[Purple Haize]

Would Coastal be announcing this if they did not think we were moving to an FBS conference? My inclination is no.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhh, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this has nothing to do with Liberty. The two aren't inter-dependent, Coastal has their own priorities. The auto-bid certainly comes into play, but they could protect the BSC if they felt so. Coastal has been trying to move up for well over 5 years now.

The athletic facility upgrades have more to do with it than Liberty.

This is why no one likes you. Because you obviously haven't realized it IS all about us!

[g-webb1994]

I thought the SOCON basically told CCU thanks but no thanks when they expressed interest a few years back? Who is leaving the CAA for CCU to replace?

Sometimes I wonder if staying in the revolving door A-Sun as a full member would have been the better alternative for G-W.

[ballah09]

If KK wanted Kennesaw State, he would've invited them already. He already said no to UNCC and no MEAC teams are going to leave their conference with an Auto Bid.

KK is just sitting there doing to nothing to improve football. I wouldn't be shock he doesn't make any moves until Liberty, Coastal, or Stony Brook leave. By then there would be no Auto Bid and no team is going to leave an auto bid conference to join.

[rogers3]

. As far as Nielsen markets go for TV, Lynchburg/Roanoke is a combined area with 150k more TV households to the TV market that CCU is in (http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corp ... ration.pdf). The larger market argument doesn't hold up there at all.

Really we're lumping Lynchburg in with Roanoke now? If the two towns are looked at straight up who has more of a media market?

For the last twenty or thirty years, at least... and I'm surprised that Blacksburg/Christiansburg is included as well.

The article seemed more like wishful thinking for CCU as opposed to an eventuality.

[R i]

Really we're lumping Lynchburg in with Roanoke now?

As absurd as it is, and it is absurd, of the 4 major broadcast networks in Lynchburg, 3 of them are located in Roanoke. I can't stand watching the nightly news and having to put up with a bunch of Roanoke news I don't care about.

And I dont watch ABC nightly news for the same reason.

[ATrain]

Lynchburg/Roanoke/Danville has always been one media market since I've been alive.

For the record, unless it involves Liberty, I don't care about news in any of those cities anymore.

[RVAparks]

You can't complain about Roanoke-Lynchburg when Myrtle Beach ia combined with Florence.

Guys, CCU is wisely throwing their name out there so they are forgotten. But they are not likely to leave before us unless Appy bolts so SoCon might eant to quickly plug a hole.

Did you miss the part where I said compare the two straight up or did you just totally ignore it?

[BJWilliams]

I think Sly is the last person you want to challenge on that RVA...

[flamehunter]

You can't complain about Roanoke-Lynchburg when Myrtle Beach ia combined with Florence.

Guys, CCU is wisely throwing their name out there so they are forgotten. But they are not likely to leave before us unless Appy bolts so SoCon might eant to quickly plug a hole.

Did you miss the part where I said compare the two straight up or did you just totally ignore it?

But comparing the two straight up is irrelevant because that's not how the powers that be look at it.

[RVAparks]

Well...
1) I wasn't complaining
2) I clearly said compare the two straight up and who is the bigger media market? Myrtle Beach vs. Lynchburg. Not Myrtle Beach/Florence vs. Lynchburg/Roanoke.

I'm sorry if it came off brash. I've had these conversations with CAA officials before and I'm merely conveying what that told me.

And its not irrelevant to compare the two straight up. The "powers that be" aren't necessarily Nielsen but rather the conference, their corporate partners, and media partnerships. If you went to Comcast in Philly to present on the NBC Sports contract and asked we're looking to expand our footprint to southwest Virginia area or the Myrtle Beach area, which one do you think they'd be more impressed by? Also which market has the opportunities to gain more constituents and stakeholders?

[Sly Fox]

Anyone worth their salt would know that CCU is nothing more than an afterthought to the Northern retirees who make up the majority of MB's growth. Any growth in Lynchburg is directly attributable to LU.

And for the record, neither ADI would be of any note to any national network. The CAA might have interest in CCU as an excuse to have a paid trip with their families a time or two a year. But not because of TV households.

[RVAparks]

And for the record, neither ADI would be of any note to any national network. The CAA might have interest in CCU as an excuse to have a paid trip with their families a time or two a year. But not because of TV households.

Would it be of any note to regional networks? Because a big part of that contract included the CSN networks who will also be changing their branding.

[jcmanson]

Now if I could just get u guys to stop quoting certain peeps

[Sly Fox]

And for the record, neither ADI would be of any note to any national network. The CAA might have interest in CCU as an excuse to have a paid trip with their families a time or two a year. But not because of TV households.

Would it be of any note to regional networks? Because a big part of that contract included the CSN networks who will also be changing their branding.

Nope. Liberty has a much larger student body & alumni base in the Mid-Atlantic & SE regions than CCU.

[RVAparks]

You can't look at it from a Liberty-centric mindset and until you don't there is not sense in discussing this. Objectivity is seriously lacking.

[BJWilliams]

And for the record, neither ADI would be of any note to any national network. The CAA might have interest in CCU as an excuse to have a paid trip with their families a time or two a year. But not because of TV households.

Would it be of any note to regional networks? Because a big part of that contract included the CSN networks who will also be changing their branding.

Nope. Liberty has a much larger student body & alumni base in the Mid-Atlantic & SE regions than CCU.

Like I said RVA...Sly is the LAST person you want to challenge on things like this

[NotAJerry]

Well...
1) I wasn't complaining
2) I clearly said compare the two straight up and who is the bigger media market? Myrtle Beach vs. Lynchburg. Not Myrtle Beach/Florence vs. Lynchburg/Roanoke.

I'm sorry if it came off brash. I've had these conversations with CAA officials before and I'm merely conveying what that told me.

And its not irrelevant to compare the two straight up. The "powers that be" aren't necessarily Nielsen but rather the conference, their corporate partners, and media partnerships. If you went to Comcast in Philly to present on the NBC Sports contract and asked we're looking to expand our footprint to southwest Virginia area or the Myrtle Beach area, which one do you think they'd be more impressed by? Also which market has the opportunities to gain more constituents and stakeholders?

There isn't anyone out there that isn't going to look at Nielsen markets, Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Combined Statistical Areas. The MSA and CSA numbers are a tossup between the two and the Nielsen market is tremendously in favor of Lynchburg. You can't just make something up and build an argument around it. The things that are actually used are in favor of Lynchburg over MB. That's really not up for debate.

[NotAJerry]

You can't look at it from a Liberty-centric mindset and until you don't there is not sense in discussing this. Objectivity is seriously lacking.

You're making up things and saying others aren't being objective? You were clearly wrong on the market size issue. Now you're trying to create some vacation location viewpoint that is also far from relevant. The objective issues all favor Liberty with the exception of religion. Liberty brings a larger student body, faster growth, larger alumni base, a better national name than CCU, while having a comparable Metropolitan Statistical Area and larger TV market. Those are the objective facts.

[RVAparks]

I completely agree with what you're saying statistically. I apologize if I'm not being clear, but I simply conveying conversations that I've had with friends in the CAA in the past. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they (the conference) can spin and market Coastal better than they can Liberty. With the FBS situation now, this is pretty much irrelevant.

I'm not trying to spin Coastal as a vacation market at all, but I do feel as if a lot of people feel as if Liberty is an anomaly and that they are in a bit of a bubble. I understand the stats, I get that Liberty has more traditional students, more alumni, larger footprint, etc... but in reality its a niche market. If Liberty had the type of national or regional appeal that is being portrayed then more games would fit into CSN programming, in my opinion, rather then simply eating space on MASN, a network desperate for programming. For example if CSN-MA had an opportunity to broadcast Liberty-Presbyterian or American-Lehigh, then who do you think they will choose.

You also have to remember that Liberty is still very much taboo and holds a negative stigma in a lot of people's mind. Is that perception correct, absolutely not, but its still a reality and a reality that remains in the minds of a lot of people that make a lot of major decisions. I realize this is a totally separate argument from the original, but I believe to a conference that has 9 out 12 public institutions and with its current footprint (act as if Liberty is not looking to go FBS) that Coastal Carolina is going to be a much more appealing choice to Liberty in many high ranking peoples minds, and I've heard that first hand from a slew of decision makers. Luckily this is not the current situation and Liberty will likely get to pursue FBS affiliation without the close-knit politics from a conference like the CAA.

Just to put another hypothetical out there, say the Sun Belt has to decide between Liberty and Appalachian State. App State obviously has more traditional students, but if we include alumni, TV markets, other things talked about in this thread then which school do you think Sun Belt presidents would find more appealing?

[Sly Fox]

Look at CSN-MA's penetration and then explain to me why they would have much of any interest in a Liberty-Presbyterian matchup. MASN's penetration matches up and as you mentioned they are more than willing to take our programming. I'm not sure how this is in any way relevant to CCU's pursuit of CAA or SoCon membership in relation to LU or otherwise.

PS - Shout out to my homey Jenk-Jenks and all of my other former colleagues & friends at CSN-MA.

[Purple Haize]

Guys, trying to challenge RVAparks is futile. He interned for the CAA. He was on the athletic advisory committee at Longwood. He took a field trip to the combine last year. And he has a LONGWOOD BLOG. Nobody here can challenge that.

I bet CJSWEAT could!