FloridaJag
All American
Posts: 3,390
Joined: Oct 2010
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I Root For: USA, FSU, and UWF
Location: Florida
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RE: Best football expanision option for the Sun Belt
(04-22-2014 10:45 AM)panama Wrote: (04-22-2014 08:46 AM)FloridaJag Wrote: (04-22-2014 08:13 AM)FloridaJag Wrote: (04-21-2014 04:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote: (04-21-2014 04:31 PM)FloridaJag Wrote: The Best Option for SBC football is to go ahead and invite:
1. Missouri State - start playing in 2016
2. Texas Arlington (restart fully) - start playing in 2018
3. Florida Gulf Coast - start playing in 2018 (they have support)
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/mar/...-football/
Place these schools in a hold pattern for possible expansion to 16 after 2020
4. Coastal Carolina (nice rivalry for Ga Southern)
5. Eastern Kentucky (nice fit in the footprint, nice rivalry with App State)
Then
6. Kennesaw State (nice replacement if USA or Ga State go to CUSA)
7. North Florida ( will be the last universty in florida without football after FGCU, will be ready to join FGCU)
8. Lamar (long shot but will be nice Texas Triange with Texas State, Texas Arlington....aka the Texas Three or the Three Amigos )
Mo State not ready now. Question is if ever.
UTA is not very likely to restart
FGCU has investigated the possibility of football and determined they lack the resources to start from scratch.
CC needs to more than double their facility size.
EKU is "OK" on facilities but their own numbers indicate a need to increase the annual operating budget by $2.5 million. That's roughly a 25% increase, hard to do quickly.
Kennesaw isn't likely to be supported by the other Georgia schools and needs a serious stadium upgrade.
UNF doesn't sponsor football.
Lamar needs facility improvements as well just to be viable.
Mo State not ready now. Question is if ever.
MSU should be ready in two years -2016
UTA is not very likely to restart
This is Texas you are talking about
FGCU has investigated the possibility of football and determined they lack the resources to start from scratch.
FGCU does not lack the resources, they intend to go straight to FBS like USF
CC needs to more than double their facility size.
They can do it by 2020
EKU is "OK" on facilities but their own numbers indicate a need to increase the annual operating budget by $2.5 million. That's roughly a 25% increase, hard to do quickly.
Not hard to do it by 2020
Kennesaw isn't likely to be supported by the other Georgia schools and needs a serious stadium upgrade.
KSU would have instant rivalries against Ga Southern, Ga State, and App State plus OOC against UAB, Charlotte, WKU, MTSU and maybe Memphis. KSU is in the catbird seat.... Atlanta metro. Except for Ga State, the other school would like the exposure in the ATL.
UNF doesn't sponsor football.
It will, when FGCU starts football, UNF will be the only State University without football. Their students (16,372) and alumni will demand football. UF is blocking them at the moment. Just compare UNF to USA. Look for UNF football by 2020
Lamar needs facility improvements as well just to be viable.
LU problem is that is east Texas between Houston and Louisiana. There are a bunch of schools already in the area. They have the size for a Sun Belt school.
School enrollment comparisons between the SBC and SBC potentials ( I believe these are Fall 2012 numbers)
Texas Arlington 34,249
Texas State 34,229
Georgia State 32,087
Kennesaw State 24,600
Missouri State 21,059
Georgia Southern 20,584
New Mexico State 18,497
Troy 17,915
Appalachian State 17,589
Louisiana - Lafayette 16,885
North Florida 16,372
Eastern Kentucky 15,968
South Alabama 15,311
Lamar 14,288
Florida Gulf Coast 14,099
Arkansas State 13,553
Arkansas - Little Rock 13,000
Idaho 11,180
Coastal Carolina 9,478
Louisiana - Monroe 7,519
I believe the SBC potentials have the same financial abilities as the present school. Notice the enrollments of the recent additions, Texas State, UTA, Ga State, Georgia Southern and App State are much higher than the older members.
An here is where wishful thinking comes in. Georgia State hit 23k students in the late 1970's. Were we ready for FBS based upon enrollment? No. There was no institutional support either internally nor from the BOR for major college athletics. Most of the schools you name have not shown an FBS pulse. The schools who did show a pulse 4 to 6 years ago have largely moved up. Who remains? Missouri State, JMU, Liberty, Jacksonville State. Going out 4 years maybe you add EKU to that list. After that there really isnt anyone regionally showing the "want to" to increase their athletic budget anywhere from 50% to 100% and spend an additional $50M on facilities. That is the reality at this point. Kennesaw State has some serious issues to address to become even viable at the FCS level. Teir athletic support level is basically the same as Georgia State's was in the early 1990's and they dont have 125k local alumni to get $$$ from.
Things can change in a hurry.
If you look back at my original post, I have EKU and Coatal after 2020. Then the rest after them, say 2022 which is 8 years from now. So KSU may be ready in 2022.
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