JK37 wrote:No football. Initiated by USC-U because travel is so much further and more expensive for them in ASun.
I think it's a good move for both parties.
For Upstate: travel is so much better. Everything is under four hours and mostly on the interstate except for Liberty/Longwood and those two will likely be paired together travel wise. Not to mention four schools that are under two hours away. That's a pretty nice setup.
For the Big South: replaces the mid-sized state school it lost in Coastal. Keeps the privates vs public balanced (6 private, 5 public). Protects itself if Liberty or Presbyterian leave. Keeps the footprint in the mainly in the Carolinas. Gives possibilities for local rivalries to develop.
All-in-all, Liberty is the outlier in the league as the school wanting to spend a bunch of money on athletics. Upstate fits in with the rest of the schools who like athletics but don't want to spend a ton of cash on them.