baltimore
• Towson (Baltimore, MD)

(34) Milwaukee
• Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)

(58) Albany-Schenectady-Troy
• Siena (Latham, NY)


Also, the proposed conference would consist of 2 divisions each including 6 institutions based on geography. The non revenue sports would mainly play against teams with in their own division in order to efficiently control travel costs. In basketball each member will play members in their own division twice and other teams in the other division once. Also, each team would be garnered a travel partner for inter-division play. For Instance:


Western Division Travel Partners:

Milwaukee
Loyola

UIC
Valpo

Detroit
Cleveland State


Eastern Division Travel Partners:

Towson
George Mason

Drexel
Hofstra

Northeastern
Siena

For example, if the Panthers flew out to Baltimore they would be able to play both Towson (located in Baltimore, MD) and George Mason (located in Fairfax, VA which is 57 miles from Baltimore).