Can't compete without money. Econ 101. Cash is king. More importantly to me - I really enjoy playing the more difficult schedule. It sounds like the players do too. Great teams, great venues.

I wouldn't mind some sort of compromise - maybe a scheduling agreement with some tie in to a NY6 or their bowl games. What I don't know is if our participation would benefit them as much as the revenue sharing for those items would cost them, so I doubt it is even feasible. Also, the devil is in the details - it may still be sucky even with that. Don't know. My guess is they won't give up the cream (those items) without making us a slave to their conference, their crappy reputation as a conference, their crappy schedules and crappy teams, crappy facilities, etc. G5 means permanent mediocrity. Independence leaves the door open for something else. I guess maybe that is it - non risk takers want a conference?

My only significant issue with Independence is the difficulty of getting good bowl games, but all of the rest outweigh that bad versus being in a G5.

It seems the basic debate is winning. The Eeyores don't think we will ever win and need an easy conference. Understandable why they want a G5.