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UND and the Big Sky could go FBS


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Sac St had earlier announced that they would build a new arena, but they didn't announce the funding source.  Turns out the students have to pay an extra $219 a semester for it to happen.  The vote will be Dec 2 and 3rd.  The Nest badly needs to be replaced as the Hornets home.  A new arena for the Kings is being built, but that would be too big for Hornets sports.  Sac St needs to gets its facilities up to date before it can reasonably move to FBS.

 

http://www.kcra.com/news/students-push-for-a-new-arena-at-sac-state/29312662

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting that Montana's athletic dept doesn't deny interest in FBS. The MWC would be financial suicide for the Griz though. Half of teams would have to leave the MWC before the Griz would get an offer. The financially and competitive choice is an FBS Big Sky.

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  • 5 weeks later...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/12/25/college-football-bowl-games-attendance-bahamas-camellia-espn/20896969/?AID=10709313&PID=6146927&SID=pkn9z0w50kzk

 

Interesting article on how bowls are profitable for smaller G5 conferences.  The FCS playoffs don't really benefit any school financially, except in gaining more donations and in nearby merchants benefitting, as the NCAA takes most of the pie to play for the tournament.  One more FBS bowl gets added next year with the Cure Bowl in Orlando.  A couple new bowls have been talked about in S Carolina and Little Rock.  The Miami area already has four, so new bowls seem to pop up even in cities saturated with them. 

 

CUSA owns the new Bahamas Bowl, and even though it was one of the worst attended bowl game, because it drew over a million viewers, it was profitable. 

 

The Big Sky could do the same, own a few bowls to pay FBS bills: 

 

Polaris Minnesota Viking Bowl for Dakota teams,

Seattle Apple Bowl

Silicon Valley Bowl In Santa Clara's 49ers Park

 

It would surely get offered the spot in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl rather than the MAC. The MAC would gladly take a Minnesota bowl over a Boise Bowl, just because of travel. Frisco, Texas, would probably want an piece of the pie too, if NMSU and NDSU are in the Big Sky.   As the article mentions, a bowl no longer needs 50,000 seats to be profitable.  An MLS stadium will do fine.  Further more, if Fox  Sports ever attempts to take on bowl games and the CFP with FS1, the payoffs would be even bigger.

 

Together with higher P5 payments and more P5 games, the Big Sky could live without the $1 million per team G5 payment that continues until like 2025.  At that time, the contract will be rewritten and would go up higher.  If the CFP goes to 16 teams, the payout would be astronomical, getting to NFL playoff levels.  Presidents follow the money.  Simply put, FCS doesn't have any.  The MEAC decided to drop their autobid from the FCS, so they could have an ESPN sponsored FCS bowl playing against the SWAC champion.  The MEAC has decided that a bowl structure is much better for them financially, even at the FCS level.  It's only a matter of time for the Big Sky, where it can take the bowl money instead of the pittance from the NCAA.

 

FBS Big Sky first year in 2018

Cal Poly

UC Davis

Sac State

Portland St (if the can climb out of a mismanaged athletic department)

E Wash

Idaho

Montana

Mont St

UND

NDSU

SDSU

USD

NMSU (if they don't get another offer)

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Portland St hires the Miami Oh assistant AD as its new AD.  Best of luck in getting the financial situation turned around there.  If PSU is planning to go FBS, its a good start to have someone with FBS credentials.  Portland has an FBS ready stadium, so it would be a massive waste of an opportunity if they don't go FBS.

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2015/01/portland_state_hires_miami_of.html

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I would personally like to see us become a force to be reckoned with in the BSC before any move to the FBS level. How can we justify moving up already without having any success at the FCS level yet? 

 

I agree, it would make sense to build a team before another jump. Only advantage, might be to making the jump prior to NDSU for a regional recruiting advantage. They jumped to FCS before us, picked up good recruits, and established a team at that level. Not sure it is logical, but maybe they see the jump as a recruiting edge?

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I agree, it would make sense to build a team before another jump. Only advantage, might be to making the jump prior to NDSU for a regional recruiting advantage. They jumped to FCS before us, picked up good recruits, and established a team at that level. Not sure it is logical, but maybe they see the jump as a recruiting edge?

Time is ticking.  2018 is likely the year that Idaho gets the boot from the Sun Belt.  Mussman put us way behind the 8-ball. 

 

The year 2019 is when we would have to average 15,000 tickets sold.  We need a stadium expansion or new stadium to do that.  The Foundation would need to buyup tickets for any game under 15,000 sold.

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Time is ticking. 2018 is likely the year that Idaho gets the boot from the Sun Belt. Mussman put us way behind the 8-ball.

The year 2019 is when we would have to average 15,000 tickets sold. We need a stadium expansion or new stadium to do that. The Foundation would need to buyup tickets for any game under 15,000 sold.

The only way we get 15,000 tickets sold is to have a team make consecutive playoff runs and even win a conference championship. We are averaging about 8-9k now imagine trying to double that in 4 years? I have faith in Bubba to get us back on track but 15,000 is asking quite a bit in such a short time period.

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Portland St hires the Miami Oh assistant AD as its new AD. Best of luck in getting the financial situation turned around there. If PSU is planning to go FBS, its a good start to have someone with FBS credentials. Portland has an FBS ready stadium, so it would be a massive waste of an opportunity if they don't go FBS.

http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2015/01/portland_state_hires_miami_of.html

A waste of an opportunity to take on a FBS venture when you can't afford FCS? Maybe I'm in the minority here in thinking that that idea is ludicrous.
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The only way we get 15,000 tickets sold is to have a team make consecutive playoff runs and even win a conference championship. We are averaging about 8-9k now imagine trying to double that in 4 years? I have faith in Bubba to get us back on track but 15,000 is asking quite a bit in such a short time period.

 

Not sure how we can average 15,000 tickets sold when the stadium only holds a little over 12,000!!

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Not sure how we can average 15,000 tickets sold when the stadium only holds a little over 12,000!!

He is saying in 2019 we need a 15k stadium, and I said by even selling 15k tickets (in 2019) we need to have a playoff bound team every year from now through 2019. I didn't say we are going to sell 15k tickets now.

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A waste of an opportunity to take on a FBS venture when you can't afford FCS? Maybe I'm in the minority here in thinking that that idea is ludicrous.

Ga St, Charlotte, FIU, and UTSA didn't bother with FCS because they knew FCS would be a disaster in their cities.  Football backers couldn't get support for FCS, but could get support for FBS.  A University in a pro town can not see good attendance in FCS.  Villanova had a disastrous playoff crowd of 2000.  FCS in major cities doesn't work.  It only worked in places like Boone and Statesboro and Missoula and Fargo, which have chosen or will choose  FBS.

 

There is not one 1 mill city that has been an exception to this rule.  To them, FCS and D2 and NAIA are all the same:  minor league stuff.

 

Sac St, UCDavis, and Cal Poly have the same issue:  their alumn will never take their football seriously until they take the leap.

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am i the only one that kind of finds in funny that the ndac spent all this time and money to beat everyone to the top of the hill only to look back and see that the entire ivy league, the swac, the meac, ga southern, appy state, odu, and others are not even there???

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Ga St, Charlotte, FIU, and UTSA didn't bother with FCS because they knew FCS would be a disaster in their cities. Football backers couldn't get support for FCS, but could get support for FBS.

And what has Georgia State got to show for all of that money spent on the great leap forward to FBS football?

An 0-12 record last year and a 1-11 record this year. I guess they need more $$$$$.

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And what has Georgia State got to show for all of that money spent on the great leap forward to FBS football?

An 0-12 record last year and a 1-11 record this year. I guess they need more $$$$$.

I agree we are not now and even if we do get 15,000 fans a game we will never be FBS caliber program. Can we compete with the mid majors? Yes, but we'll never get ourselves in position to compete for a national championship (Big Ten/SEC) We're fine right where were at. I think at some point there might be some reorganization with the major conferences breaking away. At that point we may want to look at making a move. Until, then we should stay put. Shouldn't even be a argument.
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And what has Georgia State got to show for all of that money spent on the great leap forward to FBS football?

An 0-12 record last year and a 1-11 record this year. I guess they need more $$$$$.

GSU is planning to convert Turner Field into a football stadium once the Braves leave for the suburbs. Trying to compete for attention in an SEC city is tough, but they are getting money somehow. With their downtown location, FCS would be an epic failure in Atlanta.
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I agree we are not now and even if we do get 15,000 fans a game we will never be FBS caliber program. Can we compete with the mid majors? Yes, but we'll never get ourselves in position to compete for a national championship (Big Ten/SEC) We're fine right where were at. I think at some point there might be some reorganization with the major conferences breaking away. At that point we may want to look at making a move. Until, then we should stay put. Shouldn't even be a argument.

The MAC and Sun Belt don't have illusions of national championships. They just want to be on the football map and maybe make some actual dollars. FCS can't do that.

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The MAC and Sun Belt don't have illusions of national championships. They just want to be on the football map and maybe make some actual dollars. FCS can't do that.

So you really think UND and NDSU should jump to FBS so we can get into some cheesy bowl game on a weeknight on ESPN in December when most people are Christmas shopping or getting plugged into the NBA, NHL or CBB and the stands would be half-full at best?  How many people in Grand Forks or Fargo would want to travel to this game?  How many alumni would get stoked about their alma mater being in something called the Whatever.Com Bowl?  I think I know the answers to these questions, as do most of the people on this forum.

 

If we want to make our mark in the world of big-time college athletics, we should focus on building powerhouse MBB programs that get to the NCAA tournament on a regular basis and occasionally upset some big-name schools.  That would make much more sense than chasing the fool's gold of low-level, bottom-feeding FBS football.

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So you really think UND and NDSU should jump to FBS so we can get into some cheesy bowl game on a weeknight on ESPN in December when most people are Christmas shopping or getting plugged into the NBA, NHL or CBB and the stands would be half-full at best?  How many people in Grand Forks or Fargo would want to travel to this game?  How many alumni would get stoked about their alma mater being in something called the Whatever.Com Bowl?  I think I know the answers to these questions, as do most of the people on this forum.

 

If we want to make our mark in the world of big-time college athletics, we should focus on building powerhouse MBB programs that get to the NCAA tournament on a regular basis and occasionally upset some big-name schools.  That would make much more sense than chasing the fool's gold of low-level, bottom-feeding FBS football.

Kelley has already decided to go FBS with the Montana's and others. Fans that disagree can take it up with him and Faisson. If Minneapolis gets a bowl game, UND will be well represented there. Other sites: maybe a couple thousand depending on the location and how.many alums are in the area.

If we don't move up, well probably be stuck in the WAC.

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