The CAA sure knows how to stay in the news. The conference is starting a new television deal, changing up its membership, strengthening its rules and staying on the front of minds of college basketball fans all over the country. Part of that has been the conference’s decision and some of it is beyond their control, but let’s look at a few key issues the league is currently dealing with.
CAA leaves BracketBusters:
The conference has decided not to participate in ESPN’s BracketBusters series next season. Yes, this is a blow to ESPN, because the CAA annually has some of the top mid-majors in the nation. It could just be the tip of the iceberg. The next few years have a number of key conferences coming up for renewal including the Horizon League, Missouri Valley Conference and West Coast Conference. Despite what some people have said though, I think this was a decision that the CAA made.
A source in another conference said that coaches view BracketBusters as “unnecessary” in its current iteration with the return game being a big point of contention. As those contracts come up, especially for the basketball only conferences, it’s a key issue for ESPN.
One alternative option for the conferences in the future is more “challenge series” type events amongst basketball only conferences. A Horizon League-Missouri Valley Challenge or a CAA-MVC Challenge would make for interesting games and provide a lot of opportunities for quality games.
Of course, this entire narrative is taking place amongst a larger one. One of the reasons the CAA won’t be participating in BracketBusters this season is because the conference is moving to NBC Sports Network. (Though the deal itself didn’t explicitly prevent them from participating.) If ESPN attempts to move most of the inventory for other mid-major conferences to ESPN3, it’s possible they could look towards different media partners.
Georgia State officially leaving:
Monday it became official, Georgia State is leaving for the Sun Belt Conference. This is a move entirely driven by Division I football. The Panthers want to play in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Sun Belt offers that chance. It’s definitely a step down though in terms of basketball competition.
Of course before Ron Hunter showed up last season GSU wasn’t very good at basketball. Now Hunter has to be extremely frustrated.
The move came down on Monday because within the next few days the CAA is going to significantly raise its exit fee. That should at least make some of the other members of the conference think twice before leaving.
Other conference movement rumors:
Georgia State’s departure means that there’s an open spot in the CAA soon. The hot rumor is that Stony Brook might be a team to fill that void. The Seawolves would give Hofstra an instant local rival. They’re also a program on the rise. It’s something the conference would have to consider.
The other aspect of this looming over the CAA is the Atlantic 10’s expansion. Will VCU and George Mason leave? What ripple effect will that have? It seems like the for the next year or so most of the conference members, those not driven by football revenues, are going to be interested in staying. There’s a lot of money currently flowing into the conference from the new TV contract and the NCAA tournament shares George Mason and VCU earned with their Final Four appearances.
One frustrating thing for CAA teams might be the fact that a few of the conference’s schools seem like they won’t be able to participate in the postseason in 2012-13. UNC-Wilmington and Towson might both be ineligible for the postseason due to academic issues. Of course neither would’ve been considered a true contender anyways. Still, it’ll be weird to see a 10-team tournament in Richmond (or nine if GSU is ineligible due to the fact that it’s leaving).
These are open questions should help the madness continue deep into the offseason.
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