[BillBradley]

Here's a peek at some figures for the two D1 non-football conferences that have a bunch of members in CA.



The top half of the Big West seems a lot more like what we're used to.  Heck, it looks a lot like the Big Ten (except for the football.)  

Each western league has a little bit of baseball history to point to: 

Cal State Fullerton (Big West) has 18 CWS appearances and 4 titles.  
Fresno State (MWC) has 4 CWS appearances and 1 title.  
Pepperdine (WCC) has 2 CWS appearances and 1 title.  

As for the remnants of the Pac:  

Stanford has 19 CWS appearances and 2 titles.
Oregon State has 7 CWS appearances and 3 titles.  
California has 6 CWS appearances and 2 titles.
Washington State has 1 runner-up finish.

Very helpful, thanks Canalejas. The UC Schools help to strengthen the Big West, but the bottom half is dismal, both academically and athletically. Could you also post something like this for the MWC? Also, my somewhat educated guess is that the WCC offers better competition, top to bottom, in men's hoops, women's hoops, and women's soccer.

The figure $6M has been thrown around as a ballpark number for what the MWC members make annually. I would think we could come pretty close to that if we played football as an independent and had an interesting and competitive schedule that included ND, USC, Cal, BYU, and a few others with big fan bases. It could take a few years to build it up and figure out the best media partner(s) but $6M seems very achievable. If that assumption is true, I see no reason to join the MWC, which comes with an academic brand hit and thrashing of our other sports from a recruiting standpoint. The WCC would offer the softest landing, IMO (although there is the religion affiliation that we'd need to get around). If that doesn't work, I like the Big West next. Of course all of these options pail in comparison to membership in a Power 4 conference.

[BillBradley]

Here's a peek at some figures for the two D1 non-football conferences that have a bunch of members in CA.



The top half of the Big West seems a lot more like what we're used to.  Heck, it looks a lot like the Big Ten (except for the football.)  

Each western league has a little bit of baseball history to point to: 

Cal State Fullerton (Big West) has 18 CWS appearances and 4 titles.  
Fresno State (MWC) has 4 CWS appearances and 1 title.  
Pepperdine (WCC) has 2 CWS appearances and 1 title.  

As for the remnants of the Pac:  

Stanford has 19 CWS appearances and 2 titles.
Oregon State has 7 CWS appearances and 3 titles.  
California has 6 CWS appearances and 2 titles.
Washington State has 1 runner-up finish.

Very helpful, thanks Canalejas. The UC Schools help to strengthen the Big West, but the bottom half is dismal, both academically and athletically. Could you also post something like this for the MWC? Also, my somewhat educated guess is that the WCC offers better competition, top to bottom, in men's hoops, women's hoops, and women's soccer.

The figure $6M has been thrown around as a ballpark number for what the MWC members make annually. I would think we could come pretty close to that if we played football as an independent and had an interesting and competitive schedule that included ND, USC, Cal, BYU, and a few others with big fan bases. It could take a few years to build it up and figure out the best media partner(s) but $6M seems very achievable. If that assumption is true, I see no reason to join the MWC, which comes with an academic brand hit and thrashing of our other sports from a recruiting standpoint. The WCC would offer the softest landing, IMO (although there is the religion affiliation that we'd need to get around). If that doesn't work, I like the Big West next. Of course all of these options pail in comparison to membership in a Power 4 conference.