Crazy as this sounded just a year ago, I could now see JMU being a candidate for the Big East is 2018 -- assuming it does these things: 1) Forms a I-A conference with Delaware, ODU, App State, Marshall, etc.; 2) Builds a 10,000-seat baskeball arena (a new $90 million-ish arena is up for approval in 2014) and has it finished by 2016; 3) expand Bridgeforth to 40,000 (the maximum possible at the current site, JMU says) by 2018. Do that and win lots of games. The basketball team would have to become an ODU-type program in NCAA appearances, and the football team would have to play big programs on the road and beat them once in a while (a la East Carolina). A school filling a 40,000-seat football arena would be on par with the new Big East (Boise State, for instance, averaged 34,000 this season). The drawback for JMU: Does it bring anything market-wise, expecially compared to an ODU? Madison has proven it has a sizeable fan base, but would its Urban Crescent alumni base be enough to convince the Big East it had TV drawing power?
