The change in the conference landscape could be making it's way to New England. According to reports, UMass and the MAC have had initial discussions in which Umass would upgrade to FBS level football and join the MAC as it's 14th school. Like the football arrangement the MAC has with Temple, the other UMass sports would remain in the Atlantic 10. Temple is required to offer the MAC some basketball scheduling flexibility in regards to their out of conference schedule each year, something UMass would presumably need to do as well. Upon upgrade, UMass would schedule some of it's home games at Gillette stadium in eastern Massachusetts, a location they played at this year against UNH. The current Umass stadium seats only 17,000 which is small by college football standards amongst the top programs. But the MAC historically has lower attendance numbers and is a more realistic fit for a potential upgrade such as UMass. http://news.collegesportsinfo.com/2010/11/umass-in-talks-with-mac-to-upgrade-to.html
