http://espn1420.com/sun-belt-was-right-t...expansion/

I don't see how the Sun Belt can take a reputation hit. Most people in the north don't even know the Sun Belt Conference exists. If they do know it exists, they don't know it's a FBS conference. In fact Appalachian State is more well known than any current Sun Belt school.

Riiiight...

I think OrangeCrush22 went too far with those comments. College football fans in the North/Northeast, as well as the Midwest/West, know the Sun Belt exists and that it plays at the FBS level. But most probably don't know, off the top of their heads, which schools are in the Sun Belt.

I agree that outside the South, Appalachian State is easily more famous than any school in the Sun Belt, and this is not a knock on those schools. The upset of Michigan, as well as the "Water Boy" reference, will likely live in people's consciousness for pretty much the next generation.

(05-30-2012 09:52 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  I don't see how the Sun Belt can take a reputation hit. Most people in the north don't even know the Sun Belt Conference exists. If they do know it exists, they don't know it's a FBS conference. In fact Appalachian State is more well known than any current Sun Belt school.

Only because they aren't paying attention.

A good number of Boise State fans in-town for the BSU/UGA Opener last season went to the GSU game to support GA State, just because we've been there.

(05-30-2012 09:52 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  I don't see how the Sun Belt can take a reputation hit. Most people in the north don't even know the Sun Belt Conference exists. If they do know it exists, they don't know it's a FBS conference. In fact Appalachian State is more well known than any current Sun Belt school.

OK other than stating your opinion that most people in the north are either don't follow college football very closely, or simply are not that bright, what is your point. From living in Little Falls NY for a couple of years I would say it is a little of both.

FYI, most people in the south think every school not in the SEC plays FCS football.

For the sake of the Appy fans I was hoping that they might get a shot in the sunbelt. Not looking good now. Especially with this comment:

"And, travel to Boone, NC would be a nightmare for anyone having to fly their non-football teams in, which was everyone in the western division. Statesboro, GA wouldn’t be much better."

Maybe they will still get an invite from the WAC or MAC. The MAC would certainly be better than the WAC but it would seem like a long-shot to me. With this upcoming 10 year moratorium on FCS schools coming up, its not looking good for Appy, Liberty, or Georgia Southern. I do think Delaware and JMU will slip in somewhere.

(05-30-2012 11:45 PM)BadWillHunting Wrote:  Only because they aren't paying attention.

A good number of Boise State fans in-town for the BSU/UGA Opener last season went to the GSU game to support GA State, just because we've been there.

Really? Boise St spent nearly 2 decades in the FCS competing and building a brand. Ga St is fresh off of a 3-8 win season with wins against Clark Atlanta and the Campbell Camels. Are those even scholarship programs? I believe I live within 5 hours of both of them and didnt even know they had football teams.

Panama's posts are mostly about why App State and Georgia Southern shouldnt get an invite, and quoting the minority that agree with him, which is more about Ga State's deficiency on the playing field than it is about those two programs.

(05-31-2012 07:42 AM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  For the sake of the Appy fans I was hoping that they might get a shot in the sunbelt. Not looking good now. Especially with this comment:

"And, travel to Boone, NC would be a nightmare for anyone having to fly their non-football teams in, which was everyone in the western division. Statesboro, GA wouldn’t be much better."

Youre quoting a blogger. And a blogger that blogs about his own opinion to boot. Look at the title for heavens sake, "The Sun Belt was Right..."

And hard to get to? Boone, NC a town of 15,000, has over 30 hotels and resorts in the immediate vicinity. If its so darn hard to get to, I wonder how they all stay in business?

(05-31-2012 08:06 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-31-2012 07:42 AM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  For the sake of the Appy fans I was hoping that they might get a shot in the sunbelt. Not looking good now. Especially with this comment:

"And, travel to Boone, NC would be a nightmare for anyone having to fly their non-football teams in, which was everyone in the western division. Statesboro, GA wouldn’t be much better."

Youre quoting a blogger. And a blogger that blogs about his own opinion to boot. Look at the title for heavens sake, "The Sun Belt was Right..."

And hard to get to? Boone, NC a town of 15,000, has over 30 hotels and resorts in the immediate vicinity. If its so darn hard to get to, I wonder how they all stay in business?

You make the case for him..15,000 residents..30 hotels ..probably no local tv station...heck even if each hotel had 100 available rooms that's only 3000 rooms to be had on game day....you look at a school like uta..they just had the super bowl here a couple of years ago..we have the cowboys and the texas rangers within sight of campus..still nobody has heard of us and we are a 100 year old university in a city of 400,000.

(05-30-2012 09:52 PM)OrangeCrush22 Wrote:  I don't see how the Sun Belt can take a reputation hit. Most people in the north don't even know the Sun Belt Conference exists. If they do know it exists, they don't know it's a FBS conference. In fact Appalachian State is more well known than any current Sun Belt school.

Most fans in the south have the same experience with the MAC and Syracuse.

(05-31-2012 08:59 AM)runamuck Wrote:  You make the case for him..15,000 residents..30 hotels ..probably no local tv station...heck even if each hotel had 100 available rooms that's only 3000 rooms to be had on game day....you look at a school like uta..they just had the super bowl here a couple of years ago..we have the cowboys and the texas rangers within sight of campus..still nobody has heard of us and we are a 100 year old university in a city of 400,000.

Boone has an enormous number of hotel rooms. Hotel rooms are not a problem in the least.

App State averages 29,000 per regular season game in a town of 15,000. That means between 10,000 and 20,000 actually drive into Boone to attend football games. Not hard to get to. Tourism is billion $ business in Watauga County. The economy is built upon being accessable. Boone gets inundated by people just looking at leaves for heavens sake. The ski slopes arent normally open until after football season. Tens of thousands flock to Boone in summer just because you can leave Charlotte with their ozone warnings and be in Boone where its 70 degrees all summer, with a slight breeze for a day trip.

We are 1 hour 15 minutes to Winston Salem, and 1 hour 45 minutes to Charlotte, two of the largest population centers in NC, and its all freeway. Those two cities are also our top alumni concentrations. We are in the Charlotte DMA, and the Winston Salem Journal is our best paper.

(05-31-2012 07:58 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 11:45 PM)BadWillHunting Wrote:  Only because they aren't paying attention.

A good number of Boise State fans in-town for the BSU/UGA Opener last season went to the GSU game to support GA State, just because we've been there.

Really? Boise St spent nearly 2 decades in the FCS competing and building a brand. Ga St is fresh off of a 3-8 win season with wins against Clark Atlanta and the Campbell Camels. Are those even scholarship programs? I believe I live within 5 hours of both of them and didnt even know they had football teams.

Panama's posts are mostly about why App State and Georgia Southern shouldnt get an invite, and quoting the minority that agree with him, which is more about Ga State's deficiency on the playing field than it is about those two programs.

Campbell - new non-schollie program
Clark Atlanta - DII team

(05-31-2012 09:22 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-31-2012 08:59 AM)runamuck Wrote:  You make the case for him..15,000 residents..30 hotels ..probably no local tv station...heck even if each hotel had 100 available rooms that's only 3000 rooms to be had on game day....you look at a school like uta..they just had the super bowl here a couple of years ago..we have the cowboys and the texas rangers within sight of campus..still nobody has heard of us and we are a 100 year old university in a city of 400,000.

Boone has an enormous number of hotel rooms. Hotel rooms are not a problem in the least.

App State averages 29,000 per regular season game in a town of 15,000. That means between 10,000 and 20,000 actually drive into Boone to attend football games. Not hard to get to. Tourism is billion $ business in Watauga County. The economy is built upon being accessable. Boone gets inundated by people just looking at leaves for heavens sake. The ski slopes arent normally open until after football season. Tens of thousands flock to Boone in summer just because you can leave Charlotte with their ozone warnings and be in Boone where its 70 degrees all summer, with a slight breeze for a day trip.

We are 1 hour 15 minutes to Winston Salem, and 1 hour 45 minutes to Charlotte, two of the largest population centers in NC, and its all freeway. Those two cities are also our top alumni concentrations. We are in the Charlotte DMA, and the Winston Salem Journal is our best paper.

Lets get some facts straight....

According to the NCAA database you guys average a hair over 26K last year:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_r...e/2011.pdf

Of that 26K, 10k of that attendance is students according to your very own Athletic Director. So essentially you have 16K paying fans showing up on game day. Probably half of them are local folks so to say that you have up to 20K of them driving in is completely false.

And yes, it is hard to get to for opposing schools that are trying to fly in and out of the area. Conference teams don't want to fly into Charlotte and then still have to board a bus and then drive 2+ hours to get to Boone.


There is a reason that a school like Charlotte who has no football team yet got picked over App State. There is a reason why the Sunbelt picked Georgia State and UT Arlington over App State. Picking a candidate for long-term success is a lot more involved over simply looking at attendance. Budget, facilities, location and surrounding infrastructure plays a huge role in all of this. If you cant see and understand that by now then something is wrong.

(05-31-2012 09:22 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-31-2012 08:59 AM)runamuck Wrote:  You make the case for him..15,000 residents..30 hotels ..probably no local tv station...heck even if each hotel had 100 available rooms that's only 3000 rooms to be had on game day....you look at a school like uta..they just had the super bowl here a couple of years ago..we have the cowboys and the texas rangers within sight of campus..still nobody has heard of us and we are a 100 year old university in a city of 400,000.

Boone has an enormous number of hotel rooms. Hotel rooms are not a problem in the least.

App State averages 29,000 per regular season game in a town of 15,000. That means between 10,000 and 20,000 actually drive into Boone to attend football games. Not hard to get to. Tourism is billion $ business in Watauga County. The economy is built upon being accessable. Boone gets inundated by people just looking at leaves for heavens sake. The ski slopes arent normally open until after football season. Tens of thousands flock to Boone in summer just because you can leave Charlotte with their ozone warnings and be in Boone where its 70 degrees all summer, with a slight breeze for a day trip.

We are 1 hour 15 minutes to Winston Salem, and 1 hour 45 minutes to Charlotte, two of the largest population centers in NC, and its all freeway. Those two cities are also our top alumni concentrations. We are in the Charlotte DMA, and the Winston Salem Journal is our best paper.

Look....App State had one of the biggest proponents for CUSA membership at ECU in Terry Holland. Nobody else in CUSA wanted anything to do with App State because App IS a remote location and you don't really bring any value other than attendance. ODU has similar attendance, better basketball and a much better market.

Bottom line for App State is y'all waited WAY TOO LONG to "get serious" about moving up to FBS. Y'all farted around with the idea of FBS forever it seems. As soon as Charlotte announced they were starting a football program and PLANNING on playing at the FBS level App should have been ALL OVER CUSA and the Sunbelt pushing for an invitation. I'm afraid it's too late for App State now that Charlotte is in CUSA. Adding App to CUSA wouldn't be much more than a double-dip in the Charlotte market. You can say what you want about UNCC but they were a founding member of CUSA and one of the best basketball program in the conference before CUSA decided to be an all sports conference. For me personally, I would have rather had App over Charlotte but I understand why Charlotte got the green light.

I suppose the SBC could be an option for App but I have to be brutally honest here. I don't think it's even worth it for a program that will probably never be allowed to advance past the SBC. For Georgia State, Charlotte, UTSA, etc. it's a no brainer because markets are driving everything for non-AQ conferences. I'm not saying it couldn't be done but with today's market metrics App has a REALLY tough row to plow not even being in an FBS conference yet.

It's really unfortunate because I think App is similar to ECU in a lot of ways. The BIGGEST difference ECU made was the tough decision to play D1A in the late 70's whereas App decided to be a big fish in a small pond. Now everything we have today reflects that decision Leo Jenkins made for ECU.

(05-31-2012 09:42 AM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  According to the NCAA database you guys average a hair over 26K last year:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_r...e/2011.pdf

Of that 26K, 10k of that attendance is students according to your very own Athletic Director. So essentially you have 16K paying fans showing up on game day. Probably half of them are local folks so to say that you have up to 20K of them driving in is completely false.

No, they do get close to 30K for their regular season games, which is what he stated. The playoff games which take place while students are out bring down the official average.

(05-31-2012 09:45 AM)Chappy Wrote:  No, they do get close to 30K for their regular season games, which is what he stated. The playoff games which take place while students are out bring down the official average.

This, and nicely stated.

Blunderbuss, Terry Holland couldnt get the number of votes for App, because there were so few votes in the East to get. There are now how many new eastern votes in CUSA? His own words.

App is not done pursuing CUSA membership, and has NOT pursued Sun Belt membership as of yet.

Here is Terry Hollands interview, added yesterday. Skip to about 8:30, and listen for about three minutes, he goes in depth on App/ECU and what he calls a rivalry

http://www.espn730.com/page.php?page_id=67

(05-31-2012 10:19 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-31-2012 09:45 AM)Chappy Wrote:  No, they do get close to 30K for their regular season games, which is what he stated. The playoff games which take place while students are out bring down the official average.

This, and nicely stated.

Blunderbuss, Terry Holland couldnt get the number of votes for App, because there were so few votes in the East to get. There are now how many new eastern votes in CUSA? His own words.

App is not done pursuing CUSA membership, and has NOT pursued Sun Belt membership as of yet.

Here is Terry Hollands interview, added yesterday. Skip to about 8:30, and listen for about three minutes, he goes in depth on App/ECU and what he calls a rivalry

http://www.espn730.com/page.php?page_id=67

Yeah, I've heard. I personally think he's off his rocker now that Charlotte is in CUSA.

(05-31-2012 10:22 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Yeah, I've heard. I personally think he's off his rocker now that Charlotte is in CUSA.

Its called paying the bills, and 7,000 App fans in Greenville pays alot more than 100 from <insert any cusa school here>. We're talkin a quarter of a million dollars in ticket sales, not to mention impact on the local economy, compared to less than $10,000 from your average conference game.

(05-31-2012 10:24 AM)Glassonion Wrote:  

(05-31-2012 10:22 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Yeah, I've heard. I personally think he's off his rocker now that Charlotte is in CUSA.

Its called paying the bills, and 7,000 App fans in Greenville pays alot more than 100 from <insert any cusa school here>. We're talkin a quarter of a million dollars in ticket sales, not to mention impact on the local economy, compared to less than $10,000 from your average conference game.

Well, expansion of Dowdy Ficklen stadium could be on the horizon anyway. We don't have a problem filling it right now. I suppose App could help with that. I'm still not a fan of yet ANOTHER FCS promotion in North Carolina.