Big Sky expansion

[TBirdz]

"We may get to 16 teams before the Pac-10 does.” -Doug Fullerton http://idahostatejournal.com/sports/loc ... 002e0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With that comment, what is everyone's thoughts? In my perfect scenario, this would happen:

MWC would invite Houston in to get to 12.
CUSA would finally extend invitation to LA Tech to get back to 12 and keep the East-West even.
Hawaii would be independent.
The WAC leftovers (Idaho, Utah St, San Jose St, and New Mexico St), along with SUU, would join the Big Sky.
This would give the sky a 14/16 setup.

Of course I am biased in favor of SUU, but I think this could potentially happen and seems to be on the minds of the commish. If it did, I think the Sky instantly becomes hands-down the best FCS conference in the country and better than many FBS ones.

[dbackjon]

Interesting comments by Fullerton

[JALMOND]

"We may get to 16 teams before the Pac-10 does.” -Doug Fullerton http://idahostatejournal.com/sports/loc ... 002e0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With that comment, what is everyone's thoughts?

All of a sudden I'm beginning to see the big picture and I don't know if I like it. Being that everyone is throwing out all kinds of crazy ideas, based on Fullerton's comments, here is mine...

THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE HAS ITS SIGHTS SET ON MOVING THE WHOLE CONFERENCE TO FBS!!!

I believe Fullerton has this idea that the Big Sky could move as a whole conference into FBS, dealing a death blow to the WAC by taking Idaho, San Jose, and Utah State plus two others, and creating a 16 team power conference before the Pac-10/12 and the Mountain West do. He may think that this setup, including a conference championship, can generate the revenue necessary for the conference to subsidize those smaller conference schools that will need to improve their facilities to the FBS level. With the addition of Cal Poly and UC-Davis he now has a majority of teams in the conference that have explored the possibility of moving to FBS (Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Sacramento State being the others) within the last 2-3 years. Fullerton is of course a smart man and won't come out with anything unless he researches it (hopefully) as this could be a turning point for the conference. This idea of the conference as a whole moving to FBS has been discussed before, although it is always in hushed tones.

No sources, just the idea that I am getting from reading the comments and stories that are out there. As a result, this is my opinion only.

[SuperHornet]

Sounds interesting. He'd better be careful about how he goes about that, though.

Admitting SUU kills the whole idea, IMO.

[TBirdz]

Read a post over on AGS, and there it says that Montana, Sac St., and Portland St. could be getting a WAC invite in the very near future. If this happens, throw my idea out the window. Again, even though I am biased, I think SUU is as good as any program to add to the Big Sky. We are the only team between UNLV and BYU and that is a lot of I-15. Our program finally has money being pumped into it; new scoreboard, turf next year, and a master plan has been conducted on the stadium from what I hear. We have improvement to make across the board but steps are being made.

[Green Cookie Monster]

Absolutely, positively no way, no how that EWU, ISU, UNC go FBS. They are small outposts in small markets that dont and cant ever have hope of maintaining a 15K rolling two year average attendance.

And would the teams in the conference who could in theory pull 15K a game be willing to share equal revenue with teams who have no chance of ever doing so?

Somebody is token the bong.

[weberwildcat]

big sky to 16 before the pac? was this intended to be a joke? it didnt appear to be in the article.

[Willie]

Get to 12, and stay there. And stay FCS.

[SDHornet]

Why not just go for the gold and merge with the Pac-12. They would welcome us BSC schools with open arms...

[Wildcat Ryan]

Get to 12, and stay there. And stay FCS.

[Wedgebuster]

Reportedly, Northern Colorado is announcing it's official entry into the BSC after kicking the hell out of Weber BBQs on Saturday.


Just sayin..

[NAU_Alum10]

This is my theory on this whole Big Sky expansion. I watched the commissioners address of the addition (Davis & Poly) and herd him speak on big sky radio and this is what I got out of it.

With the current economic situation in this country, I believe the commissioner feels that a large migration is about to happen with the lower tier FBS schools. Many schools might see the FCS as a more economical option then FBS. By the big sky growing and adding strong new members and retaining the current ones, this would lead to taking a giant step in being a front runner in attracting the best schools making the drop down, thus securing the big sky as a top FCS conference. If the big boys of FBS have it their way the formation of a POWER 4 conference alignment is inevitable and the left overs would then have to drop down to FCS. I don’t think he has any inclination of the conference moving anywhere, I just think he is trying to solidify the big sky as a major conference in the FCS in the ever changing athletic environment.

I think we all have to stop the wishful thinking and accept that we are already in the best possible set ups for our schools, we have a true champion. I like the commissioners move, a move I truly beleive will help the Big Sky become a frontrunner in the future of college football at the FCS level.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Reportedly, Northern Colorado is announcing it's official entry into the BSC after kicking the hell out of Weber BBQs on Saturday.


Just sayin..

Naaah that aint gonna happen

[TBirdz]

I agree with everything you said NAU. From everything I have read and watched, the commissioner is predicting a "richer get richer" scheme, thus forcing schools to reevaluate and not so much drop down, but realign. I just hope SUU is part of the plan for the Big Sky and they are in place before these schools decide to do so.

[Wildcat Ryan]

I wonder if its just the Sky making sure SUU can get in as a full member or not, I wonder if SUU can afford the buy-out from the Summit (if there is one) and just making sure everything goes through before announcing that SUU is joining, who knows how long the Big Sky, Davis and Poly have been talking to each other concerning joining, it was easier for them, the Sky is letting them stay in the Big West for everything else, SUU has to get let out of the Summit league, and that might be what its all about, just waiting for the ok from the Summit.

[SouthDakotaGrizzly]

Read a post over on AGS, and there it says that Montana, Sac St., and Portland St. could be getting a WAC invite in the very near future. If this happens, throw my idea out the window. Again, even though I am biased, I think SUU is as good as any program to add to the Big Sky. We are the only team between UNLV and BYU and that is a lot of I-15. Our program finally has money being pumped into it; new scoreboard, turf next year, and a master plan has been conducted on the stadium from what I hear. We have improvement to make across the board but steps are being made.

There was also an article written by Mick Holien, the Griz radio announcer, suggesting that a WAC invite to UM, PSU and Sac could come soon (http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/ ... wac/19432/). However, this was presumably written before it was announced, or even hinted, that Cal Poly and UC-Davis were joining the Big Sky. Was that a move by Fullerton to keep the conference alive in the event that some teams do leave for the WAC, or was it intended to make moving to the WAC a little less appealing by adding two strong members to the Sky with indications that more additions are forthcoming?

[EWURanger]

This is my theory on this whole Big Sky expansion. I watched the commissioners address of the addition (Davis & Poly) and herd him speak on big sky radio and this is what I got out of it.

With the current economic situation in this country, I believe the commissioner feels that a large migration is about to happen with the lower tier FBS schools. Many schools might see the FCS as a more economical option then FBS. By the big sky growing and adding strong new members and retaining the current ones, this would lead to taking a giant step in being a front runner in attracting the best schools making the drop down, thus securing the big sky as a top FCS conference. If the big boys of FBS have it their way the formation of a POWER 4 conference alignment is inevitable and the left overs would then have to drop down to FCS. I don’t think he has any inclination of the conference moving anywhere, I just think he is trying to solidify the big sky as a major conference in the FCS in the ever changing athletic environment.

I think we all have to stop the wishful thinking and accept that we are already in the best possible set ups for our schools, we have a true champion. I like the commissioners move, a move I truly beleive will help the Big Sky become a frontrunner in the future of college football at the FCS level.

Concur.

[EWURanger]

Read a post over on AGS, and there it says that Montana, Sac St., and Portland St. could be getting a WAC invite in the very near future. If this happens, throw my idea out the window. Again, even though I am biased, I think SUU is as good as any program to add to the Big Sky. We are the only team between UNLV and BYU and that is a lot of I-15. Our program finally has money being pumped into it; new scoreboard, turf next year, and a master plan has been conducted on the stadium from what I hear. We have improvement to make across the board but steps are being made.

There was also an article written by Mick Holien, the Griz radio announcer, suggesting that a WAC invite to UM, PSU and Sac could come soon (http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/ ... wac/19432/). However, this was presumably written before it was announced, or even hinted, that Cal Poly and UC-Davis were joining the Big Sky. Was that a move by Fullerton to keep the conference alive in the event that some teams do leave for the WAC, or was it intended to make moving to the WAC a little less appealing by adding two strong members to the Sky with indications that more additions are forthcoming?

Both, is my guess.

[kalm]

Hell, why not a 63 team conference with north, south, east, west, coastal, mountain, forest, and desert divisions and our own playoff system?

[Green Cookie Monster]

How would a reporter from the Flathead Beacon have the scoop as to who the next WAC member will be? I think this reporter represents the name of his town, a flathead.

[SouthDakotaGrizzly]

How would a reporter from the Flathead Beacon have the scoop as to who the next WAC member will be? I think this reporter represents the name of his town, a flathead.

Okay, time for enlightenment:

A) The town isn't Flathead. It's Kalispell, which is near Flathead Lake, hence the name of the paper.

B) As I clearly stated in my last post, Holien is the long-time radio voice of the Grizzlies. He is based out of Missoula. It is not inconceivable that he is privy to information from within the program. Why his articles are published in the Beacon is beyond me, but that doesn't diminish the information within them.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

How would a reporter from the Flathead Beacon have the scoop as to who the next WAC member will be? I think this reporter represents the name of his town, a flathead.

Mick Holien is the voice of the Grizzlies as well as a reporter and unless he recently moved he also works for the Missoulian. Hope he's wrong but no matter where someone works they can get a scoop if they know the right people so your theory may not be real solid...although I hope we ain't planning on leaving.

[kalm]

How would a reporter from the Flathead Beacon have the scoop as to who the next WAC member will be? I think this reporter represents the name of his town, a flathead.

Okay, time for enlightenment:

A) The town isn't Flathead. It's Kalispell, which is near Flathead Lake, hence the name of the paper.

B) As I clearly stated in my last post, Holien is the long-time radio voice of the Grizzlies. He is based out of Missoula. It is not inconceivable that he is privy to information from within the program. Why his articles are published in the Beacon is beyond me, but that doesn't diminish the information within them.

GCM just crushed your head.

[Fresno St. Alum]

I'm wondering when Sac St. will ask to go the the BW for other sports or just leave for the WAC. Not asking for a BW other sports home=future WAC invite that will be accepted? Hell we all know the WAC would invite them. I think my old Jr. College got invited to the WAC last week.

[EWURanger]

big sky to 16 before the pac? was this intended to be a joke? it didnt appear to be in the article.

Re-read it.

“I’m not at liberty to tell who they are,” he said. “We are going to look hard before Christmas. We are going to be looking at how we set this thing up. We may get to 16 teams before the Pac-10 does.”