Tell me what comes to mind when I mention the Atlantic 10: Xavier’s run to the Elite Eight. St. Joe’s near miss at an undefeated season in ’04. John Chaney. John Calipari and his 1996 Massachusetts Minutemen going all the way to the Final Four.
I’ll reckon you didn’t answer FBS football.
The time is ripe for the Atlantic 10 to lay a foundation for a Division I-A football league. Teams like Temple, SUNY-Buffalo, and East Carolina would love a new Eastern Division I conference. UNC-Charlotte and Massachusetts have legitimate Division I aspirations.
How can a 14-team Division I conference where only three schools are considering I-A football sponsor the sport at that level? A little bit of compromise—and one monster plan.
The Atlantic 10 currently has three schools that are/will (eventually) sponsor FBS football: UNC-Charlotte, Temple, and UMass.
UNC-CHARLOTTE
NC-Charlotte is likely starting up a football program, preferably at the FBS level. The board of directors will vote on officially adding a football program in September, which would likely start play in the 2013 season without conference affiliation. Charlotte will likely also break ground on a shiny new football stadium as part of the project.
TEMPLE
The Owls are the only A-10 team to currently sponsor Division I football. They play at Lincoln Financial field, home of the NFL’s Eagles, a stadium that seats 60,000. Though the Temple football program has fallen on hard times, they did average 30k attendance in 2007-08. Temple currently plays football in the MAC.
UMASS
The Minutemen are the least likely of the three schools to sponsor D-I football. They would need to make major upgrades to Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium to meet FBS attendance minimums.
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