Last month it was announced that Belmont would be the leaving the A-Sun and becoming 12th member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
While it was announced on the 13th of May, Belmont will not officially join the OVC until July 1, 2012. Belmont president Robert Fisher was intentional in explaining that the move was a strategic one that was made for the student-athletes and the budget of the university.
Belmont will have to pay $200,000 to leave the Atlantic Sun Conference, however, the school’s travel costs will drop immensely.
“You don’t have to get on a plane to go anywhere,” Dr. Fisher said. “And the students won’t have to miss as many classes.”
Missing classes is something that Belmont and Lipscomb have dealt with in the past because of the long travels the two schools make to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. This bodes even worse for Lipscomb now, since their travel partner will no longer be making the trips.
Usually, Lipscomb and Belmont would share a plane when traveling to Florida to play teams like North Florida and Jacksonville. Now, Belmont’s longest road trip will be a six hour bus ride to Edwardsville, Ill. to play Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
All of Belmont’s current teams – other than men’s soccer – will be recognized by the OVC in 2012. And despite reports, Belmont does not plan to add football anytime soon.
With the addition of the Bruins, the OVC now has five teams in Tennessee: Austin Peay State, the University of Tennessee at Martin, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State and now, Belmont.
Think of it this way; TSU traveled 1,788 miles last season for in-conference games. Lipscomb, however, traveled over three-times that amount. Splitting time in the air and on the road, the Bisons traveled 5,458 miles during basketball season.
Here is the deal-breaker; that was just the conference schedule. Factor in the trips to North Carolina, Texas and Alabama and the number grows even larger. The amount of money that is being saved by Belmont is tremendous.
That begs the question, “Will Lipscomb follow Belmont to the OVC?”
We’ll have more on that, later.
Oh, and don’t fret, LUnatics. The Battle of the Boulevard will still be played.