Quote:
Originally Posted by nmculbreth
Was Pitt a draw? West Virginia and Louisville may have been minor draws but it isn't like either are marquee draws that brought in a huge influx of fans that wouldn't have been there otherwise. If UC is relevant on the national stage they'll draw, if they aren't they won't... I just don't see replacing ho-hum opponents with worse ho-hum opponents is going to have that big of an impact.
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I want to be respectful about this, but your argument is just silly. In recent years, the WVU and UL games were held at PBS and drew almost double what the draw for an average game at Nippert. Our closest geographic rival in this new conference is nearly 500 miles away. Louisville was under 100; WVU was ~150; and, Pitt was 280 (still only 4 hours). Geography aside, those are three teams that have been fairly consistently ranked and have a great football tradition. The notion that UC isn't somehow harmed when the competition drops from those three to Tulane, ECU, and Memphis is crazy. You are right that they have to be relevant on the national stage to draw well; however, that completely misses the point that it's near impossible to be relevant at any level when your biggest conference game on the schedule is UCF.