There will also be times when JMU gets a national TV audience for a sold-out home matchup with Appalachian State. There will be some days when the Dukes play mid-week road games against teams from the West Division in front of average crowds. There will be weirdly frustrating losses to teams like South Alabama. JMU won’t just wander into the league and start demolishing teams. I’ll end by saying we should expect some growing pains. That’s a huge deal for JMU’s potential national exposure, which has elite athletic programs that often compete in the shadows until the postseason. That’s all more accessible than FloSports. Expect that moving forward for JMU, which may also find itself on ESPN’s streaming services. But if you follow college football, you’ll often see Sun Belt teams on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. We hear the fans upset about the move, but it’s important to note JMU’s athletic spending is much closer to that of top-tier G5 teams than CAA schools.Ĭancel your FloSports subscription!!! Okay, maybe not yet. It wasn’t sustainable for JMU to remain in the CAA. JMU spends significantly more money on athletics than CAA peers. Heck, could the Dukes eventually build out Bridgeforth to seat 35-40K instead of the 25,000 it seats now? That might not be a necessity, but a potential home game with UVA, Virginia Tech or even a ranked Sun Belt peer like Appalachian State could certainly draw 40,000 ish people. We’re also expecting donors (big and small) to be more interested in donating to the athletic department now that the Dukes will have a chance to compete with FBS schools regularly on the gridiron. While the school will need to rely less on student fees to fund the athletic department, the media rights deal within the Sun Belt (ESPN deal) is more lucrative. Increasing competition on the field will likely boost fan interest, as we’ll go from watching the Dukes obliterate most CAA foes to a much more challenging path to conference titles.įinancially, the move makes so much sense. They’ll be an asset to the schedule of some P5 programs. The stigma around scheduling an FCS team is removed, as the Dukes will be competing in a top-tier Group of Five conference. The Dukes will also have better opportunities to schedule teams like UVA and Virginia Tech at the FBS level. There are numerous proud football programs and traditions within the Sun Belt, and JMU will only add to that group. the Mountain West Conference has some quality programs, but could Boise State or others be on the way out? The MAC is solid, but not overwhelmingly good. The Dukes will join a conference that has a legitimate case that it’s the top Group of Five football conference in the country.Īfter realignment, the AAC looks weakened. This is incredible news for JMU’s athletic department. These questions will be answered soon enough, and we’re excited to learn the answers. Is that accurate? Would that make 2022 a transition year for JMU football, potentially making the Dukes ineligible for the FCS postseason next fall? We saw a recent report from The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy that mentioned the 2023 season as a target date for teams moving into new leagues to begin play in their new conferences. Where do those JMU programs live in the future? The Sun Belt doesn’t have men’s soccer, field hockey, lacrosse or swim and dive. The official announcement will add clarity here, but there are still some questions. Each division features programs in geographic proximity to each other, which helps with regional rivalries and travel costs. That gives the Sun Belt two seven-team divisions. Those two squads would be divisional peers with Louisiana, Texas State, South Alabama, ULM and Arkansas State. Troy would move to the West along with incoming addition Southern Miss. JMU would join the East with Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, Old Dominion, Marshall, Georgia State and Georgia Southern. With the new additions, the current divisions shown above would change. JMU would likely be a part of the Sun Belt’s East Division. Let’s take a quick look at what this move might mean. This would make the Sun Belt a 14-team league, and the benefits to JMU would be tremendous. Think had this first, but I expect the Sun Belt to add Southern Miss, Marshall, JMU and ODU as early as early next week- Matt Brown October 22, 2021
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