Official Word: Temple Joining MAC
The Blade on the arrival of Temple in the MAC (sort of)
The Blade has it today. Temple is coming on board. They will start their football in '06, playing six conference games which is less than everyone else plays.
In an important nuance, the league has extracted promises for them to play MAC teams in Men's and Women's basketball, which I think is an important development. They are going to stay in the A-10, however.
According to the article, the MAC thinks that Temple is good for the MAC in football because of their presence in a large media market, no matter how much they suck (that last part was mine).
As an aside, the six conference games could be a competitive issue if they were ever to challenge for a title. It could give them an unfair advantage or disadvantage, depending on who was on the schedule. Hopefully, they will eventually play a full schedule.
You might argue that we already had our share of the worst teams in I-A football, and adding another one might be counter-productive.
IMO, its a neutral move at best. I'm not thrilled, and I'm not distraught. Exactly how many basketball games we get will help determine if this is a success. And, I might add, if any of those games take place in our gyms.
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