Tulsa and ULM would be on my list due to the low enrollment numbers. Tulsa has 4,300 students.

It wouldn't be a program like ULM or another that gets by with little money. It will be one of the ones that is propped up by student fees and State revenue to live well beyond its means. A program like Houston or similar.

I can see a drop to FCS or a complete drop from several of these schools of their finances get hit hard enough.

I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

ULM could easily look at the numbers and come to the realization that they’ve been maligned by their SBC conference mates from the day they joined and that FCS Southland is more their budget.

Tulsa is one where if their oil investments take a huge hit and they are unable to extract large athletic fees from their small student body they may have to shutter completely and move somewhere like the Summit or MVC.

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see a drop to FCS or a complete drop from several of these schools of their finances get hit hard enough.

I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

ULM could easily look at the numbers and come to the realization that they’ve been maligned by their SBC conference mates from the day they joined and that FCS Southland is more their budget.

Tulsa is one where if their oil investments take a huge hit and they are unable to extract large athletic fees from their small student body they may have to shutter completely and move somewhere like the Summit or MVC.

For now Umass is still fully committed for football. If I had to guess, after the next major conference alignment if Umass is not added to a conference, they will either drop football or at least drop back to FCS..... So by 2025 or 2026. They will also not commit to an actual stadium build until that time either (unless they get a conference invite before that). I have heard rumblings that they have an actual plan developed for a building finally ---- just need a reason to build it

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

Both UMass and UConn chose to be Independent (over the MAC and AAC respectively), and have invested in football and aggressively pursued scheduling. I think they'll be fine.

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see a drop to FCS or a complete drop from several of these schools of their finances get hit hard enough.

I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

ULM could easily look at the numbers and come to the realization that they’ve been maligned by their SBC conference mates from the day they joined and that FCS Southland is more their budget.

Tulsa is one where if their oil investments take a huge hit and they are unable to extract large athletic fees from their small student body they may have to shutter completely and move somewhere like the Summit or MVC.

How has ULM been maligned by SBC members?

(04-27-2020 10:34 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

Both UMass and UConn chose to be Independent (over the MAC and AAC respectively), and have invested in football and aggressively pursued scheduling. I think they'll be fine.

Independence was consequential to their choosing basketball. Of course they aggressively pursued scheduling because being an independent nowadays isn't easy.

(04-27-2020 10:34 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

Both UMass and UConn chose to be Independent (over the MAC and AAC respectively), and have invested in football and aggressively pursued scheduling. I think they'll be fine.

Guess you have a low bar for investment criteria.

(04-27-2020 11:00 AM)ValleyBoy Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see a drop to FCS or a complete drop from several of these schools of their finances get hit hard enough.

I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

ULM could easily look at the numbers and come to the realization that they’ve been maligned by their SBC conference mates from the day they joined and that FCS Southland is more their budget.

Tulsa is one where if their oil investments take a huge hit and they are unable to extract large athletic fees from their small student body they may have to shutter completely and move somewhere like the Summit or MVC.

How has ULM been maligned by SBC members?

ULM has to wait like 4 years before they could be a full member. Before LA Tech left in 2001, before SBC football could even get off the ground the Bulldogs insisted that ULM wouldn’t be considered as a football affiliate. As the lowest budget FBS program I think the red headed step child stigma is still there. Maybe some of that has changed since the influx of new members since the 2012 realignment.

(04-27-2020 09:24 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  UConn was odds on favorite with or without this Covid thing.

This just gives them an excuse to do it sooner than originally planned and save face with their supporters (both of them ).

The state invested in their stadium in Hartford. They have the biggest G5 budget. I don't see them as likely at all. They've got a lot of minor sports they can drop if they want to cut costs.

(04-27-2020 02:53 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 09:24 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  UConn was odds on favorite with or without this Covid thing.

This just gives them an excuse to do it sooner than originally planned and save face with their supporters (both of them ).

The state invested in their stadium in Hartford. They have the biggest G5 budget. I don't see them as likely at all. They've got a lot of minor sports they can drop if they want to cut costs.

If they were going to drop football could they sell that stadium to let’s say MLS for a soccer team? A new team or the NE Revolution.

I doubt any. Most want to be FBS & fight tooth & nail to be FBS. Those that at the lower-end of the budget will just put less in it.

(04-27-2020 09:19 AM)megadrone Wrote:  the schools in the MAC are a cohesive group and it's hard to see any of them dropping football. They all budget similarly.

Correct. Only way you'd see a MAC school drop FBS would be if the entire organization/structure of the school had to change.

(04-27-2020 10:08 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  It wouldn't be a program like ULM or another that gets by with little money. It will be one of the ones that is propped up by student fees and State revenue to live well beyond its means. A program like Houston or similar.

Except there are way too many sunk costs for a Houston or UCF to do so, since a drop to FCS won't help to pay the bonds for the stadium and practice facility.

(04-27-2020 11:03 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 10:34 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 10:15 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I can see UMass and UConn making the decision to fully invest in basketball and eliminating the sport completely.

Both UMass and UConn chose to be Independent (over the MAC and AAC respectively), and have invested in football and aggressively pursued scheduling. I think they'll be fine.

Guess you have a low bar for investment criteria.

I suppose 34.5 million bucks for a performance facility isn’t much of an investment for a team that’s supposedly going to drop down?

(04-27-2020 10:08 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  It wouldn't be a program like ULM or another that gets by with little money. It will be one of the ones that is propped up by student fees and State revenue to live well beyond its means. A program like Houston or similar.

Who is living well beyond their means?

Start here: According to the USA Today database, there are 17 public universities in FBS at which more than two-thirds of the athletic department expenses are paid by university funds and student fees.

None of those schools are in P5, or the MWC, or the AAC.

New Mexico St must see that the WAC is not a long-term solution. I think the Sun Belt would be a great fit and they’d boost the conference’s basketball profile. I don’t see the Mt West being an option unless and until some other chips fall.

(04-27-2020 03:11 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 02:53 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(04-27-2020 09:24 AM)Eldonabe Wrote:  UConn was odds on favorite with or without this Covid thing.

This just gives them an excuse to do it sooner than originally planned and save face with their supporters (both of them ).

The state invested in their stadium in Hartford. They have the biggest G5 budget. I don't see them as likely at all. They've got a lot of minor sports they can drop if they want to cut costs.

If they were going to drop football could they sell that stadium to let’s say MLS for a soccer team? A new team or the NE Revolution.

The stadium is owned by the state. UConn only leases it from them. It is an easy walk away for them..........

(04-28-2020 12:40 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  New Mexico St must see that the WAC is not a long-term solution. I think the Sun Belt would be a great fit and they’d boost the conference’s basketball profile. I don’t see the Mt West being an option unless and until some other chips fall.

The Sun Belt booted NMSU out of the conference in 2017.

NMSU is pretty much sitting in a holding pattern hoping a future realignment move will open a spot for them in the SBC or MWC.

(04-27-2020 09:13 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 12:34 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(04-25-2020 09:50 PM)utpotts Wrote:  It’s probably Tulsa, BG would drop hockey before football.

When Carol Cartwright was president of BG she floated the idea of dropping the athletic department to DII.

I guess its not totally out of the range of possibllity. EMU is another one.

Schools like UMass and UConn aren't going anywhere and are possible fill ins for the MAC. They've invested too much and are not a peer in FB with Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island anymore.

I could see Ball St., Bowling Green, Akron, Kent and EMU dropping down together at some point. Maybe all the others but Toledo and Buffalo as well.

The only two programs in the MAC where a move down has even reached the level of public consideration in the last 30 years was Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan.

BG had a new president come in 10 years ago and explored a move to DII as an option because she felt like BG had a lot in common institutionally with the DII schools playing there in Michigan (Northern Mich, Ferris St, Grand Valley St).

Eastern Michigan's program status in FBS has been under journalistic question but the EMU board (boards tend to be pro growth, optimistic) said leaving the MAC was a non-starter. They of course have made a lot of headway in FB under a rebrand and almost beat Pitt in a bowl game.

If you want to take it back to the 80's, Ohio's president was looking at SoCon with an idea of rejoing Marshall down there. The school started growing in the late 80's and the next AD thought Ohio could eventually be on TV so wanted to invest for the future.