(04-23-2016 01:17 PM)panama Wrote: (04-22-2016 08:59 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: EMU is a special case. They draw flies. EMU has not had a winning season in 20 years. EMU has had one tying season in 20 years (although they beat 2 FCS teams that year).
And they admit that they can't draw anyone, which is why they have that 'Pepsi deal'.
EMU isn't a start up program
EMU doesn't have anyone trying to torpedo their program either
Their 'butts in seats' attendance is in the below 3k range. Its never a good thing to lose a FBS member, but I simply can't make a case for them to stay.
Losing makes you lose in all phases of the program. You have to wonder how committed the admins traitor is though. Do they have the right AD? Are they willing to bring in the right HC and staff and pay them top dollar? If you're going to lose $52M at least let it be an investment in the future.
While Georgia State (and FIU/FAU) also have some attendance issues, EMU really is a special case.
Can EMU point to any recent success in football? No. Their best season in 20 years was 4-6 (plus 2 FCS wins). Ga State can say, "we're getting better". EMU? Nope.
EMU isn't a new program either. They've been around forever. The students and alumni just don't care. At all. Unlike Ga State, EMU isn't selling something new.
And EMU's attendance is a real problem. Excluding the 'Pepsi Games' (where Pepsi bought a bunch of empty seats from EMU to get them to the minimum every other year - now gone.), and subtracting family members of the players, the bands, and the opposing fans, its probable that EMU's true attendance is probably around 1,000 per game. 1,000 per game. Over the last 5 years.
Unlike UAB, there's apparently no plan to do anything about it either at EMU. There's no "we're raising real money from real donors to build a new OCS' (they already have one of those). There's no 'UAT is preventing us from making decisions to be competitive'. There's no nothing. Just continuing to flush more money down the drain.
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Its true that EMU dropping football might make Ga State's position a bit more uncomfortable. But that doesn't mean that EMU football makes sense at the FBS level. You guys can at least say...our attendance is improving (it is) and we're putting a credible product on the field (you are).