Smaller Universities Versus Larger

Major Conference Markets

• 
  Boston College #5
  
• 
  Virginia Tech #67
  
• 
  Miami #17
  

• 
  Cincinnati #33
  
• 
  Louisville #50
  
• 
  South Florida #13
  

Regarding the Radford Peer Group described earlier in this response to Question #3, the Consultants identified eight peer institutions that changed conference or NCAA divisional affiliations in the past five years. The television markets of the eight that moved ranged from 61^st to 182^nd. RU is located in the 67^th ranked television market. This clearly shows that a large television viewing market will not necessarily make an institution more attractive to a potential conference.

As a practical matter for Radford and most I-AAA programs, media market considerations are not primary matters for concern; that is because they are beyond the institution’s control, for the most part. Radford’s marketing outreach must be targeted at the local community and in Roanoke, to the degree practical. The University’s primary emphasis must be on confirming the goals for its athletics program, incrementally improving the chances for its competitive success and then effectively telling the story about that success.

There are several important considerations when assessing how a change in conferences might affect the University and its publics.

1. 
   Prospective Students/ Recruitment – A change in conference is an opportunity for a university to recruit students from several new regions. The university’s name will be publicized in a wide variety of markets that it may not have been able to reach before. It is a good opportunity to expand the footprint of the school and attract out-of-state students who pay higher tuition rates. Boston College was highly influenced by this opportunity to have a tie to rising populations of college age students in the traditional footprint of the ACC.
   

2. 
   Current Students/ Enrollment Management – One of the trends in college athletics over the last few years has been the decrease in student attendance at an institution’s sporting events. Several factors ranging from lack of interest, to leaving campus, to having to work have lead to this decline. One of the things that a change in conference could do is help promote and establish some rivalries with other schools. Some schools have “natural rivalries” (e.g. Virginia – Virginia Tech) but even these “natural rivals” will be taken to a whole new level once conference play is introduced. At the highest levels of Division I, gaining a broader geography is advantageous, however at the lower levels of Division I-AA and I-AAA, strong regional identity is preferable. The introduction of both scholarship and non-scholarship football at the I-AA and I-AAA levels has also been used as an enrollment management source for the retention of male students who are decreasing in percentage to women at all institutions.
   

3. 
   Alumni – Similar to the above comments with an expanded footprint of the university, alumni in different areas will become more involved and it could mean alumni trips to different parts of the country. The rivalry concerns mentioned above will also apply here.
   

4. 
   Fundraising – There should be a renewed excitement about moving into a new conference. New schools will be coming to play, new cities to travel to, a great sense of pride as the program moves forward, and a sense of commitment from the school in its athletic program. All of this promotes the general feeling of goodwill that is needed to solicit donations.
   

5. 
   Academics – The one negative that could be brought forward is that if the change in affiliation brings about increased travel time then it could lead to more missed classes by student-athletes. Not all schools have had the luxury of traveling just a few hours on a bus to get to all of its conference opponents. Schools in the west spend much more time traveling than schools in the east. Students are flexible and they will adjust in order to succeed in the classroom. The institution will have to ensure that its academic support system is at the best that it can be in order to aid in the transition and communicate with professors to work with the students that are traveling. Additionally, this is a chance for the school to align itself with fine academic institutions that can increase the exposure of its academic programs. There are some recent examples of seeking conference affiliation with superior or higher ranking academic universities to support the growth of academic programs; this clearly included Florida State, Miami’s and Boston College’s seeking membership in the ACC to join the five top-ranking national universities already there. (But they were able to make the move only because they had nationally competitive football and basketball programs). The development of the Patriot League was explicitly for academic purposes and even at the Division III level, NYU has benefited dramatically from its athletic association in the University Athletic Association with such U.S. News top ten ranked national universities as the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins and Washington (St. Louis) University in its rise from a commuter university to a top 50 national university.
   

6. 
   Revenue – There will be additional costs to stepping into a new and more competitive league. One must analyze this carefully to see if there is additional revenue available to offset these new costs. Are there increases in the NCAA men’s basketball distributions? Is there a television contract that could bring in additional revenues? What has the conference distribution been over the last few years and how much is in the conference reserve? Are there additional marketing opportunities and exposures with the new schools and cities? Are the other schools athletic programs student fee supported and are the schools fees in line with the others? All of this must be weighed against the expenses listed below.
   

7. 
   Expenses – Are there any exit fees from the current conference and advance notice requirements? What is the buy-in to the present conference and when will the school become a full equity member? Will sports be recruiting different areas and will recruiting budgets need to be increased? National recruiting is the single biggest item increasing university athletic budgets nationally. Are salaries competitive with those that are currently in the conference? Lower salaries, even adjusted for cost of living in what is becoming a regional or national hiring market is going to impact retention, leaving an institution in the unenviable position of training talented coaches and staff for other institutions with little reward. The lag of the Big South Conference behind medians for regional institutions is cause for concern in terms of coaching pay. As a practical matter Radford might well be in the position of having its most successful coaches leave for institutions paying higher salaries.
   

8. 
   Competitive Sports – Will all of the schools sports be competitive in the new conference? The school will have to make a commitment to upgrade facilities and budgets for sports to be competitive in the new league. A school may have to prioritize which sports it will be competitive in and focus on upgrading those first. Especially sports where a competitive mark can be made regionally or nationally.
   

9. 
   Media Markets – A school that is under consideration for a new conference will often focus on its television market. This is often used by a conference to exclude a school from consideration but rarely used for inclusion. Case in point; Syracuse was under consideration for the ACC in the 77^th ranked television market, Other potential members came from higher markets; however, Syracuse has well-established programs that could add to the appeal and success of the new conference. A school that is changing conferences may be able to expand on its current market by expanding its radio network and get more coverage in new cities on air and in print. Radford certainly ranks strongly among its Big South peers in media market size.
   

10. 
    Institutional Goals – What does the school hope to gain from a shift in conferences and does the shift get it closer to where it wants to be? Does the school want to be competitive in basketball and have a chance to get into the NCAA tournament? If so, it is better to get into a league that has multiple bids to the NCAA tournament. If the new league is not a multiple bid league does the league make the school more attractive than it is now to a conference that does offer multiple bids (i.e., have the schools that have come out of the league had success in the tournament).
    

1. 
   What are the factors used to determine a “good fit”?
   
2. 
   How would those factors be applied to Radford and potential Division I conferences?
   

1. 
   What are the factors used to determine a “good fit”?
   

The factors in the selection of a conference focus on three (3) primary categories of issues as shown below:

B. Organizational & Competitive Issues

• 
  Compatibility of institutions: The media and public frequently identify institutions through their association with other schools, thus “You are whom you play”. Mutual respect increases the likelihood of healthy, natural rivalries
  
• 
  Universities with similar values, missions and resources
  
• 
  Opportunity for improvement in regional or national competitiveness of sports
  
• 
  Creating “a level playing field” against schools with similar values, missions and resources
  
• 
  Enhanced opportunities for achieving competitive excellence
  
• 
  Sports sponsorship compatibility
  
• 
  Access to scheduling games
  
• 
  Access to conference championships
  
• 
  Post-season competition opportunities
  

3. Demographic & Financial Issues

• 
  Geographic proximity of member institutions to allow fans of both schools to travel to games and develop rivalries
  
• 
  Team travel expenses
  
• 
  Financial strength of the conference and its member institutions
  
• 
  Conference membership fees & revenue sharing
  
• 
  Facilities of member institutions
  
• 
  Television contracts
  
• 
  Media markets
  
• 
  Local market considerations of each member
  
• 
  Strength of fan following of programs at member institutions
  
• 
  General student recruitment: visibility and presence in current and target markets for the recruitment of all students
  

4. Academic Issues

• 
  Academic integrity & reputation of members
  
• 
  Admissions standards and graduation rates of members
  
• 
  Academic eligibility standards of conference
  
• 
  Academic similarities and possible academic exchange between member faculties
  
• 
  Class absence implications from travel of student-athletes
  

For the past thirty years, the history of conference realignments has demonstrated that financial and competitive issues have been the driving forces behind most changes of members and creation of new Division I conferences. Since the NCAA never had authority to televise regular season basketball games and it lost that authority over football in a 1986 Federal Court ruling, each Division I conference manages its own television contracts; this has produced enormous revenues and political power for the Division I-A conferences. (The NCAA controls television rights for post-season competition in all sports except Division I-A football). Often, Division I-AA and I-AAA conferences struggle to achieve any TV contracts and often must pay production costs and sometimes buy the airtime just to gain the exposure for their teams. In this commercial landscape, academic concerns have been secondary, at best.

2. How would those factors be applied to Radford and potential Division I conferences?
Radford University’s geographic location in the state of Virginia establishes a major parameter in determining the best possible choice of conference affiliation for the future. A list and brief profile of Division I universities in Virginia is presented as Exhibit 8.
In response to the question above, the Consultants present perspectives on Radford’s current home, the Big South Conference, and three (3) other Division I conferences that potentially could provide an appropriate setting for the Radford University intercollegiate athletics program. The conferences are those mentioned in Question 1 of the RFP, as follows:

• 
  Big South Conference
  
• 
  Atlantic Sun Conference
  
• 
  Southern Conference
  
• 
  Colonial Athletic Association
  

1. 
   Big South
   

Organizational & Competitive Issues

• 
  Radford is a charter member of the BSC (1983)
  
• 
  BSC offers an appropriate level of athletics competition (at least until Radford improves dramatically)
  
• 
  Access to post-season is best of all four conferences
  
• 
  Radford is the largest institution.
  
• 
  BSC offers regional rivalry opportunities.
  
• 
  Sports sponsorship is mostly congruent
  

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