Leatherneck Nation

I know that the Summit League men's soccer will be down to 5 schools. If more schools are not found I expect the Summit League may drop men's soccer as a conference sport. How would Western Illinois fans feel about the OVC taking some of the Summit League schools for men's soccer only? I would not mind Missouri-Kansas City being in the OVC for men's soccer.

I dont have a problem allowing more soccer affiliates into the OVC mix. There are already several there (I had to look up HCU).  Assuming the regular season champion always hosts the tournament, I would maybe change it so that the highest standing conference regular season NON-AFFILIATE always gets to host.  There should be some incentive for being a full-fledged conference member IMHO.

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 8:26 am I dont have a problem allowing more soccer affiliates into the OVC mix. There are already several there (I had to look up HCU).  Assuming the regular season champion always hosts the tournament, I would maybe change it so that the highest standing conference regular season NON-AFFILIATE always gets to host.  There should be some incentive for being a full-fledged conference member IMHO.
 

I like that plan. I also have no problem with a few more soccer affiliates. Schools with men's soccer are: Denver, Kansas City, Omaha, Oral Roberts, and St. Thomas. I'd be a little worried about adding a lot of travel though. It'd only be one sport, but it's still a lot of extra miles for a non-revenue sport. I'd be ok with maybe Kansas City and Oral Roberts joining as men's soccer affiliates, since they could be travel partners and they're still a bus ride for us (although ORU would be a fairly long bus ride). Denver, St. Thomas, and to a lesser extent, Omaha, are a bit too far outside the OVC footprint to get much support from most of the schools, I would think.

I think baseball is in a similar boat 

The Summit League has Northern Colorado as an affiliate member for Baseball.  That gives them 6 teams for 2024.

Summit League adding Delaware (yes...Delaware) as a men's soccer affiliate in 2025: https://thesummitleague.org/news/2024/4 ... -2025.aspx