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Sun Belt Commissioner Confident In Conference Structure As Realignment Looms

Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson yesterday called the conference's planned membership "'perfect' in terms of geography, and he stressed that he envisions a period of stability in which member institutions will enjoy budding regional rivalries and see their football programs prosper," according to Brett Martel of the AP. But Benson said conference realignment among the Power Five conferences, "If the Big 12 or SEC or ACC made that phone call to a Sun Belt president or chancellor, he or she would be foolish not to have that discussion." But Benson added, "The Sun Belt has reached a level of sustainability and stability (that) when a phone call comes from the president or chancellor of one of the Sun Belt's peer conferences to a Sun Belt president or chancellor, and the answer will be, 'Thank you very much, but my university is very happy where we are.' That's exactly where I believe the Sun Belt is today." Martel writes stability is something the Sun Belt "hasn't had in a while," as five schools have left since '13. But Benson hopes the Sun Belt "will begin a new era of stability" by '18, when the conference "will host its inaugural championship game" for football. Benson added that Sun Belt revenues have "increased tenfold in the past three years, meaning that member institutions now receive distributions exceeding" $1M annually (AP, 7/26). South Alabama AD Joel Erdmann yesterday said that while Big 12 expansion is "certainly on his radar as an interested party, he's not yet worried that the Sun Belt will be raided once again." Erdmann said, "You've got to understand your horizon, and you've got to understand what your landscape is, what your potential movements are. At the same time, (one cannot) lose focus of what you can control" (AL.com, 7/25).

HERE WE GO AGAIN: In Virginia, Harry Minium writes no conference has been "damaged more by realignment in recent years than Conference USA," and Commissioner Judy MacLeod "has been there to witness the carnage." In a worst-case scenario, C-USA "could lose three schools as the effects of Big 12 expansion trickle down." MacLeod: "We’ve survived it before. But what is so frustrating is that our 14 schools are just starting to come together and get to know each other. We’ll work through this. We’ll be prepared if things happen. If change occurs, we’ll try to be open and honest about what happens next.” She added that C-USA "might not expand if it loses a member or two, or it could act quickly to get back to 14 schools" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 7/26). 

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