(06-13-2017 08:47 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 04:50 AM)BRtransplant Wrote:  

(06-12-2017 02:42 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(06-12-2017 02:25 PM)No Bull Wrote:  I can't locate a single mainstream article that indicates that ULM is dropping down to FCS football. The OOC scheduling looks ominous, but that's about all anyone has to go on...

I guarantee there are more than a few people on this forum that can tell you more about ULM than the majority of sports journalists.

And why should any journalist know anything about ULM beyond their scattered marquee victories?

I'm not saying they're dropping down, but if you can't see the lack of games scheduled beyond 2019 as cause for speculation that the most woefully underfunded FBS program might be at least reevaluating things, I don't know what to tell you.

Other than being more competitive, there is absolutely nothing to gain by any school's dropping down to FCS level football. ULM's money games are imperative to its athletic budget every year. As an FCS team, those money games would go away, or at the very least, they'd be greatly reduced.

ULM may one day be legislated out of FBS level football (hell, we all may be), but they'll never voluntarily step down.

Take out the money games, take out the CFP revenue share and leave the institution's contribution identical and what you have is a budget that is very competitive in the Southland.

If I offer someone a raise of $100 a month to move from Shreveport to New York City, the person taking that deal is losing ground in personal wealth.

Now they gain a lot in after work restaurant and entertainment options but they are going to have a lot less in the bank at the end of the month.

ULM's leadership may be content to stay FBS and tell the fans, you've got FBS football, what more do you want? But competitiveness DOES matter.

During the dark years of AState if I went to a booster function, I could look around the room and quickly identify that nearly everyone there graduated during a time AState was good and there would be certain age groups missing from the room, the times we were bad.

You have to give fans SOMETHING to hang their hat on to get them to come out and give money. Without the university kicking in more they don't have that.

They get $4 million less from the school than UL Lafayette and $5 million less than La.Tech.

Their calling card is they run the program cheaply.
I tend to think either future administrations start putting a lot more in or they move to a budget appropriate alignment.

I think the bolded part is extremely important. I notice the same thing at Tech. The alumni who graduate in lean years don't seem to care nearly as much down the road.