FCS Title Game Fight Heating Up

[henfan]

Chattanooga can not do this unless the match-up is right and for that, it is time to move on.

It's not only Chattanooga who hasn't sold out NC games. That's been the case EVERYWHERE the game has been since '78, unless the game has involved home teams or those within close driving distance.

Frisco could do as well or, who knows, maybe even better than Chattanooga. OTOH, it's also perfectly reasonable to consider that attendance might not be much better than the last time the games were played in the Republic of TX (i.e.- 11K-12K.) It's a complete gamble on the part of the NCAA.

I really think Frisco has the potential to be a great alternative to Chattanooga. A lot of it will depend though on how much true buy-in the game gets from locals; not these phony polls that are being conducting. I'm also wide awake enough to understand how bad Frisco could flop, given the likely scenario that two teams will have to fly into Dallas. Hopefully if the game is moved, Frisco will be put on a short leash. If they f' it up, nobody will come back.

[putter]

Chattanooga can not do this unless the match-up is right and for that, it is time to move on.

It's not only Chattanooga who hasn't sold out NC games. That's been the case EVERYWHERE the game has been since '78, unless the game has involved home teams or those within close driving distance.

Frisco could do as well or, who knows, maybe even better than Chattanooga. OTOH, it's also perfectly reasonable to consider that attendance might not be much better than the last time the games were played in the Republic of TX (i.e.- 11K-12K.) It's a complete gamble on the part of the NCAA.

I really think Frisco has the potential to be a great alternative to Chattanooga. A lot of it will depend though on how much true buy-in the game gets from locals; not these phony polls that are being conducting. I'm also wide awake enough to understand how bad Frisco could flop, given the likely scenario that two teams will have to fly into Dallas. Hopefully if the game is moved, Frisco will be put on a short leash. If they f' it up, nobody will come back.

Won't be worse than this year having Montana flying and Nova' who got sh!^ for support....

[AZGrizFan]

Chattanooga can not do this unless the match-up is right and for that, it is time to move on.

It's not only Chattanooga who hasn't sold out NC games. That's been the case EVERYWHERE the game has been since '78, unless the game has involved home teams or those within close driving distance.

And only if that team "within close driving distance" has the initials ASU or GSU.

[Skjellyfetti]

It's not only Chattanooga who hasn't sold out NC games. That's been the case EVERYWHERE the game has been since '78, unless the game has involved home teams or those within close driving distance.

And only if that team "within close driving distance" has the initials ASU or GSU.

Well, over a quarter of the I-AA/FCS championships have been won by those two teams.... so, might as well keep it close if the NCAA wants sellouts.

[AZGrizFan]

And only if that team "within close driving distance" has the initials ASU or GSU.

Well, over a quarter of the I-AA/FCS championships have been won by those two teams.... so, might as well keep it close if the NCAA wants sellouts.

We ALL know GSU ain't EVER gettin' back to what they once was. So, feel free to eliminate them from the equation. And since it's MONTANA that makes it to the game every other year on average over the past 10 years, moving it closer to Montana makes perfect sense.

[jd of de]

[/quote] And since it's MONTANA that makes it to the game every other year on average over the past 10 years, moving it closer to Montana makes perfect sense. [/quote]

As much sense as playing the Super Bowl in TX every year because of the Cowboys have played in 8 of them.

1. The 2011 Cotton Bowl is scheduled for Jan 7th.. Does the NCAA think the Dallas area will support the FCS NC game the same weekend the Cotton Bowl has 2 top 10 BCS teams in town and 90,000 tickets to sell at Cowboy Stadium? NO WAY they can support the FCS NC game.

2. Same problem moving the game to CA, FL or AZ. You can't sell tickets when you have BCS competition the same week, or even two.

3. More than 2/3 of the FCS schools can drive to Chattanooga in 14 hours or less.

4. Chatt has supported the game as well as anyplace in FCS/I-AA history. Don't fix what ain't broke.

[Skjellyfetti]

1. The 2011 Cotton Bowl is scheduled for Jan 7th.. Does the NCAA think the Dallas area will support the FCS NC game the same weekend the Cotton Bowl has 2 top 10 BCS teams in town and 90,000 tickets to sell at Cowboy Stadium? NO WAY they can support the FCS NC game.

Not only the same week as the Cotton Bowl... but, the same date, right?

[danefan]

The Cotton Bowl is the same day, but only next year. The bid by Frisco is a multi-year bid.

Interestingly enough the AT&T Cotton Bowl committee submitted a letter to the NCAA in support of Frisco's bid. As did the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, the Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, DFW International Airport and Southwest Airlines.

What exactly that means I don't know. Did they pledge support for the game? I heard that Southwest did pledge support in the form of charter flights for the teams and I had heard potentially for students, but that hasn't officially been confirmed.

[BDKJMU]

1. The 2011 Cotton Bowl is scheduled for Jan 7th.. Does the NCAA think the Dallas area will support the FCS NC game the same weekend the Cotton Bowl has 2 top 10 BCS teams in town and 90,000 tickets to sell at Cowboy Stadium? NO WAY they can support the FCS NC game.

Not only the same week as the Cotton Bowl... but, the same date, right?

NO. The NC game WON'T be on the same evening as the Cotton Bowl.

BCS NC Game is on the Mon, the 10th.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_BCS_N ... nship_Game
Cotton bowl is on Fri, 7th
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id ... -2011-game

The NC game will be on the eve of the BCS title game, Sun, Jan 9th. Again, it WON'T be the same evening as the Cotton Bowl:
"The 2010 NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) football season, part of the college football season, will begin in August 2010 and will conclude with the national championship game on January 9, 2011, the evening before that season's BCS National Championship Game..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_NCAA_ ... all_season

Another source. Note the JMU schedule. JMU happened to list the playoffs dates when they released their schedule in order to remind fans about the new format in case JMU did make the playoffs. Note at the bottom the NC game listed for Jan 9th:
http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.db ... =204871438
This WON'T conflict with the Cotton Bowl.

[BDKJMU]

The Cotton Bowl is the same day, but only next year. The bid by Frisco is a multi-year bid.

Interestingly enough the AT&T Cotton Bowl committee submitted a letter to the NCAA in support of Frisco's bid. As did the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, the Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, DFW International Airport and Southwest Airlines.

What exactly that means I don't know. Did they pledge support for the game? I heard that Southwest did pledge support in the form of charter flights for the teams and I had heard potentially for students, but that hasn't officially been confirmed.

Nope. See above.

[danefan]

The Cotton Bowl is the same day, but only next year. The bid by Frisco is a multi-year bid.

Interestingly enough the AT&T Cotton Bowl committee submitted a letter to the NCAA in support of Frisco's bid. As did the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, the Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, DFW International Airport and Southwest Airlines.

What exactly that means I don't know. Did they pledge support for the game? I heard that Southwest did pledge support in the form of charter flights for the teams and I had heard potentially for students, but that hasn't officially been confirmed.

Nope. See above.

I'm 99.9% sure that the FCS NC game was changed next year from the 9th to the 7th to avoid the conflict with the NFL playoffs.

[bobbythekidd]

We ALL know GSU ain't EVER gettin' back to what they once was. So, feel free to eliminate them from the equation. And since it's MONTANA that makes it to the game every other year on average over the past 10 years, moving it closer to Montana makes perfect sense.

I can't wait to make you eat those words as we make Frisco "Paulson West".

[TexasTerror]

Interestingly enough the AT&T Cotton Bowl committee submitted a letter to the NCAA in support of Frisco's bid. As did the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, the Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, DFW International Airport and Southwest Airlines.

What exactly that means I don't know. Did they pledge support for the game? I heard that Southwest did pledge support in the form of charter flights for the teams and I had heard potentially for students, but that hasn't officially been confirmed.

It shows there is unified support from partners in the community. Not only will those leagues and business entities put their name behind it, they will also help through the means they can provide.

For the Big 12 and C-USA, that means assisting with staffing and marketing of the game. Southwest would be a major sponsor of the game, in addition to the flights for the team and putting together a 'vacation package'.

DFW Airport will throw behind marketing at their airport - one of the busiest in the country - and be a major sponsor of the game.

These are just a few of organizations, partners involved. There are several others...

See, the NCAA wants butts in the seats and for this to be a financial success. Chattanooga does not have these partners that the SLC is bringing on board. If they do, they are keeping it quiet with that 'poker face' approach.

[jd of de]

Pick your poison. FCS NC on the same night as the Cotton Bowl or going up against the 2nd half of a NFL Playoff game, be it on TV or even worse the Cowboys playing at Cowboy Stadium!!! Either way the FCS NC fan support in Dallas is toast. Want 14,000 people at the game? They are ALL going to have to fly in on Southwest.

And only if that team "within close driving distance" has the initials ASU or GSU.

And UD> We have a history of traveling well to Chatt

[CatMom]

Wasn't the original intent to rotate this game anyway? I think it was and did for the first part of its term, until it got to Chatty. After this no one seems to have challenged it and it has kind of stayed put. People have gotten used to and comfortable with it being there but that's not how it all started out. So now someone came up with a legitimate challenge and all the east coasters are having fits.

(Hell they rotate the mythical BCS game every year, albeit only between 4 venues)

[Col Hogan]

Couple of random thoughts

One of the reasons that has long been assumed for less-than-stellar attendance at the NC game was the fact that the winning teams and their fans only had a week to plan and execute attendance...tickets, lodging, transportation, etc...

And one of the reasons the NC was moved was to get more time for those folks to get to a game...

With the BCS game on a Monday (Jan 10th, 2011) and the NC game on Sunday the 9th, did they move it too far, and possibly lose that advantage...

Because some schools will be starting back on the 10th...and unless we pull an Alabama and cancel classes for football, we could lose lots of students (no matter which site)

And on the subject of Southwest...good deal, but Southwest does not serve EVERYWHERE...so it could be a good deal for some and not for others...

[93henfan]

And UD> We have a history of traveling well to Chatt

Really? Our AD only requested 3,000 tickets in 2007. I attended in 2003 and we filled our side about 2/3 full in my estimation.

[bobbythekidd]

Can someone explain the Southwest Airlines comment?

[ASUG8]

I'm baffled that some of you think there's some conspiracy theory to make life tough on people West of the Mississippi. Call it ECB if you want, but you can't ignore the concentration of schools East of Chatty. I've personally never been to a game at Chatty, so I really don't care too much if you move it. That being said, given you have no idea 3-5 yrs out (or 3 weeks out) who is going to be in the NC game, why not put it somewhere centrally located based on the concentration of schools? No slight to the facilities in Frisco - I'm sure it's awesome. Check out the link - since '78, the only teams truly impacted by location (assuming playing in Chatty) would have been Boise St., MSU, Idaho St., Nevada, and Montana. Hell, play it in Cincinnati, Indy, Atlanta - doesn't matter as long as it's pretty centrally located. Personally, I'd much rather take a 2 hr flight than a 5hr+ drive, but that's just me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Divis ... ampionship

[CatMom]

I'm baffled that some of you think there's some conspiracy theory to make life tough on people West of the Mississippi. Call it ECB if you want, but you can't ignore the concentration of schools East of Chatty. I've personally never been to a game at Chatty, so I really don't care too much if you move it. That being said, given you have no idea 3-5 yrs out (or 3 weeks out) who is going to be in the NC game, why not put it somewhere centrally located based on the concentration of schools? No slight to the facilities in Frisco - I'm sure it's awesome. Check out the link - since '78, the only teams truly impacted by location (assuming playing in Chatty) would have been Boise St., MSU, Idaho St., Nevada, and Montana. Hell, play it in Cincinnati, Indy, Atlanta - doesn't matter as long as it's pretty centrally located. Personally, I'd much rather take a 2 hr flight than a 5hr+ drive, but that's just me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Divis ... ampionship

Don't be baffled. It is ECB. Only 2 schools make the NC. Usually 1 is an east coast school and the game figuratively is in their backyard. Regardless of this, everyone is complaining even though there may only be one school whose fans are actually affected in any given year. If you look back it is well stated that we know where the majority of the schools are...that's not the point. If you want an FCS geographic center, ok, go with Chatty, if you want to use the US geographic center, it's in or near Frisco (actually in KS, but you get the idea)
Don't you think Frisco, then, becomes a more neutral site? I mean, seriously. How geographically centrally located was the Rose bowl for TX or AL this year? A NC game should be at a neutral site and, to me, for any team that makes it, this is more in that vein than Chatty. It's become more about what's best for the east coast teams than the FCS as a whole

This is my opinion and not necessarily that of management - or east coast fans.

[Col Hogan]

I'm baffled that some of you think there's some conspiracy theory to make life tough on people West of the Mississippi. Call it ECB if you want, but you can't ignore the concentration of schools East of Chatty. I've personally never been to a game at Chatty, so I really don't care too much if you move it. That being said, given you have no idea 3-5 yrs out (or 3 weeks out) who is going to be in the NC game, why not put it somewhere centrally located based on the concentration of schools? No slight to the facilities in Frisco - I'm sure it's awesome. Check out the link - since '78, the only teams truly impacted by location (assuming playing in Chatty) would have been Boise St., MSU, Idaho St., Nevada, and Montana. Hell, play it in Cincinnati, Indy, Atlanta - doesn't matter as long as it's pretty centrally located. Personally, I'd much rather take a 2 hr flight than a 5hr+ drive, but that's just me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Divis ... ampionship

Don't be baffled. It is ECB. Only 2 schools make the NC. Usually 1 is an east coast school and the game figuratively is in their backyard. Regardless of this, everyone is complaining even though there may only be one school whose fans are actually affected in any given year. If you look back it is well stated that we know where the majority of the schools are...that's not the point. If you want an FCS geographic center, ok, go with Chatty, if you want to use the US geographic center, it's in or near Frisco (actually in KS, but you get the idea)
Don't you think Frisco, then, becomes a more neutral site? I mean, seriously. How geographically centrally located was the Rose bowl for TX or AL this year? A NC game should be at a neutral site and, to me, for any team that makes it, this is more in that vein than Chatty. It's become more about what's best for the east coast teams than the FCS as a whole

This is my opinion and not necessarily that of management - or east coast fans.

Please....please...don't compare Bowl games to the NC...

The Rose Bowl has been held in the same place...the Cotton Bowl in the same area...the Orange Bowl in the same area...because there are ties to those areas.....think about it...would the Orange Bowl not be out of place if it was played in the Metrodome in the Twin Cities...

If the NCAA wanted to rotate the game to eliminate any location bias, they could...that's not their intention...

And since the bulk of FCS schools are not out west (your problem, not ours)...it's abundently clear the NCAA is just in it for the $$$...which is why the hated regional matchups in the first round will never end...because the NCAA controls the playoffs and pays the bills...

What will be, will be...teams will travel to where ever, and fans will attend to support their teams...and I doubt locals in Frisco will support the game any better than Chatty after the first year...

[ASUG8]

I'm baffled that some of you think there's some conspiracy theory to make life tough on people West of the Mississippi. Call it ECB if you want, but you can't ignore the concentration of schools East of Chatty. I've personally never been to a game at Chatty, so I really don't care too much if you move it. That being said, given you have no idea 3-5 yrs out (or 3 weeks out) who is going to be in the NC game, why not put it somewhere centrally located based on the concentration of schools? No slight to the facilities in Frisco - I'm sure it's awesome. Check out the link - since '78, the only teams truly impacted by location (assuming playing in Chatty) would have been Boise St., MSU, Idaho St., Nevada, and Montana. Hell, play it in Cincinnati, Indy, Atlanta - doesn't matter as long as it's pretty centrally located. Personally, I'd much rather take a 2 hr flight than a 5hr+ drive, but that's just me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Divis ... ampionship

Don't be baffled. It is ECB. Only 2 schools make the NC. Usually 1 is an east coast school and the game figuratively is in their backyard. Regardless of this, everyone is complaining even though there may only be one school whose fans are actually affected in any given year. If you look back it is well stated that we know where the majority of the schools are...that's not the point. If you want an FCS geographic center, ok, go with Chatty, if you want to use the US geographic center, it's in or near Frisco (actually in KS, but you get the idea)
Don't you think Frisco, then, becomes a more neutral site? I mean, seriously. How geographically centrally located was the Rose bowl for TX or AL this year? A NC game should be at a neutral site and, to me, for any team that makes it, this is more in that vein than Chatty. It's become more about what's best for the east coast teams than the FCS as a whole



This is my opinion and not necessarily that of management - or east coast fans.

Play it in Miami or San Diego - you'll be guaranteed about 4K in attendance. If by some CRAZY stretch of the imagination Tx State gets there, is it still neutral? The bottom line is we don't know who's getting there, but the "ECB" inherent in the physical location of the schools exists - simple stats will tell you that odds are good that most years two schools relatively close to Chatty will end up playing. The majority of population centers are East of the Mississippi, the majority of FCS schools are East of the Mississippi - kinda makes sense to locate it somewhere around there, right? If that's ECB, so be it. Just because ASU had a good team during the period that Chatty was hosting was the luck of the draw - it's still a 5hr drive. The Kansas argument really holds no water - geographic center < demographic center.

[danefan]

Can someone explain the Southwest Airlines comment?

I've heard that Southwest Airlines has committed to provide charter flights for the teams (and their staff) in the game.

I've also heard that Southwest has pledged to provide low-cost packages specifically designed for students and fans of the schools participating and that will also come in the form of a "charter" meaning it would be available to the schools regardless of their proximity to an airport that Southwest serves.

There has been no official announcement of this, its just something that came through the grapevine.

There are some logistical issues using a "regional" airline especially because Southwest doesn't technically serve an area of high concentration of FCS teams (South Carolina and Georgia as well as some of the Big SKy Country), but the kind of committment that is rumored from Southwest will do wonders, IMO, to calm the concerns about moving the game west of the Mississippi.

[bobbythekidd]

Thanks DF.

[bluehenbillk]

I've heard, again, 3rd time I'm saying this, that Frisco has the bid all but wrapped up. As much as I've heard is financially their proposal blows away anything Chatty has ever brought to the table. Ticket sales would be colse to a push between the two so I've taken this to say corporate support will make the large difference. I have a couple free flights on SW so that'd be cool.

On another point, the Wilmington N-J had the NC game for next year on the 9th, not the 7th as well. If the game starts at its normal time the NFL playoffs would be over for the day.