Oakland will move to the Horizon League, effective July 1. (Photo by Damien Dennis)
Early last month, a reporter out of Green Bay tweeted that Oakland making the move to the Horizon League was a “done deal.” Oakland Athletic Director Tracy Huth was quick to hush those rumors, stating that the university had not been in talks or contacted by the Horizon League.
It seems that 11 days following those developments, the Horizon League did in fact contact Oakland and a deal was struck.
Tuesday (May 7, 2013), Oakland University’s Board of Trustee’s met to vote on the conference switch from the Summit League to the Horizon League. After a presentation by Huth, the board ultimately voted to approve the conference switch. Oakland’s move will be effective July 1, 2013. They will have to pay an exit fee to the Summit League of $250,000 and an entrance fee to the Horizon League of $882,000, all of which will come from external funds.
Oakland will participate in 18 of 19 sports, the exception being men’s tennis.
The move is highly beneficial for Oakland across the board. Some cause for concern when rumors initially began last year was that Oakland’s arena for basketball is too small. The Horizon League requires a minimum seating of 5,000 fans. Another cause for concern included Detroit-Mercy being able to veto an invitation being sent to Oakland since the two school’s are within 25 miles of each other.
It seems those concerns have been looked past, however.
The addition of Oakland will allow for a renewal of the past rivalry with Detroit. In the past, Oakland and Detroit played more regularly and as neighbors, would benefit.
“It’s going to be great for local interest amongst both schools,” Huth said. “With such a rivalry, it will be great for attendance and competition.”
There are two huge benefits to Oakland making the switch: travel costs and athletic recruitment. In the Summit League, Oakland was required to travel as far away as Utah at one point, and with Denver joining this next season, further travel costs would be needed. The Horizon League is a Great Lakes region conference, greatly reducing time out of the classroom and on the road for the student-athletes. The second benefit is recruitment and eyes. Oakland will have a chance to visit large market areas in Chicago, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Cleveland. This gives Oakland the chance to have a much stronger recruitment base to work out of and gain more popularity.
Oakland will begin play in the Horizon League in the beginning of the fall 2013 seasons.
