Crumbling conference – ODU leaves the CAA

The Old Dominion University Monarchs announced Thursday morning that they are moving to Conference USA effective July 1st, 2013.

May 17, 2012; 12:48 PM • by Aaron Williams

The Old Dominion University Monarchs announced Thursday morning that they are moving to Conference USA effective July 1st, 2013. The announcement comes just two days after VCU announced that they are moving to the Atlantic 10 in July 2012.

Despite only entering their fourth consecutive football season, the Monarch Division I-AA football team is eager to make the jump to the FBS series. The Monarchs will have to pay a $250,000 exit fee and forfeit $400,000 in revenue, but athletics boosters have already pledged $3 million to help with the transition.

According to CAA bylaws, ODU will not be allowed to participate in any conference tournaments during their “lame duck season.” After losing Georgia State to the Sunbelt in 2013 and VCU to the A10 in 2012, the CAA tournament will be down to nine teams. Additionally, Towson and UNCW could face postseason bans in 2013 for low APR scores. That means seven, yes only seven, teams could be allowed to compete in the 2013 CAA tournament in the Richmond Coliseum.

There is still time for the conference leadership to make exceptions, but for now the CAA favorite Drexel’s path to the NCAA Tournament just got shorter and a whole lot easier.