Goodbye to Champion Stadium as an official Stadium Visit

On a recent roadtrip I got to thinking about several things I wanted to clean up on the website. There have been a few tweaks I’ve wanted to make on the reviews and rankings and with more ideas coming to my mind, I figured now was as good of a time as any. Here are some of the changes that will occupy me for the next several months:

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- Rankings: I know these are quite subjective and don’t have all that much meaning to me, but there were a couple sections I wanted to change. I did one major change back in 2007 and had to re-rank everything, so I’ll be doing the same here. Also, now that I’ve seen many venues in multiple sports it helps to give a perspective when being able to compare a lot of facilities.

1) Made the Exterior worth 10 points instead of 14. When I first started doing these trips, I valued building architecture a little too much. I didn’t de-value the inside (14pts) because that I feel is the most important part of a stadium. Though first impressions are big, I think a bigger part of the stadium experience instead of the exterior is…….

2) Made the Atmosphere worth 14 points instead of 10. The atmosphere many times makes or breaks a stadium. Tullio Arena may be a dump, but I want to go back because of that atmosphere. I considered giving some points to fan support as the two can go hand in hand, but I felt that atmosphere is a much better gauge.

3) Renamed “Banners” to “Displays”. I used to reserve this to just the banners visible from where the playing surface is. Now, I see more and more stadiums with various plaques, statues, hall of fames and display cases. There was nowhere for me to put boost rankings for these, so I’ve started to count them in “Banners”, which changed to the better representative title of “Displays”

4) Changed the “Game” ranking to “Prestige”. I used a quality of the game ranking because I did this on a personal level for so many years. I always knew it was silly and irrelevant when judging the quality of the stadium experience, so I finally came up with a replacement. There was nowhere in the rankings that really gave credit to a historical venue. So I combined that, along with asking straight out “Do I want to come back?” for a “Prestige” category worth 5 points.

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- More Detailed Reviews: Starting with Citi Field, I went with a more detailed review, breaking down additional parts of the stadium trip. This became more time-consuming on my end, but I enjoyed giving a thorough overview of the whole stadium experience. So, I’ll be going back to do that with the previous 80+ reviews. This will be easier in the later years when I wrote more, but likely will become a struggle when I get to those first 30 venues or so, when I never really focused on things like cost, concourses and food. Obviously this will take a while, but I’m looking forward to going back as it will become well worth it. It also helps for consistency sake, which means I’ll also be fixing that top header to get rid of the game attendance, which I explained that sham here back in August.

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- Saying Goodbye to 3 Venues: I want to do this right and I think its time to say goodbye to three venues that I didn’t truly visit. The 21st visited stadium was Doubleday Field in Cooperstown. I was there to visit the Hall of Fame and while there, I went in to take a look at the stadium while an adult amateur league was going on. It of course was no game and I shouldn’t have counted it (shame on me). They will be removed from the Visits list. Luckily the Hawkeyes from the PGCBL now play there, so there’s still a chance to go have a real visit. The other two venues I removed were a couple places right next to each other in Lake Buena Vista, FL. While the MLB draft was going in the DisneyWorld complex, I saw Champion Stadium and HP Field House (formerly the Milk House). This was on my honeymoon and I have quite a loving wife who gave me an hour to see these two facilities. Now, obviously I didn’t see a game here and technically it is not a visit. Not sure why I included these three in the first place, maybe because I wanted to grow the number of stadiums seen? Regardless, I removed the visits and reviews from the website. This of course, screws up the number for each venue (ie. #91 Rentschler Field will now be #88 Rentschler Field), so that will take some cleaning up. It also means that the special #100 visit (Rhode Island’s Ryan Center) was actually #97. But I don’t care one bit, because in my eyes that is always #100.

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- More Pictures: OK, this post is starting to look like the back of a video game, which was not my initial intention. Anyway, each visit I usually take a couple dozen pictures, but I’ve only posted a few on the website, not knowing mow much download space I have. Seeing as though I have a decent amount, I’ll be adding some to each review with the goal being 1 exterior shot, 1 concourse (absent in the earlier years),  and 4 or 5 interior shots. The last picture is something I just completed and that is an image of the program and ticket stub, of which I collect from each game.

]]> http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/2012/01/22/website-updates/feed/ 0 shamus170 Champion Stadium 1 http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/2012/01/17/more-from-the-patriot-league/ http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/2012/01/17/more-from-the-patriot-league/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:24:00 +0000 Sean Rowland http://stadiumandarenavisits.com/?p=3511 ]]>

I’m ashamed to say the basketball arena at Lafayette College in Easton, PA alluded me the last few years. Not sure why last Saturday was my first appearance there as the drive is relatively short. This was the second straight Patriot League facility and fifth overall visited. The 3,500 seat Allen P. Kirby Sports Center first made its appearance on The List last year, when I lowered the minimum capacity from 4,000 to 3,500. Sitting up on College Hill, the small private school rises well above the city and provides a nice birds-eye view of Easton and the Delaware River as a winding road brings you to the top of the hill. The football stadium parking here was awful and for basketball it wasn’t much better with one small deck available, but luckily that was enough and it was no problem getting to. Speaking of football, it was a very strange walk to the Sports Center as you walk through Fisher Field. Despite the cold and wind, it was great because that gave me the opportunity to walk the stadium and take some pictures that I didn’t get during my first visit there in 2006.

The Kirby Sports Center has a nice, modern exterior and concourse that was aided by renovations. The opening foyer looks more like a student union as opposed to an arena, but once you push in a little further, the hallway before entering the gym is nicely decorated with Lafayette maroon on the walls and complete with several trophy display cases. The gym itself is meh. All wooden bleachers with three sides of seating, while at the other end is a food stand before it opens up to the rest of the “sports center” (indoor track and other training), giving it a less than appealing look and feel. Lafayette-Bucknell was the game I saw and had an interest for, as I am a big fan of the lower-level in college basketball. Both teams were 2-0 coming in, but Bucknell is the prohibitive league favorite and they showed it. Hardly ever trailing they outclassed the Leopards and Mike Muscala was impressive scoring 27 with ease. The Bison won 79-65 with a 9-2 run to start the second half pushing them to the insurmountable lead. It was nice seeing a good crowd on hand (a legit announced attendance of 2,515) and the fans all were reading the free program as they were into the game. They seemed to know a lot about the team and league, too bad Bucknell never really gave them a chance to be more vocal.

For more on the whole arena experience, be sure to check out #112 Kirby Sports Center on the right side of the page

Hartford, CT: The city I would most like to see get a professional franchise...in the form of the NHL and a return of the Whalers (image from Bing Maps)

This idea was hockey based as there are cities I consistently wish were in the league, but I thought it would be fun to do it in each pro league as well. I’m certainly not advocating expansion nor do I want teams to leave their current homes, because I know how demoralizing and awful that can be. Simply put, below is a list of cities I think are most deserving of a pro franchise in each of the five professional sports leagues:

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MLB

• Norfolk: Growing and large market when you count the whole Tidewater vicinity (Virginia Beach, Hampton, etc.). Rather poor crowd when I went to a Tides game, but if this market were to get their first pro franchise, I would think baseball is the best fit.

• Oklahoma City: Poor attendance for the Redhawks lately, but OKC seems like a great sports town, especially with their support of the Thunder. A team here would be a cheaper ticket and an option for the opposite season. Given the summer heat in Oklahoma, this would have to be a ballpark with a roof, which sucks. Then again, maybe not…Texas had no problems this year

• Louisville: They always support the Sluggers really well and would make a good natural rivalry with Cincinnati.

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MLS

• Raleigh: North Carolina is a decent soccer market and they could play really anywhere within the Raleigh-Durham market. They’ve already got a nice, small facility in Cary that maybe could be renovated for MLS. Also, would be a good pair if the league goes to Atlanta.

• San Antonio: This would be a great place as it would fill the summer sports void with the Spurs being the only pro team. Only other competition is Double-A baseball and high school football in the Fall (they would just have to avoid Friday Night home games for a few months

• Miami: I know the Latin influence didn’t help the Marlins and there’s doubt that the huge foreign influence in the city would support an American “soccer” franchise. But I have hope and it would be awesome to see another place feature an atmosphere to rival that of Portland and Seattle

(Other considerations: St. Louis, Tampa, San Diego, Rochester (one can dream right?), Anybody but a second New York team)

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NBA

• Las Vegas: Of the five sports, the NBA would fit perfectly in Vegas. I don’t think they would have any problem combining or overcoming UNLV’s strong prescence. Fastest growing market in the country and I’m sure fans and players would love this addition.

• Seattle: As well as Oklahoma City has done, it was a travesty Seattle lost the SuperSonics. Nobody has to explain the economics of the sport to me, but I can’t believe that an arena upgraded in 1994-1995 is so outdated that the team is forced to leave. This buisness can make you sick sometimes. Unfortunately, the same song seems to be playing in Sacramento

• Kansas City: Though it might be the most logical choice with the pro-style Sprint Center just waiting for a tenant, I wonder how the team would do in an area that is very loyal to college basketball.

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NFL

• Los Angeles: Kind of weird that the most popular sport in the country does not have a team in its second largest city. Can you believe it has been 16 years since the Raiders moved to Oakland and the Rams to St. Louis? USC has been the hip thing here lately, but I’m sure they would have no problem coming back to the pros

I can’t really think of any more cities that would be great additions. The only one that comes to mind is San Antonio, but the AlamoDome is too small and that area is so embedded in Cowboys country, I think it would be difficult to turn fans

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NHL

• Hartford: Whenever I am in Connecticut, there is always at least one person with Whalers apparel on. The loss of this team still hurts and the region has not gotten over it. The Jets very thankfully came back, why can’t we see the green and blue again with Brass Bonanza cranking in the background.

• Quebec City: They are working on an arena plan to try and lure a team back to the area. Yes, its really far out of the way for teams, but this is where hockey’s passion lies: Canada and the Northern US. Besides, watch a Habs-Nordiques game and you can’t tell me that its not exciting

• Seattle: If they can’t get the SuperSonics back (preferred choice #1), then hockey would fit right in and fill that winter void. The junior Thunderbirds are quite popular and the city could have a nice natural rivalry with Vancouver.

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The Palestra in Philadelphia, PA: My favorite venue of 2011

It was a great year here at Stadium and Arena Visits with several new facilities and some really great experiences at that. Its cliche to make a year-end list and it’s now become cliche to say that doing a year-end list is cliche. So enough of that word already! No introduction is needed, here is my 2011 wrap-up:

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Favorite Stadium: The Palestra……Lots of choices here, but this old building just resonates with me. College Basketball is my favorite sport and visiting an arena that brings the sport back in time (in a good way) was a remarkable experience.
………Honorable Mention: Wrigley Field, Notre Dame Stadium, Red Bull Arena

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Highest-Rated New Stadium: Thomas M. Ryan Center (81)……There is a lot right with this place. Though its a little bit of a jog east away from I-95, it’s easy to get to and parking isn’t issue. Beautiful exterior with nice concourses and a unique interior that gives the seating bowl a tall feel to it. The arena may be bigger than URI really needs, but I liked the place a lot. A little better atmosphere would be great, but I don’t see that happening as the Rams are 2-12 this year. Ouch

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Favorite New City: Chicago……Awesome! Like so many others, I fell in love with Chicago. Breathtaking skyline, great spot right next to the lake, clean with an excellent transit system, terrific food and there’s a ton to do, especially in the Loop area.
………Honorable Mention: Joliet, Norfolk, South Bend

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Weather: 6 out of 10…….Well, the most important thing was no game cancellations, which is my biggest worry when planning a ballpark visit. However, I experienced not one, but two lightning delayed games. The first in Notre Dame wasn’t bad because the extra two hours gave me more time to wonder around all the concourses. The other at InfoCision Stadium in Akron was annoying as thunder never was heard and it was a boring hour standing around. Otherwise, the weather wasn’t too bad. Driving through a steady, heavy rain to and from Hamden, CT was not fun. Nor was sitting in a cold, drizzle late in the game at Joliet. However, that was balanced out by some real nice evenings for games in Harrison, NJ and Fishkill, NY

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Best Restaurant: Market Street Inn – Salisbury, MD……It’s sporadic whether I eat at the facility, eat at home, or dine out in the town I visit. We spent the night in Salisbury and ate here before a Shorebirds game in Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. Highly recommend this place in downtown Salisbury, along the river. Both the wife and I had a great meal and dining outside by the water was a bonus. The Pork Medallions were perfect.
………Honorable Mention: Goose Island in Chicago, Capital Grille in Providence

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Best Game: Rhode Island vs Charlotte…….Without a doubt, the game of the year for me. After a lackluster first half, the second half featured a big comeback and an interesting final minute that led to an overtime. In the extra session, URI had one chance to win under 10 seconds and then had a second chance, but the long jumper went off the back rim. However, Jamal Wilson got the putback and just beat the buzzer to win the game. I loved it
………Honorable Mention: Quinnipiac vs Robert Morris, Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati

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Best Atmosphere: Notre Dame Stadium……There were some good ones, but it was hard to match Notre Dame. It’s not a crazy place, but it is loud and there was such a mystique here that it seems hard to match. Hearing the “Notre Dame Victory March” was awesome, but I actually liked the snippets of Celtic Chant played during the game better.
………Honorable Mention: Red Bull Arena, TD Bank Sports Center

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New Leagues: MLS Soccer and Women’s Volleyball…..Ten years into visiting new stadiums and I saw a few new leagues this year. I’ve only seen one other soccer-specific stadium (Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester) before attending my first MLS game in Harrison, NJ. Each year, I’ve grown more and more interest in soccer, from the international game, to the EPL and now MLS, which I followed closely this year. Attending live MLS made me crave more games and the Supporter Groups are something we don’t normally see here on a professional level. The other new sport I saw was women’s college volleyball. There are probably a couple dozen teams that play in facilities big enough for The List, and are stand-alone (not shared by basketball). This year I saw four-time defending champion Penn State at Rec Hall and just like when I’ve watched it in the Olympics, the game draws you in. It’s fast-paced, doesn’t last too long and has a lot of action.

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Can I get a Home win?: 5-12…..That is the record for the home team in games I attended at new stadiums this year. Ouch! And it’s not like I attended a ton of games where the home team was a huge underdog (maybe one or two). There were some ugly ones like Temple’s 41-3 blowout of Akron and Aberdeen’s late inning beatdown of Hudson Valley 10-3. There were blown games like Notre Dame giving the game to South Florida in every conceivable way and there were close ones the Chicago Cubs and Norfolk Tides both losing in extra innings. I always love watching the home team get a win, lets hope for a better 2012.

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Championships: Joliet Slammers…..There was one team that I saw this year, who ended up winning a championship. The re-branded Slammers took home the Frontier League title a few weeks after our visit with a 6-5 victory over River City at home. I’m really happy for the team, city and organization as I enjoyed a lot of aspects of my visit there. Nice downtown area and a terrific ballpark that is beautifully designed to fit right in architecturally with the city. Would’ve liked to seen more fans enjoy the playoffs, but that’s life in minor league baseball. Also, kudos to their organization for making a pair of inspiring intro videos (here and here).

It’s been three years since my first and only visit to West Point as I saw football at Michie Stadium. This time on my return visit last Sunday to see the basketball arena, I wanted to spend a little time in the area as the wife and I checked out the Visitors Center and also did a one-hour tour despite the cold. All of it is well worth it and I highly recommend stopping in the tiny village of Highland Falls located just before West Point to get a full appreciation of the United States Military Academy. There are no visitors on the grounds, so the tour is the only way to check out the campus. After lunch at Schade’s Restaurant in town, we passed through the checkpoint and parked near Christl Arena for some Army hoops. The arena is much like many of the other unassuming buildings on campus with its concrete, gray appearance. The arena is actually a part of the Holleder Center, which also houses Tate Rink for hockey. Probably the best part of the building is walking the concourse and checking out the myriad of pictures, plaques and various honors that grace the walls. Inside reminded me of a smaller version of the RAC at Rutgers. Simply two sections of seating on the sidelines that steeply go straight back. Half are chairbacks and the other half are bleachers.

A very quiet atmosphere greeted us inside as the Cadets were heading home as exams just finished. Despite, the absence of those on campus, a season high of 537 was the announced attendance. Needless to say, it seems to be an empty and mainly calm gym with one exception…the Navy game, which sells out and is a great atmosphere. I would say the arena is quiet, but the acoustics are great in that it retains a lot of noise with the low ceiling and tight end walls. The sounds of players, sneakers and the PA actually kept volume at a normal level, despite the lack of fans. Those that were there got to see a rare Army win! They played Texas Pan-American and were in control much of the game thanks to Ella Ellis and his 25 points. But with 4:50 left, he fouled out and the Knights would not score again. A 12 point lead dwindled to two and Army missed a shot with :10 left. UTPA then drove down and Brandon Provost shot a three. Given how 2011 has gone for the home team in games I’ve attended, I disappointingly thought for sure it was in. Luckily it missed and the Black Knights hung on. They are now 4-7 as they get ready for the Patriot League to begin soon. After 26 years and not a single winning season, I’m hoping and rooting for them to put something together one of these years.

Overall, a great little stop on this continuing journey…a good arena, decent game and a tour to keep things all in prospective as we admire, respect and appreciate the individuals that go through the Academy. Check out the full review of Christl Arena here. Also, I’ll be doing a full review over at Stadium Journey to be posted in a few weeks. Everyone have a very Happy Holiday season!

and I’m reminded why I love sports so much!

Independence Stadium in Shreveport, LA plays host to one of the longer running bowl games in the country, the Independence Bowl. This simple stadium only sees high school action during the year and it’s one big moment is when the bowl game comes calling. Another stadium that is now down a bowl game as it’s main attraction is the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. They actually get to host two games: the Champs Sports Bowl and the Capital One Bowl. For nearly three decades, UCF called this stadium home, until they built their own stadium in 2007. A remarkable amount of teams have used this as their home facility, from the USFL to XFL to UFL. It even hosted the World Cup in 1994. Now the only other permament tenant is Orlando City SC, a USL Pro team.

The other two stadiums that host a bowl, but do not have a professional sports team or a FBS team as a main tenant are down in Texas. They are a couple storied venues worth seeing: the AlamoDome in San Antonio and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Alamo Bowl is likely the biggest attraction at San Antonio’s stadium, however if you are to take in a game at the Cotton Bowl, the annual Texas-Oklahoma game that takes place during the State Fair is probably the best time to see the remarkably historic stadium.

Georgia Tech's Thrillerdome (Alexander Memorial Coliseum) is being completely re-done and turned into the Hank McCamish Pavilion (picture from www.ramblinwreck.com)

Over the last month, I went through all of the basketball leagues to update any arena changes on The List. Not much news from the professional leagues, but at the collegiate level, there were some changes including three new facilities, with another one opening late in the season.

We start in Evansville, where the Aces will now be playing in the downtown Ford Center, which replaces venerable Roberts Stadium, a place that I am sad to see gone from The List. Roberts is in limbo, but not currently hosting any sporting events and I’ll bet it will meet the wrecking ball soon. Out in the MAC, Bowling Green opens the Stroh Center. That will replace Anderson Arena, which just goes down to hosting gymnastics. Lastly, there may be another arena opening down in Texas as UT-Arlington is planning on opening the College Park Center on February 1st. Very interesting in that the five home games that UTA plays in the new arena are going to be absolutely free. Kudos to the nice gesture, though I’m skeptical and guessing fans are going to be heading to a facility that isn’t yet complete. I could be wrong, but why not just wait till 2012-2013 and start fresh with a new arena for the whole year.

Lots going on over in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the beautiful city of Asheville. First, the school (UNC-Asheville) opened their new building, Kimmel Arena, with #1 North Carolina visiting a few weeks ago. The arena only seats 3,200 so it didn’t make The List, however it looks like a great facility and a huge step up from the Justice Center. Elsewhere in Asheville, the city is back hosting the Southern Conference Tournament in March. The Asheville Civic Center (soon to be re-named to US Cellular Center) will be home and that brings them back to The List.

Lastly, a couple of renovations for some major conference teams. UCLA is temporarily playing in the LA Sports Arena while Pauley Pavilion undergoes major renovations. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is leaving campus for the 2011-2012 season as they get ready for a kind of new arena next season. Alexander Memorial Coliseum is getting completely gutted and overhauled, re-opening as the Hank McCamish Pavilion next year. This transition was pretty quiet as I never really heard much news about it. Seems like the building is the same, but everything inside the old Thrillerdome will be completely re-done.

Back in January, I visited The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It was a venue that I had long known about and eagerly anticipated a visit to as it was well known to college basketball fans. Saturday, I went back to Penn to see another venue, one that it is older and oozes just as much nostalgia, but yet doesn’t get the love like the basketball arena next door. Franklin Field is home to Quaker football and a place that also takes fans back into time. Along with hosting football, the Penn Relays have been held here since 1895 (that’s right as in 1800s) , hence the track around the field. Normally, I’m always against tracks in football stadiums because it cuts back on the view and is less intimate, but in this stadium its OK because of what that track represents. The stadium also was home to the NFL Eagles from 1958-1970.

Despite the parking drawbacks on this urban campus, it was nice to take a stroll this time during the day so I can appreciate the huge, diverse and scenic campus. Like the Palestra, Franklin Field doesn’t really jump out at you as being a stadium from the outside. Plus, there aren’t even any lights to give the stadium away, as those are built into the seating bowl. Inside…wow, unlike any other football stadium I have seen before. There are many stadiums that were built in the early 1900s (this one took its current shape in 1922), but few are left as untouched as Penn’s is. The double-decker horseshoe has so many different vantage points and I checked out a lot of them during the game. Some are amazing, like half-way up the sideline seats on the Penn side, where you have an incredible skyline view of Philadelphia to the right and a view of the University with Weightman Hall on the left. Then there are some that are uniquely awful, like in the corner of the lower bowl on the sideline, where you have a brick wall to your back and side, a pole in the way and a terrible view not even facing the football field. Though seating is uncomfortable and the amenities aren’t there, this is a pretty awesome place to watch a game. Unfortunately, the crowd was weak on Senior Day as it was only announced at 7,609 (and a few thousand of those fans were for visiting Cornell). The only plus atmosphere-wise was watching the weird, yet funny tradition of Toast Tossing.

For a full stadium review and more pictures of Franklin Field, please click the link. I’ll also be doing a review over at Stadium Journey that should be out in a week or two, so be sure to check that out as well!

Oh yeah, the game! Ivy football has yet to disappoint me as five years ago, I saw a classic between Princeton and Harvard. This time, it was Cornell and Penn that put on the entertainment in a game that had no defense, but plenty of excitement. It started great for Penn as Cornell fumbled the opening kickoff and the Quakers scored a touchdown a few minutes later. Cornell got the TD back and then after a few punts, the teams traded touchdowns until it was 21-21. A Penn field goal put them up by 3 at the half. The Big Red got the lead after Penn turned the ball over on downs and Jeff Mathews threw a 54 yard touchdown pass. A few possessions later, Mathews got nailed and Penn picked up the fumble deep in Cornell territory, scoring shortly thereafter for a 31-27 lead. Cornell quickly answered and so did Penn, leading to a 38-34 score in the middle of the 4^th quarter. Cornell drove it deep on their next possession, but failed to convert in the red zone. However, as Penn got the ball back, Billy Ragone threw an interception and Cornell this time cashed in on the next possession to take a 41-38 lead. The Quakers followed with a great drive again, however their 44 yard field goal attempt to tie it with 5:23 left was blocked. Penn’s defense had no answer for the Cornell offense all day and they couldn’t get a stop when they needed it as the Big Red effortlessly drove down field, eating clock along the way before scoring a final touchdown. They won 48-38 in a crazy game. Cornell’s Jeff Mathews was 35 for 45 with 548 yards (an Ivy record), 5 TDs and 1 INT. The teams combined for 46 first downs. Meanwhile, Penn had 9 players catch a pass.

So…I’ve done some doodling over the last few weeks and worked on some ideas to re-do the college basketball conferences. I completely ignored football and its implications with these conferences. Instead, I focused on geography, natural rivalries, balancing of schedules (aiming for a home-away game against each team) and similarities in schools. Not everything was able to balance out, but it was fun fantasizing about what could be in the conference portion of Our Game. The same amount of attention was paid to each conference, from the Big East to the Big South. If you have any ideas for improvement, please let me know!

All the results are below, the highlighted teams are those that are in a new conference. Some stats…I made three new conferences: Great Midwest Conference, Gulf Coast Conference and Southwest Conference. Two of those are a blast from the past. Gone is Conference USA and the Great West Conference. Six conferences were good just the way they are: Horizon, Ivy, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC and SWAC.  Six schools got sent back to Division II or III: Bryant, Elon, Houston Baptist, NJIT, Savannah State and Utah Valley. Only two conference have an unbalanced group of teams: Big Ten (11) and Southern (13). Twenty-five of the conferences allow for a balanced schedule.