Really worth the read...a couple quick points I found interesting
Internet rumors circulated that Indiana State had been approached by the Sun Belt Conference to bring the Sycamores’ football team into the Sun Belt’s fold.
I've literally heard zero of these rumors before this article...lots of behind the scene stuff going on
ISU still hasn’t come close to filling its small stadium … and Memorial Stadium’s capacity (12,764) doesn’t meet the FBS attendance requirement (15,000) in any case.
Proof the attendance rule doesn't matter...stadium can't hold 15 and still got an invite according to their AD.
Moreover, ISU only recently funded all of the 63 scholarships allocated at the Football Championship Subdivision level. The scholarship limit for a FBS program is 85.
No idea ISU wasn't funding all 63...how had they been counting as FBS wins in the past if that was the case?
“We were contacted by the Sun Belt. While flattering, it’s something we’re not ready for. We may be someday, but we’re not there now,” ISU Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman confirmed to the Tribune-Star.
Bombshell announcement, IMO, that apparently has made zero waves anywhere
“The million dollar question is to try and guess and anticipate what that future is,” Northern Iowa Director of Athletics Troy Dannen said.
...
“Over the last five years, people have been bailing FCS football as fast as they can to get into a bowl division,” Dannen said. “They’re not doing it for financial reasons. That’s a misnomer. You’re going to make more money, you’re going to spend more money. But I think they’re doing it because of an insecurity of where FCS football is headed.”
This has been Dannen's stance for a very long time. He and many others fear a split like the 1979 split, and being on the "top side" of the wave is always better than being left in the wake trying to "catch up"
“It’s fair to say that the continuing migration of some of the better teams in FCS into FBS is troubling, but we look at the finances and logistics and think it doesn’t make any sense,” MVFC commissioner Patty Viverito said.
“We think playing for national championships is a lot more interesting than playing in bad bowls with nobody present. That being what it is, there are people who find being in the FBS neighborhood attractive,” Viverito added.
Seems like a standard reply from an FCS conference commish.
“A school might say, ‘We’re on national TV, and no matter what bowl it is, you’re drawing a hefty audience on national TV and that’s a great commercial for your institution.’ There are things businesses and institutions do that might not always turn a profit, but profits in another way,” Southern Illinois Director of Athletics Mario Moccia.
...
Moccia said that when SIU advanced to the 2007 FCS playoff semifinals and played three home games in Carbondale, Ill., the school netted $28,000. He noted that SIU has never lost money on a home playoff game, but that the margins were in the $5,000 range.
SIU is one of the lucky schools. Outside of the top of the MVFC, SoCon (likely not the case anymore), CAA, and Big Sky I'd bet anyone else who hosts is losing money by doing so.
I'll stop there with quotes, as that's is only about half way through the article and I just want to pull the rest of it. UNI's AD Dannen is throwing lines out like crazy on this, and it's awesome. He speaks very frankly about it all...and those of you who don't fear another split/being left behind I encourage you to take what Dannen says seriously. He speaks publicly on almost no issue, but has been very outspoken on this.
In the article he also states UNI could play MAC football next year and it would be a financial wash compared to what we do now...however, the issue would be if we were forced to take all sports to the MAC. That is what would cause us to lose money--
Like many UNI fans from the start have stated, because it was said by Dannen at the start...a move to the FBS for football only for UNI is a good move. Any move that takes us from the MVC for other sports is not.
