(08-15-2019 12:19 PM)Lopes87 Wrote: (08-15-2019 11:08 AM)Hilldog Wrote: Maybe it's been covered on here before, but I'm not going through 22 pages of fairytales. But, the Lone Star Conference has 19 members!! Most have football. What schools are likely candidates to move to D1? I'm sure they would prefer a Southland invite, but would they accept a WAC bid?
Southland has like 13 or 14 members already right?
Yep, the Southland has 13, of which 11 play football. It's not likely they would take any Lone Star moveups.
As for the Lone Star, yes the conference is expanding to 19 members, with the addition of 7 from the Heartland and Division III move-up UT Tyler. NONE of the new additions play football. Of the 9 pre-expansion Lone Star members who play football, I think these five have the potential to move up to FCS based on their history together, their enrollment and their level of fan support:
School / Year Joined / Enrollment / 2014-18 Avg. Home Football Attendance
Midwestern State / 1995 / 6,093 / 7,828
Texas A&M Commerce / 1931 / 12,013 / 7,192
West Texas A&M / 1994 / 10,169 / 6,832
Texas A&M Kingsville / 1954 / 8,783 / 6,229
Tarleton State / 1994 / 13,020 / 5,426
Just for comparison, average home football attendance for all 124 FCS teams in 2018 was 7,330. For FCS teams in the Southland Conference it was 7,161.
If these five were to join the WAC as a group it would increase all-sports conference membership to a comfortable 12 (assuming the departure of Chicago State) and permit the creation of a 6-member WAC FCS football conference (consisting of these five plus Dixie State).
Having said all that, there's no indication that any of the above five schools other than Tarleton State have any interest in moving up to D-I.