(01-21-2014 11:41 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: (01-21-2014 08:27 PM)TheRevSWT Wrote: (01-21-2014 01:19 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: And I'd like to see another Southland member in the Belt, SHSU.
By the way, the new Southland is awful. Has anyone seen how their basketball is doing? I wondered why UTA bothered to join the Sun Belt. Now I know.
Why Sam? Just curious.
They sold 30k tickets to a game in Houston. HUGE presence here in Houston (bigger than Texas Tech). They'd be a winner, quickly in FBS. They matter.
That's the first I've heard of them having much of a presence in Houston (and I'm from there, with family still there).
The attendance is really surprising.
Houston Baptist - 9,246
Texas Southern - 6,403
Incarnate Word - 5,789
Eastern Washington - 8,621
Lamar - 9,156
Northwestern State - 5,527
SFA - 26,213
Nicholls State - 7,507
Southern Utah - 4,609
Now first let me say that something ain't right, cause that says they had 9 home games, but I'm working with ESPN here and they don't pay much attention to FCS.
However, given that, their average attendance is 9,231. That's including the bump of the SFA game in Houston (a rivalry game). Without that game? They are averaging 7,108.
Those attendance numbers, combined with their facilities issues and their donor base being weak (I hope it does improve), I just don't see them as ready.
I think they could be a solid football member, a good baseball member, and well... they can't be worse than us in basketball. But I don't think they can fund it.