Keep up with the A college conference commissioners job is to have foresight. CAA commish Tom Yeager dropped the ball on this one. In what he considered a coup less than 4 years ago, the CAA brought in Northeastern as a member. In doing so, the CAA now had 6 schools that sponsored football...enough to sponsor the sport as a conference. Instead of a split, the league that included non-CAA members UMass, URI, Richmond, UNH and Maine simply switched from "A10" to "CAA".
Fast forward only 4 years and Northeastern has dropped football. The move isn't a shock to many as Northeastern has facilities that are not just worse than one of the famed Texas High Schools...they're worse than than most Massachusetts high schools.
Now Northeastern means nothing to the CAA. With ODU and Georgia State adding football, the CAA still has the majority of the football teams, so no changes there.
But if you're a Northeastern fan, you now find yourself in a conference that ranges from Boston to Atlanta in a mad-major. Northeastern has already had to suffer being the #5 school in it's own market after BC, Harvard, BU and even UMass.
The one bonus to cutting football...Northeastern can now shift that money to their extreme travel budget having to fly to Virginia once a week for all their sports.
If I'm Northeastern, I'm back on the phone with the America East and asking to come back.
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Comments 7 comments
I would completely agree with almost everything written here. Northeastern will probably not be able to complete in the Colonial. The America East might have several new schools here within the next few years. It makes so much more sense on so many levels.
Hear! Hear! If Hofstra had leaders, then they too would be on the phone with the America East.
You have to wonder. If UMass, URI, Maine, New Hampshire, Hofstra, and Northeastern had formed a football only conference, then would Northeastern kept the sport? Where was the ECAC leadership during the A10 to CAA mess?
the thing is there would be no caa football without northeastern. caa had 5 members out of 12 members in the old a10. the other 7 had no desire to rock the boat. umass, uri, nova, and richmond leaving unh, maine, and northeastern as those who had to be offered full membership in order to initate the change from a10 to caa. now having said that with their recent decision i would not be surprised if they sought a more geographically friendly conference. if they do no harm no foul and everyone will be happy
Put that money to the hockey program and tell BU, BC and Harvard to pound sand!
I agree that the subject of the article is misleading. The ball being dropped was by Northeastern when they left. The CAA needed a #6 and NU took the bait. Now the CAA is fine without them for football or any sports for that matter.
The origins of this mess actually lies in the hands of the America East. When the schools in the Yankee Conference were forced to move from a football-only conference to an existing one (so that schools would have more say regarding NCAA votes) multiple conferences had a chance for sponsorship.
The America East topped that list.
They had members such as Delaware who were pushing hard for football sponsorship. But the America East leadership dropped the ball. Delaware soon planned to leave the AE and Hofstra, Towson and Drexel came with them.
Had the America East sponsored football instead of the A10, you would have had a number of AE all-sports members today: Hofstra, NU, Maine, UNH, Delaware and Towson. Associate members in the region would include UMass and URI.
So regardless of what happened with the CAA schools like ODU and GA State, the AE football conference would have had the opportunity to remain as only JMU & W&M would be football members in the CAA (with ODU and GSU to follow).
Fastforward all these years and now you have a failed program in NU. Sad to see.
THIS WE KNOW:
Money caused them to end football. And CAA membership has drained their budget in the area of travel expenses. And the CAA TV money is not much of an upgrade for them. Had they remained in the New England based AE, I have little doubt they would be playing football at NU in 2010.
This doesn't come as a surprise. I was reading an article that shows Northeastern draws between 1,500 to 2,000 fans a game. I know high school football teams that draw better than that.
This makes economic sense for Northeastern, they can (as mentioned in an earlier post) put the money towards their hockey team, put it towards upgrading dorms, or invest the money for any future University project.
The thing that surprises me more is that more Division I-AA programs with poor attendance hasn't drop the guillotine on their football programs. Division I-AA and Division II football is a tough business, and I admire those who work very hard to make their programs successful.
When Division I-AA schools are competing against the Division I-A powers on a Saturday, have very little or no t.v. exposure, which equals very little or no t.v. money, it's very difficult to turn a profit.
Interesting thought about the America East's cupability in Northeast's decision. How much was the American East's decision or indecision driven by the non-football schools?
A lot of athletics administrators on the Division III prefer conferences where most if not all sports compete because everyone remains on equal footing in terms of expenses related to budget, recruiting, and administrative support.
Sports like football, ice hockey, and to lesser extent, wresting, change the equation. If those sports are not in the same conference as the other sports such as basketball, softball, baseball, etc., then it creates problems for the school.
How different would the eastern conferences look had the American East and not the A-10 absord the Yankee Conference?
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