(08-28-2019 10:33 AM)rileylives Wrote: UTEP and Rice, yes. But they have had pretty good success in the past. UTEP is a sleeping giant.
How is UTEP a sleeping giant? They haven't had more than 8 wins in over 30 years, and
only 10 winning seasons in 60 years.
I don't see much evidence of an upward trajectory, especially from a program that lost by 20 points last season to a 4-6 FCS team.
(08-28-2019 10:56 AM)rileylives Wrote: As bad as Conference USA is, there is no question it is a much more appealing situation than the Sun Belt.
I don't think making less money is appealing to anyone. Here are the CFP payouts over the years:
2018 - Sun Belt (1.72 million per school), C-USA (1.11 million per school)
2017 - Sun Belt (1.40 million per school), C-USA (1.18 million per school)
2016 - Sun Belt (1.56 million per school), C-USA (1.07 million per school)
2015 - no data
2014 - Sun Belt (1.18 million per school), C-USA (1.16 million per school)
2013 - Sun Belt received $1 million per school in the last year of the BCS for finishing as the #1 non-AQ conference, ahead of AAC, MWC, CUSA, and MAC. Not sure of CUSA's numbers per team, but it was less.
This is one of your key reasons CUSA isn't appealing. No Sun Belt school would take a revenue loss, on top of a entry and exit fee, to join the CUSA ranks. And like I've said before, no Sun Belt team is going to trade their ESPN deal with national broadcasts for Facebook Live and Stadium.