the reality is that 24 to 40 teams need to start preparing themselves to be a part of a new lower division outside of the D1-A division

the vast majority of teams that cry they deserve a "share of the pie" have never brought anything to the table other than an easy home win for better 1-A teams and they deserve the little bit of the pie they get IF THAT

no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money (even if small)......the large conferences made the bowl games, their fans brought the support and the viewers and ratings, and they created the value in that.......the crying schools are parasites that demand a share of something they had nothing to do with building or creating

it is stupid enough that there are 120 teams in D1-A much less that some of the bottom feeders have 10% of the budget of the top teams and even if 100% of the TV money they don't deserve was given to those bottom feeders they would still have 25% of the budget of the revenue generators because those teams have fans, donors, and support VS a few fair weather complainers that want "their fair share"

mathematically the vast majority of D1-A teams will never do anything of real significance in the lifetime of their fans much less win it all even if they had a chance to (they don't and shouldn't)

it is a bigger joke to think that the WAC or any other conference thinks they will grow by bringing up 8-10 more teams from D1-AA to be further bottom feeders

there needs to be 80 to 96 D1-A teams and it needs to be based on STRICT academics so that De-La'Felony McMushmouth and his crew can't get into ANY of those schools and the top schools can get back to COLLEGE athletics, cut their spending and return money back to the academic side of the university instead of recruiting, coddling, and wasting time and effort on players that barely belong in community college much less a top university.....even if it means that athletics at those schools actually have more strict requirements to play VS just being admitted as a regular student....carrying the rock in high school along with a 1.95 GPA and a 763 on the SAT is not an accomplishment it is an embarrassment

the other 24 to 40 teams plus their aspiring future bottom feeders can drop down. pick up some from D1-AA and create their own division and have all the playoffs they want and they can share equally all the small revenue that brings in and shut up about deserving something from others that actually BUILT AND MAINTAINED something over DECADES if not a century VS moved up in the last few years, built a 20K stadium, filled up with partial qualifiers and 850 SATs and then demanded their big money after going 2-10 for a decade

there should be strict budget/spending controls placed on the new lower division so they don't start going even further into debt and the remaining D1-A teams should not be allowed to play them and if they do the game should count as nothing

attendance and ticket sales is not the best way to measure because it just rewards teams that stock up on idiots and lets them run wild while never getting a degree they fill the stadium one or two years and then out comes the BCS begging bowl and welcome to a BCS game with a 5% view and a 75% full stadium.....sure the same thing can happen ad bigger schools, but that is why the ACADEMIC SIDE needs to start being the cut off so those fools never make it to campus

if the new lower division wants to be the felony league and an NFL training ground fine go for it......the schools that have had long term fan and university support should get back to educating student athletes and let the open admissions schools have the fools and their attitudes and issues

thinking that portland state, sac state or Montana brings anything but misery to D1-A is a joke...hey here are 10 more teams that will make a bowl game once every 2 decades (if that) GREAT!.....oh yea and they have a 5 million dollar a year deficite in states that are going broke and cutting budgets especially at universities....cool here comes broke GaState and USA.....two more begging bowls to tell to GO AWAY....stay where you are with your no fans and your no budget and your no revenue

D1-A is not just an endless source of money for 300 teams to all cry for a share of.......it needs to get back to HISTORY, ACADEMICS, and common sense and the rest of the wanna be amateur NFL teams can take the fools with dreams of playing a year or two and "going pro"

D1-A also needs to require payback of all academic aid for any player that leaves early to go pro to discourage them coming to a school and blowing off academics as well....fans of those schools don't cheer for ryan perilloux they cheer for LSU......perifool belongs at the pseudo-juco he is at and never should have set foot on the LSU campus unless it was to clean tables or dorm showers....same with maurice clarett and vick Jr and tons of other morons out there

if D1-A schools know these clowns will never get in then they will not waste time on them at all....let the cellar dwellers have them and get back to student athletes

(06-21-2010 01:50 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  the reality is that 24 to 40 teams need to start preparing themselves to be a part of a new lower division outside of the D1-A division

the vast majority of teams that cry they deserve a "share of the pie" have never brought anything to the table other than an easy home win for better 1-A teams and they deserve the little bit of the pie they get IF THAT

no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money (even if small)......the large conferences made the bowl games, their fans brought the support and the viewers and ratings, and they created the value in that.......the crying schools are parasites that demand a share of something they had nothing to do with building or creating

it is stupid enough that there are 120 teams in D1-A much less that some of the bottom feeders have 10% of the budget of the top teams and even if 100% of the TV money they don't deserve was given to those bottom feeders they would still have 25% of the budget of the revenue generators because those teams have fans, donors, and support VS a few fair weather complainers that want "their fair share"

mathematically the vast majority of D1-A teams will never do anything of real significance in the lifetime of their fans much less win it all even if they had a chance to (they don't and shouldn't)

it is a bigger joke to think that the WAC or any other conference thinks they will grow by bringing up 8-10 more teams from D1-AA to be further bottom feeders

there needs to be 80 to 96 D1-A teams and it needs to be based on STRICT academics so that De-La'Felony McMushmouth and his crew can't get into ANY of those schools and the top schools can get back to COLLEGE athletics, cut their spending and return money back to the academic side of the university instead of recruiting, coddling, and wasting time and effort on players that barely belong in community college much less a top university.....even if it means that athletics at those schools actually have more strict requirements to play VS just being admitted as a regular student....carrying the rock in high school along with a 1.95 GPA and a 763 on the SAT is not an accomplishment it is an embarrassment

the other 24 to 40 teams plus their aspiring future bottom feeders can drop down. pick up some from D1-AA and create their own division and have all the playoffs they want and they can share equally all the small revenue that brings in and shut up about deserving something from others that actually BUILT AND MAINTAINED something over DECADES if not a century VS moved up in the last few years, built a 20K stadium, filled up with partial qualifiers and 850 SATs and then demanded their big money after going 2-10 for a decade

there should be strict budget/spending controls placed on the new lower division so they don't start going even further into debt and the remaining D1-A teams should not be allowed to play them and if they do the game should count as nothing

attendance and ticket sales is not the best way to measure because it just rewards teams that stock up on idiots and lets them run wild while never getting a degree they fill the stadium one or two years and then out comes the BCS begging bowl and welcome to a BCS game with a 5% view and a 75% full stadium.....sure the same thing can happen ad bigger schools, but that is why the ACADEMIC SIDE needs to start being the cut off so those fools never make it to campus

if the new lower division wants to be the felony league and an NFL training ground fine go for it......the schools that have had long term fan and university support should get back to educating student athletes and let the open admissions schools have the fools and their attitudes and issues

thinking that portland state, sac state or Montana brings anything but misery to D1-A is a joke...hey here are 10 more teams that will make a bowl game once every 2 decades (if that) GREAT!.....oh yea and they have a 5 million dollar a year deficite in states that are going broke and cutting budgets especially at universities....cool here comes broke GaState and USA.....two more begging bowls to tell to GO AWAY....stay where you are with your no fans and your no budget and your no revenue

D1-A is not just an endless source of money for 300 teams to all cry for a share of.......it needs to get back to HISTORY, ACADEMICS, and common sense and the rest of the wanna be amateur NFL teams can take the fools with dreams of playing a year or two and "going pro"

D1-A also needs to require payback of all academic aid for any player that leaves early to go pro to discourage them coming to a school and blowing off academics as well....fans of those schools don't cheer for ryan perilloux they cheer for LSU......perifool belongs at the pseudo-juco he is at and never should have set foot on the LSU campus unless it was to clean tables or dorm showers....same with maurice clarett and vick Jr and tons of other morons out there

if D1-A schools know these clowns will never get in then they will not waste time on them at all....let the cellar dwellers have them and get back to student athletes

i don't quite know where to begin with this mess....

you say: "no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money"

they may not be a WAC/MAC team...but Colonel James M. Thomson, Fred Digby, and Tulane University created the Sugar Bowl back in 1935...

and your whole rant is based off football...based on your plan...UTEP could have never won the national title...either could UNLV.

under your plan Hawai'i, Boise State, or Utah could have never played in a BCS game.

On a historic scale FBS is at a mid-range on numbers.

The top level over time has ranged from 105 to 180+. When it has been smaller than 120 it has grown rapidly until approaching 120 and once it goes much larger the push to divide to re-emerges.

Splitting from the NCAA makes very little sense for the wealthy leagues.

1. Football is taken care of. The BCS split $140 million plus last year. That works out to $14 million per game. MWC placed a team, they got $9.8 million. WAC placed a team and received $7.8 million. The other three non-AQ took home a combined $6.4 million. The revenue given to non-AQ, grand total $24 million, was $4 million less than if the money were split equally between participants. If there had been one buster instead of two it would have been $20 million or an overpay overall. If there had been no buster at all it would have been $12.6 million. That's a small price. The BCS over-pays the ACC and Big East who tend to draw worse TV audiences and worse ticket sales than the busters. They get $17.7 million instead of $14 million. The Bg 10 always qualifies two and the SEC almost always does, they get $22.2 million because the extra team is grossly underpaid.

2. The BCS isn't that important to revenue. Subtract the team costs for going to a BCS game (never seen a school spend less than a million and two million isn't unheard of) and the SEC nets maybe $19 million. That works out to $1.6 million per team in the SEC or 9.4% of SEC income per school. For the Big 10 it is 8.7% of income. For a school like Texas, BCS profit is slightly less than 1% of their entire income. They gave Mack Brown a raise this year that was greater than UT's BCS income, just the raise. BCS revenue will pay only 40% of Saban's salary.

3. Basketball revenue isn't that big either. The Big 10 makes slightly more than a million per team (less than BCS money) from the NCAA Tournament units they've earned. Their total NCAA revenue (much is paid directly to the school and not factored into the revenue distribution from the league) is $3 million per team.

4. Revenue shared with all of FBS or Division I is a small source. BCS plus NCAA money represents less than 20% of conference revenue and about 5% to 10% of all income at the top schools. Going from sharing a record 19% this year (remember FCS gets 1% and the non-AQ took 18%) to sharing 0% creates only a negligible increase in revenue.

5. What is the gain? About $3.5 million per school in the rich six. In basketball the rich six leagues taking all NCAA distribution get 47%. Change it to 100% and a 65 team super division nets an extra $3 million per team, throw in about an extra half million from not sharing BCS money. Texas reworking the Big XII deal is estimated to increase revenue by $10 million, which is the better use of effort?

6. What is the cost? Well they already have TWO anti-trust investigations going on that we know about. Split and you make it three and the new one has potential treble damages at the billion+ dollar level.

7. Political risk. It's not just ASU and our ilk that get hurt. The Ivy League shares some revenue as well. The Division II and III schools pay greatly reduced dues because of the NCAA underwriting of costs in those Divisions with basketball money. A split impacts well over a thousand schools and shines a bright light on the amount of revenue involved and where it goes. In 08-09 Texas spent 6.18% of its budget on 300 or so student-athletes not all of whom received full scholarships. They spent 15.43% on coaching salaries and another 19.3% on support staff and athletic administration salaries. Texas spent more money raising money (6.58%) than on scholarships. That's not the sort of closer look you want anyone taking and splitting over dollars will insure it.

8. Tax code. If Congress repulsed by the balatant commercialism disallowed the charitable deduction for athletics and contributions went down by the amount of tax that would have to be paid by donors, Texas would lose $10 million in income. Losing $10 million to gain $3.5 million by not sharing is a terrible business decision.

9. Opponents. Look at Arkansas in regular season last year, they won 44.4% of their games against peers last year for a 4-5 record. But they went 3-0 against lower revenue schools, the people left behind in a split. They needed to play those non-peer institutions to post a winning record and go to a bowl. Losing makes it harder to sell tickets and to get donations and sponsorships. Kill the lower tier and the higher tier lose more games. That's money out of pocket. As the president of Nebraska noted to Congress, they make more from a single home game than the BCS. You need credible opponents for the process as well. We've seen a rash of SWAC opponents in football around the league and they've been so woefully mis-matched the games have been done in the first quarter and the interest in such wanes quickly. If you are trying to make a case for a national ranking, routing a bad Sun Belt, MAC, WAC, has more value than routing a lower division team that isn't offering a similar number of scholarships, the power ratings tend to reflect it as well because of schedules. There is value

(06-21-2010 01:50 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  the reality is that 24 to 40 teams need to start preparing themselves to be a part of a new lower division outside of the D1-A division

the vast majority of teams that cry they deserve a "share of the pie" have never brought anything to the table other than an easy home win for better 1-A teams and they deserve the little bit of the pie they get IF THAT

no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money (even if small)......the large conferences made the bowl games, their fans brought the support and the viewers and ratings, and they created the value in that.......the crying schools are parasites that demand a share of something they had nothing to do with building or creating

it is stupid enough that there are 120 teams in D1-A much less that some of the bottom feeders have 10% of the budget of the top teams and even if 100% of the TV money they don't deserve was given to those bottom feeders they would still have 25% of the budget of the revenue generators because those teams have fans, donors, and support VS a few fair weather complainers that want "their fair share"

mathematically the vast majority of D1-A teams will never do anything of real significance in the lifetime of their fans much less win it all even if they had a chance to (they don't and shouldn't)

it is a bigger joke to think that the WAC or any other conference thinks they will grow by bringing up 8-10 more teams from D1-AA to be further bottom feeders

there needs to be 80 to 96 D1-A teams and it needs to be based on STRICT academics so that De-La'Felony McMushmouth and his crew can't get into ANY of those schools and the top schools can get back to COLLEGE athletics, cut their spending and return money back to the academic side of the university instead of recruiting, coddling, and wasting time and effort on players that barely belong in community college much less a top university.....even if it means that athletics at those schools actually have more strict requirements to play VS just being admitted as a regular student....carrying the rock in high school along with a 1.95 GPA and a 763 on the SAT is not an accomplishment it is an embarrassment

the other 24 to 40 teams plus their aspiring future bottom feeders can drop down. pick up some from D1-AA and create their own division and have all the playoffs they want and they can share equally all the small revenue that brings in and shut up about deserving something from others that actually BUILT AND MAINTAINED something over DECADES if not a century VS moved up in the last few years, built a 20K stadium, filled up with partial qualifiers and 850 SATs and then demanded their big money after going 2-10 for a decade

there should be strict budget/spending controls placed on the new lower division so they don't start going even further into debt and the remaining D1-A teams should not be allowed to play them and if they do the game should count as nothing

attendance and ticket sales is not the best way to measure because it just rewards teams that stock up on idiots and lets them run wild while never getting a degree they fill the stadium one or two years and then out comes the BCS begging bowl and welcome to a BCS game with a 5% view and a 75% full stadium.....sure the same thing can happen ad bigger schools, but that is why the ACADEMIC SIDE needs to start being the cut off so those fools never make it to campus

if the new lower division wants to be the felony league and an NFL training ground fine go for it......the schools that have had long term fan and university support should get back to educating student athletes and let the open admissions schools have the fools and their attitudes and issues

thinking that portland state, sac state or Montana brings anything but misery to D1-A is a joke...hey here are 10 more teams that will make a bowl game once every 2 decades (if that) GREAT!.....oh yea and they have a 5 million dollar a year deficite in states that are going broke and cutting budgets especially at universities....cool here comes broke GaState and USA.....two more begging bowls to tell to GO AWAY....stay where you are with your no fans and your no budget and your no revenue

D1-A is not just an endless source of money for 300 teams to all cry for a share of.......it needs to get back to HISTORY, ACADEMICS, and common sense and the rest of the wanna be amateur NFL teams can take the fools with dreams of playing a year or two and "going pro"

D1-A also needs to require payback of all academic aid for any player that leaves early to go pro to discourage them coming to a school and blowing off academics as well....fans of those schools don't cheer for ryan perilloux they cheer for LSU......perifool belongs at the pseudo-juco he is at and never should have set foot on the LSU campus unless it was to clean tables or dorm showers....same with maurice clarett and vick Jr and tons of other morons out there

if D1-A schools know these clowns will never get in then they will not waste time on them at all....let the cellar dwellers have them and get back to student athletes

So let me get this right... you are a UNT fan?

(06-21-2010 01:50 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  the reality is that 24 to 40 teams need to start preparing themselves to be a part of a new lower division outside of the D1-A division

the vast majority of teams that cry they deserve a "share of the pie" have never brought anything to the table other than an easy home win for better 1-A teams and they deserve the little bit of the pie they get IF THAT

no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money (even if small)......the large conferences made the bowl games, their fans brought the support and the viewers and ratings, and they created the value in that.......the crying schools are parasites that demand a share of something they had nothing to do with building or creating

it is stupid enough that there are 120 teams in D1-A much less that some of the bottom feeders have 10% of the budget of the top teams and even if 100% of the TV money they don't deserve was given to those bottom feeders they would still have 25% of the budget of the revenue generators because those teams have fans, donors, and support VS a few fair weather complainers that want "their fair share"

mathematically the vast majority of D1-A teams will never do anything of real significance in the lifetime of their fans much less win it all even if they had a chance to (they don't and shouldn't)

it is a bigger joke to think that the WAC or any other conference thinks they will grow by bringing up 8-10 more teams from D1-AA to be further bottom feeders

there needs to be 80 to 96 D1-A teams and it needs to be based on STRICT academics so that De-La'Felony McMushmouth and his crew can't get into ANY of those schools and the top schools can get back to COLLEGE athletics, cut their spending and return money back to the academic side of the university instead of recruiting, coddling, and wasting time and effort on players that barely belong in community college much less a top university.....even if it means that athletics at those schools actually have more strict requirements to play VS just being admitted as a regular student....carrying the rock in high school along with a 1.95 GPA and a 763 on the SAT is not an accomplishment it is an embarrassment

the other 24 to 40 teams plus their aspiring future bottom feeders can drop down. pick up some from D1-AA and create their own division and have all the playoffs they want and they can share equally all the small revenue that brings in and shut up about deserving something from others that actually BUILT AND MAINTAINED something over DECADES if not a century VS moved up in the last few years, built a 20K stadium, filled up with partial qualifiers and 850 SATs and then demanded their big money after going 2-10 for a decade

there should be strict budget/spending controls placed on the new lower division so they don't start going even further into debt and the remaining D1-A teams should not be allowed to play them and if they do the game should count as nothing

attendance and ticket sales is not the best way to measure because it just rewards teams that stock up on idiots and lets them run wild while never getting a degree they fill the stadium one or two years and then out comes the BCS begging bowl and welcome to a BCS game with a 5% view and a 75% full stadium.....sure the same thing can happen ad bigger schools, but that is why the ACADEMIC SIDE needs to start being the cut off so those fools never make it to campus

if the new lower division wants to be the felony league and an NFL training ground fine go for it......the schools that have had long term fan and university support should get back to educating student athletes and let the open admissions schools have the fools and their attitudes and issues

thinking that portland state, sac state or Montana brings anything but misery to D1-A is a joke...hey here are 10 more teams that will make a bowl game once every 2 decades (if that) GREAT!.....oh yea and they have a 5 million dollar a year deficite in states that are going broke and cutting budgets especially at universities....cool here comes broke GaState and USA.....two more begging bowls to tell to GO AWAY....stay where you are with your no fans and your no budget and your no revenue

D1-A is not just an endless source of money for 300 teams to all cry for a share of.......it needs to get back to HISTORY, ACADEMICS, and common sense and the rest of the wanna be amateur NFL teams can take the fools with dreams of playing a year or two and "going pro"

D1-A also needs to require payback of all academic aid for any player that leaves early to go pro to discourage them coming to a school and blowing off academics as well....fans of those schools don't cheer for ryan perilloux they cheer for LSU......perifool belongs at the pseudo-juco he is at and never should have set foot on the LSU campus unless it was to clean tables or dorm showers....same with maurice clarett and vick Jr and tons of other morons out there

if D1-A schools know these clowns will never get in then they will not waste time on them at all....let the cellar dwellers have them and get back to student athletes

Fun rant but...

The elite academic institutions that make up the wealthy six leagues are the ones out of control and barely answerable to the academic side of the university appendage they are attached to.

Go look at the NCAA violations database. The rich six league football members are less than 1% of the entire NCAA membership, they hire the most experienced coaches and have the largest most experienced compliance staffs and they represent 22.5% of all NCAA violations the past 10 years.

Infusing more cash with a smaller group, won't make it better, it just increases the pressure to win at any cost.

The way NCAA governance is structured, that small group of schools control the game if they are in agreement. They aren't pushing for an NAIA style reform where you must meet the same admission standards as the school you enroll at because the simple fact is that schools like Michigan, UCLA, and Georgia Tech want lower standards for competitive reasons.

There is no fixing the system until Congress throttles the cash flow by changing the tax code and changing how schools receive Federal funds if they spend extreme amounts on athletics.

(06-21-2010 07:56 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(06-21-2010 01:50 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  the reality is that 24 to 40 teams need to start preparing themselves to be a part of a new lower division outside of the D1-A division

the vast majority of teams that cry they deserve a "share of the pie" have never brought anything to the table other than an easy home win for better 1-A teams and they deserve the little bit of the pie they get IF THAT

no team in the sunbelt, or WAC or MAC ever created a bowl game, ran it for 80 years, made it into a revenue machine and then actually allowed others to have a portion of that money (even if small)......the large conferences made the bowl games, their fans brought the support and the viewers and ratings, and they created the value in that.......the crying schools are parasites that demand a share of something they had nothing to do with building or creating

it is stupid enough that there are 120 teams in D1-A much less that some of the bottom feeders have 10% of the budget of the top teams and even if 100% of the TV money they don't deserve was given to those bottom feeders they would still have 25% of the budget of the revenue generators because those teams have fans, donors, and support VS a few fair weather complainers that want "their fair share"

mathematically the vast majority of D1-A teams will never do anything of real significance in the lifetime of their fans much less win it all even if they had a chance to (they don't and shouldn't)

it is a bigger joke to think that the WAC or any other conference thinks they will grow by bringing up 8-10 more teams from D1-AA to be further bottom feeders

there needs to be 80 to 96 D1-A teams and it needs to be based on STRICT academics so that De-La'Felony McMushmouth and his crew can't get into ANY of those schools and the top schools can get back to COLLEGE athletics, cut their spending and return money back to the academic side of the university instead of recruiting, coddling, and wasting time and effort on players that barely belong in community college much less a top university.....even if it means that athletics at those schools actually have more strict requirements to play VS just being admitted as a regular student....carrying the rock in high school along with a 1.95 GPA and a 763 on the SAT is not an accomplishment it is an embarrassment

the other 24 to 40 teams plus their aspiring future bottom feeders can drop down. pick up some from D1-AA and create their own division and have all the playoffs they want and they can share equally all the small revenue that brings in and shut up about deserving something from others that actually BUILT AND MAINTAINED something over DECADES if not a century VS moved up in the last few years, built a 20K stadium, filled up with partial qualifiers and 850 SATs and then demanded their big money after going 2-10 for a decade

there should be strict budget/spending controls placed on the new lower division so they don't start going even further into debt and the remaining D1-A teams should not be allowed to play them and if they do the game should count as nothing

attendance and ticket sales is not the best way to measure because it just rewards teams that stock up on idiots and lets them run wild while never getting a degree they fill the stadium one or two years and then out comes the BCS begging bowl and welcome to a BCS game with a 5% view and a 75% full stadium.....sure the same thing can happen ad bigger schools, but that is why the ACADEMIC SIDE needs to start being the cut off so those fools never make it to campus

if the new lower division wants to be the felony league and an NFL training ground fine go for it......the schools that have had long term fan and university support should get back to educating student athletes and let the open admissions schools have the fools and their attitudes and issues

thinking that portland state, sac state or Montana brings anything but misery to D1-A is a joke...hey here are 10 more teams that will make a bowl game once every 2 decades (if that) GREAT!.....oh yea and they have a 5 million dollar a year deficite in states that are going broke and cutting budgets especially at universities....cool here comes broke GaState and USA.....two more begging bowls to tell to GO AWAY....stay where you are with your no fans and your no budget and your no revenue

D1-A is not just an endless source of money for 300 teams to all cry for a share of.......it needs to get back to HISTORY, ACADEMICS, and common sense and the rest of the wanna be amateur NFL teams can take the fools with dreams of playing a year or two and "going pro"

D1-A also needs to require payback of all academic aid for any player that leaves early to go pro to discourage them coming to a school and blowing off academics as well....fans of those schools don't cheer for ryan perilloux they cheer for LSU......perifool belongs at the pseudo-juco he is at and never should have set foot on the LSU campus unless it was to clean tables or dorm showers....same with maurice clarett and vick Jr and tons of other morons out there

if D1-A schools know these clowns will never get in then they will not waste time on them at all....let the cellar dwellers have them and get back to student athletes

So let me get this right... you are a UNT fan?

He's certainly not a fan. Long time anti UNT athletics. Bitterly disappointed when the students voted for an athletic fee and hates the fact UNT is getting a new stadium. Very unhappy individual.

++++++++++++++++++++++++
IMO TR does bring up some valid points.....academic
standards being ignored to bring wannabe NFL prospects
into the college. True student athletes have been
pushed into the background at many FBS insitutions, in
the interest of winning and producing income for a university.

IMO these non-student athletes are well paid; tuition,
room and board, medical care, proabably a stipend, and then
there is the money/benefits that are paid out of sight.

I like and favor the idea that young people can earn a good
education and go on to a real career by being a student athlete.
But its up to the universities, and governing institutions to set
standards and enforce those standards---- as a taxpayer, I
want to help those qualified students who earn athletic scholarships,
but keep the unqualified, corruption, and win at any price out of
the university.

(06-21-2010 07:21 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  On a historic scale FBS is at a mid-range on numbers.

The top level over time has ranged from 105 to 180+. When it has been smaller than 120 it has grown rapidly until approaching 120 and once it goes much larger the push to divide to re-emerges.

Splitting from the NCAA makes very little sense for the wealthy leagues.

1. Football is taken care of. The BCS split $140 million plus last year. That works out to $14 million per game. MWC placed a team, they got $9.8 million. WAC placed a team and received $7.8 million. The other three non-AQ took home a combined $6.4 million. The revenue given to non-AQ, grand total $24 million, was $4 million less than if the money were split equally between participants. If there had been one buster instead of two it would have been $20 million or an overpay overall. If there had been no buster at all it would have been $12.6 million. That's a small price. The BCS over-pays the ACC and Big East who tend to draw worse TV audiences and worse ticket sales than the busters. They get $17.7 million instead of $14 million. The Bg 10 always qualifies two and the SEC almost always does, they get $22.2 million because the extra team is grossly underpaid.

2. The BCS isn't that important to revenue. Subtract the team costs for going to a BCS game (never seen a school spend less than a million and two million isn't unheard of) and the SEC nets maybe $19 million. That works out to $1.6 million per team in the SEC or 9.4% of SEC income per school. For the Big 10 it is 8.7% of income. For a school like Texas, BCS profit is slightly less than 1% of their entire income. They gave Mack Brown a raise this year that was greater than UT's BCS income, just the raise. BCS revenue will pay only 40% of Saban's salary.

3. Basketball revenue isn't that big either. The Big 10 makes slightly more than a million per team (less than BCS money) from the NCAA Tournament units they've earned. Their total NCAA revenue (much is paid directly to the school and not factored into the revenue distribution from the league) is $3 million per team.

4. Revenue shared with all of FBS or Division I is a small source. BCS plus NCAA money represents less than 20% of conference revenue and about 5% to 10% of all income at the top schools. Going from sharing a record 19% this year (remember FCS gets 1% and the non-AQ took 18%) to sharing 0% creates only a negligible increase in revenue.

5. What is the gain? About $3.5 million per school in the rich six. In basketball the rich six leagues taking all NCAA distribution get 47%. Change it to 100% and a 65 team super division nets an extra $3 million per team, throw in about an extra half million from not sharing BCS money. Texas reworking the Big XII deal is estimated to increase revenue by $10 million, which is the better use of effort?

6. What is the cost? Well they already have TWO anti-trust investigations going on that we know about. Split and you make it three and the new one has potential treble damages at the billion+ dollar level.

7. Political risk. It's not just ASU and our ilk that get hurt. The Ivy League shares some revenue as well. The Division II and III schools pay greatly reduced dues because of the NCAA underwriting of costs in those Divisions with basketball money. A split impacts well over a thousand schools and shines a bright light on the amount of revenue involved and where it goes. In 08-09 Texas spent 6.18% of its budget on 300 or so student-athletes not all of whom received full scholarships. They spent 15.43% on coaching salaries and another 19.3% on support staff and athletic administration salaries. Texas spent more money raising money (6.58%) than on scholarships. That's not the sort of closer look you want anyone taking and splitting over dollars will insure it.

8. Tax code. If Congress repulsed by the balatant commercialism disallowed the charitable deduction for athletics and contributions went down by the amount of tax that would have to be paid by donors, Texas would lose $10 million in income. Losing $10 million to gain $3.5 million by not sharing is a terrible business decision.

9. Opponents. Look at Arkansas in regular season last year, they won 44.4% of their games against peers last year for a 4-5 record. But they went 3-0 against lower revenue schools, the people left behind in a split. They needed to play those non-peer institutions to post a winning record and go to a bowl. Losing makes it harder to sell tickets and to get donations and sponsorships. Kill the lower tier and the higher tier lose more games. That's money out of pocket. As the president of Nebraska noted to Congress, they make more from a single home game than the BCS. You need credible opponents for the process as well. We've seen a rash of SWAC opponents in football around the league and they've been so woefully mis-matched the games have been done in the first quarter and the interest in such wanes quickly. If you are trying to make a case for a national ranking, routing a bad Sun Belt, MAC, WAC, has more value than routing a lower division team that isn't offering a similar number of scholarships, the power ratings tend to reflect it as well because of schedules. There is value

so basically what you are saying is that the "big money" so many of the do nothings think they deserve is just not there and will never be there no matter what cut of the pie they get

exactly my point.....which is why they need to stop flying all over the country to play each other or to take a pay day beating and instead focus on regional teams that have similar budgets and can be traveled to easily

if the BCS is not that important to revenue then why are all the do nothings clamoring for a share of that money?.....besides the fact they don't know what they are doing

I never said anything about basketball anywhere in my post......there is no issue currently with D1-A and D1-AA teams all playing in basketball now so I see no issue with that continuing

basketball is a vastly different sport in terms or team size, facilities needed, travel cost, and most importantly physical wear and tear on the players....I have no desire to see a #16 seed Troy try and knock out the QB of a #1 seed 'Bama because they think that will help them advance one round further in any D1-A playoffs and I don't think the winner of the sunbelt or MAC would deserve a #16 seed over the second or even 3rd place team from the SEC or Big 10 or any other AQ conference in any recent years history....and don't think that Troy or any other school would not be playing to hurt if they got that chance ever in the playoffs.......basketball in general can play games every other day if needed which is why they can get 64 teams together for a tournament VS football where a week off is almost a necessity....if you took the top 16 teams or the top 8 ranked teams the non-AQ conferences will still cry they did not get their chance because the rankings were biased to the AQ conferences

you easily beat the anti-trust when you make it about academics and you make it so that the partial qualifier U just can't afford to compete....you can go one step further and limit the non-athletic revenue per student that is allowed to be spent on athletics, limit team size down to 80 players or maybe 75 with NO ADDITIONAL walkons or if walkons are allowed then they are NEVER allowed to travel until on a full football ride even to the bowl games or playoffs (they would be free practice dummies)

also teams should lose the scholarship for the remainder of the time it would have been used by a student if that student fails out or leaves early without having made acceptable progress....so if Marble-Mouth Williams fails out in year one that is 4 more years (the remaining three to play plus the redshirt) that university is down one scholarship they can offer

if So'Fast Jones goes pro in year two and has a 0.0 GPA that is 3 more years that scholarship is not available and that school gets 79 or 74 total to offer

no political risk because I never said anything about leaving the NCAA or cutting funding to them.....only limiting the ability of top schools to recruit and play fools which cuts down on them needing to fly coaches all over the country to recruit fools that like to line up hats on a table in front of themselves and act like an ass on signing day and that require thousands of dollars of time and effort to hold their hand and try and recruit them because at the end of the day going to college means nothing to them it is just another chance to act like an idiot in public

early signings should also be allowed......then if the player is injured and unavailable to ever play college ball the university that signed them still owes them a free ride, but that free ride would not count against the 75 or 80 for players (unless they got better and started playing again).....a school would have a limit of 5 of these to offer before any remaining over 5 start to cut into the 75 or 80 free rides for players

there should be a limit on the total value of "accessories" like sandals, shorts, sun glasses, shoes, head bands and all the other free crap that players are "given" by schools with athletic deals....it is one thing to provide practice gear it is another to practically cloth a player for every occasion, but a suit

congress could do nothing with the tax code without doing something about every other non-profit......and if they did limit athletic donations and their tax deductible status who cares it would probably hurt the small teams more because the big donors don't need that tax break or they would just give to academics....if they did not give again who cares it is just that much less wasted in a never ending arms race that clearly shows that money matters, but only to a point and after that it is just wasting money on bling bling and shorts and sunglasses

if you limit games played in the top division to top teams only then Arkansas and every other school will have to play each other instead of flying in a tomato can and beating them up for a payoff.....again if all is equal for all the top schools who cares.....the tomato cans can go black to playing each other

as for another poster sure Tulane may have been involved with the Sugar Bowl....WHEN THEY WERE A PART OF THE SEC.....but they did not build the game up to what it was or where it is today and they did not provide the fans, fan support, and TV ratings.....if they did they would have stuck it out in the SEC like Vanderbilt has

it would be more difficult and touchy for anti-trust to go strictly on revenue, but you could also tr a system where over and above a certain dollar amount in total football spending the program has to give a % back to the academics of their university......so if that limit was 25 million total to be spent on the football program and dollar amount over that 25 million would need to have a % sent to the academic side of the university.....say 20%.......so if a top team spent 40 million on football then they would need to send 3 million over to the academic side....if they spent 50 million on football then 5 million to the academic side.....this could be done in conjunction with limits on non-athletic revenue that can be spent on football....so if a team had 20 million in athletic revenue and needed to make up 5 million there would be a limit on the % of that remaining deficit that student fees could make up......like 20% which means that team could spend 21 million total on football.....20 from athletics revenues and 20% of 5 million (one million) in student fees.....if the deficit is too large like only 15 million in athletic revenues then perhaps only 10% could be made up with student fees which would be 15 million in athletic revenues + 10% of 10 million (one million) for a 16 million dollar football budget

this would put teams on a path to athletic self sufficiency or hopefully show some of them they just can't compete and don't belong

there should also be limits on football budgets as a % of total athletic budget so some schools can't cut everything, but football, womens BB, and womens bowling and womens swimming

I honestly don't care about some of the powerhouses that make a profit on athletics or bring in enough to spend it all every year, spending all their athletic revenue on athletics and football especially

what I am tired of is schools passing student fees moving up with horrible budgets, horrible fan support, and no hope and then recruiting morons that can run and catch to try and compete.....these are the schools that waste time, money, and cheat their fans and other athletes to try and be something they never will be

and although unT is easily one of the guilty parties in this type of situation my opinion has nothing to do with anything they have (or have not done) recently because I have been to several other universities besides unT (before and after I went to unT ) and have a degree from another as well so I have plenty of places to support based on personal experiences at those schools

my opinions are based on the idea that UTSA (fine school and I wish them the best in their athletics) TxState (fine school with a great campus several strong programs and many hot girls) moving up into something they have no chance at competing in and wasting millions to try and do it when they would be better off grouping up with 78 or 94 other schools and competing (and spending money) on something where they have a chance and maybe they can get to a break even point themselves on athletics VS flushing money down the toilet on false hope

I would also not mind seeing UT and tOSU and some others just get to the point where they practically HAVE TO turn money over to academics because they just can't spend it on anything else.....I think that would be a major advancement for those universities and those states and in the end the product on the field and the fan support would stay nearly the same while the blatant waste of cash would stop

but as it stands now I see no reason to limit what those schools can spend when they are some of the few (less than 2 dozen) that profit from athletics and they have the fan and financial support to do it and they have to share the same field with partial qualifier U that can bring in every football moron under the sun to compete especially when partial qualifier U will never have the fan or financial support to compete no matter how often they win

no offense to Boise I like them as a program and what they have done, but they could win 5 BCS games in a row and an MNC and still not have the athletic revenue, budget, fan support, or finances that many of the larger schools have going 6-6 every year......because as I said before those fans cheer for THEIR UNIVERSITY and support their university VS anyone that Boise picks up will be gone tomorrow when Boise has a down year along with the TV cameras and TV revenue and Boise would be right back to losing money every year on athletics

The athletic arms race is completely out of control. Instead, of trying to lop off the schools at the bottom because obviously they cannot compete long term with schools that spend many multiples of their budgets; why not try to get some control over spending. By definition, no university is making money; they are all non-profits. It is just a question of how much money they can churn back into athletics. Yes, a few actually transfer relatively small amounts back into the institution but it is miniscule compared to the amounts generated. The problem is that for all but a few of the programs a large percentage of those costs are ultimately paid by the taxpayers or students.

Even pro athletics for the sake of competition puts some limits on player salaries and have types of profit sharing. While the main justification for exuberant coaches salaries and other expenditures is that they ultimately generate money. The problem is that money generated seldom ever gets out of the athletic department, so as revenues increase; costs increase the same and the arm race continues to escalate. If this continues, there will be even less competition, the biggest more successful will continue to dominate and teams will continue to drop off the bottom until there are fewer and fewer teams until you get something that looks like a pro league. The government will eventually get more involved and there will be questions about tax exempt status and the merit of having educational entities involved in a more and more exclusive athletic environment.

(06-21-2010 01:45 PM)Grandgreen Wrote:  The athletic arms race is completely out of control. Instead, of trying to lop off the schools at the bottom because obviously they cannot compete long term with schools that spend many multiples of their budgets; why not try to get some control over spending. By definition, no university is making money; they are all non-profits. It is just a question of how much money they can churn back into athletics. Yes, a few actually transfer relatively small amounts back into the institution but it is miniscule compared to the amounts generated. The problem is that for all but a few of the programs a large percentage of those costs are ultimately paid by the taxpayers or students.

Even pro athletics for the sake of competition puts some limits on player salaries and have types of profit sharing. While the main justification for exuberant coaches salaries and other expenditures is that they ultimately generate money. The problem is that money generated seldom ever gets out of the athletic department, so as revenues increase; costs increase the same and the arm race continues to escalate. If this continues, there will be even less competition, the biggest more successful will continue to dominate and teams will continue to drop off the bottom until there are fewer and fewer teams until you get something that looks like a pro league. The government will eventually get more involved and there will be questions about tax exempt status and the merit of having educational entities involved in a more and more exclusive athletic environment.

part of the way to control cost is to

get rid of the "student" athletes that don't belong in college.....this is not as easy as it sounds because there always will be and should be (to a degree) an opportunity for all to attempt to get a college education.....which means at some point somewhere there is going to be a university that has open enrollment and can take anyone under the sun.....which means they can also decide to field a semi-pro team of exercise science majors and then drive their new yellow buses from place to place getting beat or eventually maybe winning.....but unfortunately they will still have little fan or financial support because people don't just decide to become LONG TERM fans and SUPPORTERS of felon state even if they do win because they never were a student at felon state

and more so Boone, Hicks, "Yellawood" and the rest are not going to just sit back and watch their teams take a beating from a bunch of semi-pro players with a 1.945 GPA in some nothing major at felon state.....they will first try and out spend them and then felon state will try and up their budget to go grayhound instead of bluebird.....and off we go

which is why getting the academics under control is a main point of my argument.....if done properly the financials would probably all work out....you either have schools that allow in true student athletes with something like a 1000 on the SAT and a 2.75 or better in HS or you have teams with morons that can run and catch.......as long as they are all competition against each other....as long as that is going on then spending and bling bling to bring in the few that can maybe cut it academically and still play VS just letting them go elsewhere where academics are a non-issue and they come tear you apart on saturday (before they get shot or arrested)

if top schools knew those clowns were not going to get in or not play UNDER NCAA TOP DIVISION RULES then schools would not waste their time and effort on them......the lower division schools that just don't have the budgets can take those risk and waste a lot less cash on them in the process and take up one less seat in a decent university

what you are trying to propose is to limit the spending of the top programs while still pitting them against the schools that can let any idiot in....which over time would be much worse for athletics than what you think will happen if spending is allowed to continue unlimited.......because again a VERY VERY VERY TOUGH FACT FOR unT FANS ESPECIALLY TO GRASP is that UT and TAMU and TTU and OU and OSU and the rest have built their fan support over DECADES and they are supported by LOYAL fans

it is not like suddenly that fan support (and all the TV viewers financial support and merchandise sales) will suddenly switch over to felon state....it will just dry up as fans get tired of seeing THEIR TEAM get beat by a yellow bus full of marbled mouthed morons that probably belong in county VS a university and they decide "this sucks" and move away from college football entirely....it is not like they will suddenly start to pack Fouts field and buy unT gear.......hell unT fans did not do that during unTs best run ever.......which should be a HUGE CLUE right there

UTSA might pick off a few UT fans and gain some shirt sales from it.....but that quickly dries up when the coach leaves and the team falters, the first 5 players get arrested for multi-felonies, the university itself gets in a financial pinch, or some of their "graduates" come out and let the world know they can't read......I am not saying that UTSA will be filled with these types of players or especially that UT is not......but when you limit the bling bling that UT can use to bring in Da'Weed Sellers it will become very very tempting for UTSA and the like to give Da'Weed "a chance"....which means that UT might be losing to a team full of players that don't belong in ANY college....but that UT would have had if they could have wasted some of their ABUNDANCE of resources on them instead of UTSA wasting their lack of resources on them...and again it is bad enough for graduates of a school to support a team with those idiots....the Tshirters will leave them in droves....which again means lost revenue overall for college sports

what fans of the sunbelt and other conferences can't or won't seem to figure out is that you are not competing to get UTs money (and you damn sure don't deserve it) what you are competing for is to GET YOUR OWN DAMN SUPPORT

it is not that UT and the rest are hogging all the TV money and fan support and Tshirt sales and all the big bowl money....and they won't share

it is that no one out there gives a damn to watch unT play some other sunbelt team which is why they don't show up to games or tune the picture box to watch those "matchups"

and even if unT sneaked into the Big 12 somehow and fan support was way up......you are still miles and miles behind the rest in facilities, budget, fans, and fan support......which means you either take a beating every week like you do now, you start trying to spend spend spend, or you bring in Thuggins Watkins and take a chance on him......and if any of the others in the Big 12 want him....they will out bling bling you for him....or if he can't get in academically at the rest of the Big 12 that means there is not a level playing field in the ACADEMICS of COLLEGE football....which means try and out spend the thug teams.....or watch fans leave when they realize it is futile to support something that is just gutter ball played by idiots VS college students

again here is a huge clue for the sunbelt and all the other non-AQ schools and conferences

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO STOPPING YOU FROM STARTING BOWL GAMES, GETTING FAT TV CONTRACTS, FILLING YOUR STADIUMS, SELLING SHIRTS, BRINGING IN LARGE DONATIONS and on and on

except for the fact that NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE......which is why they don't show up, send cash, buy shirts, tune in, pay for your bowl games ect.

and right now the only way to come close to correcting that is to win win win......and the way to win win win is......spend spend spend or open the floodgates to fools

and even if you did spend spends spend like you are trying to now......you will still be light years behind in budget and facilities and fan support.....because it takes DECADES to build upon that.....and the vast majority of bottom feeders and those looking to move up don't have decades worth of fan support, financial support, or fan patients for that to make progress and provide results

IF YOU DID....THEN YOU WOULD PROBABLY ALREADY BE WHERE YOU WANT TO BE....LIKE THE TEAMS THAT HAVE BUILT SOMETHING OVER DECADES

Boise is the EXTREME flash in the pan and there is every chance they could be right back where Hawaii is now after their one big BCS game (still broke with limited fan support) especially now that Boise will be in a tougher conference

and for every Boise out there there are a dozen unTs, ULMs, SDSUs, SJSUs and the like that have made zero progress over decades.....and probably over those decades they have actually LOST potential support by trying to go out there and slug it out with those they can't compete with year in and year out VS getting into a realistic grouping of similar programs where they can compete and having something for the fans to support more than 4 years out of 100 (and even then the unT fans support was less than many 6-6 AQ teams)....and now they are back to a 4 year going on 5 year losing streak......and spending more and more cash......yet falling further and further behind

one has to ask themselves what some of these programs are trying to prove....unT is 32K students, UTSA is 28K, TxState is 29K........these are HUGE universities in most states......who is it they are trying to attract and do they really think that being out spent, out played, and possibly bringing in a pack of fools to form a semi-pro team is really going to be that much more attractive to any fans out there

Boise you can see to a degree.....a smaller school in a very small state close to some larger states where they might draw some students especially since many of the universities that play decent D1-A ball in that state also excel at academics and therefor exclude some of those potential football fans/students from even being admitted......which leaves them going to Fresno (pretty good academics and good football, but a location all might not like and still with a firm academic admittance requirement) SDSU, and SJSU which both SUCK at football and are located in pretty expensive places to live as a student....and both still have some firm academic requirements for admittance

who in the hell does USA, GaState, and the rest think they are going to attract to them especially when many of the "Big State" schools in their states really do not have the most strict academic requirements out there because they are very small states and the few universities that state has are pretty small on an overall size scale and therefor do not need to limit academic requirements as strictly in order to limit enrollment

something is going to give soon.....either many privates are going to say enough and do like the Ivy League did and take their ball and "go play with themselves" or it is going to get out of control on spending and fools being admitted

many might say fine let the privates go away....but the reality is the SEC likes Vanderbilt, UT likes Rice and likes to play and be associated with playing Rice, I think the State of OK likes Tulsa in 1-A, same with Louisiana and Tulane, The ACC likes Duke, the PAC 10 likes Stanford and the Big 10 likes Northwestern at the end of the day many of the AQ schools would much rather be associated with and play those types of schools than "just moved up open admissions with 10mil a year budget state normal school"

and if the private schools leave and nothing else changes it will just be Big State U putting a worse and worse beat down in felony state until felony state goes semi-pro on them and it all falls apart like that

because again to make clear......the fans and former fans of the privates and any other school that decides they want out are not suddenly going to pick up a GaState or a USA hoodie and start cheering for, buying tickets for, and tuning in for their games in any meaningful way especially if they are winning with a team full of idiots and fools

it would just be Big State U and their DECADES OF FANS beating up on the state no ones OR (and some might think they want this just because they like to destroy what they can't have) it would be fans of Big State walking away when they realized they were a part of a semi=pro league they can't compete in because of their academics and the others lack of academics so why give much more support....but at the end of the day the state no ones would just be teams winning in front of 30K, with regional TV, no budget, now finding themselves wasting more and more money trying to compete with each other for the same morons that Big State gave up on

which = more wasted money on players that don't belong in college and budgets growing out of control at schools that have even less resources and fans to work with and support them

pretty much like hockey and baseball......big money for a watered down product where no matter what revenue ONLY plan they try people still don't show up because their team has no chance, they only want to see a winner, or they flat don't care

I think in the bottoms of college football there are a hell of a lot more teams out there in the "they don't care" category than even in the "need to win or play better teams" category

I for one an tired of watching more and more universities try and prove that someone will care if they just nudge the spending ball rolling a little bit forward

especially when mathematically if one team can win it all each year that means the vast majority of those schools fans will die having seen their team never come close even if they live to 120

I will let you guys know if my local news says anything about the Fresno St. meeting today. If not the status quo remains.

I also believe Fresno's last resort would be Fb Indy and Big West for all sports. My worst nightmare come true. Fresno St. needs a complete overhaul. Fire Prez Weltey, AD Boeh, Basketball coach Cleveland, and Fb coach Pat Hill. Yes Hill, He hypes up our games vs BCS teams but can't win the conf. even Nevada kicks our a$$ now. Pat Hill's main goal is to always keep the valley talent in Fresno Modesto-Bakersfield is his main area. Hill is good at making the fb players upstanding citizens, basketball has a thug problem.

UNT people, learn from La Tech's mistake WAC does NOT = CUSA invite. If Memphis and UCF leave, I'd bet that MTSU and FAU get CUSA invites. If say Houston left then yeah maybe UNT gets the invite but they don't need to be in the BigWest/BigSky/D-II CCAA WAC to go.

(06-21-2010 03:18 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  I will let you guys know if my local news says anything about the Fresno St. meeting today. If not the status quo remains.

I also believe Fresno's last resort would be Fb Indy and Big West for all sports. My worst nightmare come true. Fresno St. needs a complete overhaul. Fire Prez Weltey, AD Bohl, Basketball coach Cleveland, and Fb coach Pat Hill. Yes Hill, He hypes up our games vs BCS teams but can't win the conf. even Nevada kicks our a$$ now. Pat Hill's main goal is to always keep the valley talent in Fresno Modesto-Bakersfield is his main area. Hill is good at making the fb players upstanding citizens, basketball has a thug problem.

UNT people, learn from La Tech's mistake WAC does NOT = CUSA invite. If Memphis and UCF leave, I'd bet that MTSU and FAU get CUSA invites. If say Houston left then yeah maybe UNT gets the invite but they don't need to be in the BigWest/BigSky/D-II CCAA WAC to go.

here he brings up a great point......part of the reason the SWC folded is because outside of Texas most people did not give a damn if they wanted to and that meant poor TV viewership

it is a joke looking at GMG fans talking about the new SWC....as if anyone else would care about the second and third rate Texas teams all battling it out each week

hell I wish UTEP was still in the WAC in a way.......I like to see all Texas teams have a chance to get to a bowl game EVERY year

a conference full of 8 Texas teams all beating up on each other means that 4 Texas teams at least TOTALLY SUCK and no one gives a damn which means half your conference sucks and TV and bowl money sucks.....and no one cares to watch especially outside of Texas

as it is now it is barely tolerable for 4 Texas teams in the CUSA and Big 12 and as both those conferences KNOW and as the Big 12 has stated THAT IS ENOUGH TEXAS TEAMS FOR ONE CONFERENCE

UH and UTEP to the MWC could be nice, but even then you are reaching the limits of Texas teams and their VERY CASUAL fan support

Fresno is a team I have a great concern for in the WAC debacle right now......they really deserve to be in the MWC and SDSU and SJSU probably need to hang it up in D1-A and go down to 1-AA and have their regional competition AND A CHANCE IN HELL OF WINNING

Pat Hill is a class coach and I loved his any place anytime mentality and it will be a crime if something does not work out for them.....sadly they are in a state with 4 that have the top academics (still have budget issues) and a solid conference, a state with massive budget issues across the board, and bumped next to flyover states....and the ocean....with a team with budget issues

tough place for Fresno to be I think it was a mistake for the MWC to take Boise without a sniff at Fresno

Fresno has Boise beat by a mile across the board in academics, facilities, and even fans......maybe Fresno should have been playing more nobodies......sucks that is a way to get respect

Local news said nothing about Fresno St. being unhappy in the WAC or wanting to leave it. Stay tuned