It amazes me that people that have never left their own little bubble think Waterloo is this big, bad violent city. Yes, there is a 10 block area that you have to go out of your way to get to that's a little rough occasionally but the rest of the city is just like any other mid-sized midwestern city.
Oelwien makes since and so does NFV, Osage borderline but the rest are very small in comparison.
They can't compete anywhere due to socioeconomics so the NICL gives them at least a puncher's chance. I think they'll do whatever Sumner-Fredericksburg does.
I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't. That really stabilizes the NEIC and makes the Upper Iowa expansion easier for them with NFV gone. The NICL goes back to 14 and can go to two divisions instead of the pods they're using now.
Fewer schools makes scheduling really hard when you've got 9 or 10 dates to fill for BB and VB.
That's the right play by the NEIC. I could see NFV and Osage being interested. Osage was a member of the NEIC waaay back in the day. I can't imagine Oelwein comes back having just left, but I suppose stranger things have happened. MFL-MM would probably be the next most likely. They can make 7 members work ...they have for decades, but 8 would be better especially if it's the right 8. The conference is over 100 years old so I hope it survives. That would be a lot of tradition to see go by the boards.
