FCS teams play in the spring, USFL style. They'd get tons more exposure as the only game in town, as opposed to being buried deep under the FBS games.

Yes, because that is what made the WFL a roaring success

(04-22-2014 07:25 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  Yes, because that is what made the WFL a roaring success

True---but football in general was not as strong as it is today and major league baseball was a MUCH stronger force 30 years ago than it is today. Lets face it, FCS is invisible right now. Its actually not a terrible idea.

(04-22-2014 07:25 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  Yes, because that is what made the WFL a roaring success

WFL started their season in late summer and finished in the fall.

USFL was a spring league. They got greedy and made plans to move the league to the fall to go head to head with the NFL, and several owners started bailing out of their USFL teams soon after that was announced, because they knew it was ludicrous to go up against the NFL.

FCS in the spring won't happen, but it could, because those schools control their own stadiums. A USFL-type pro league couldn't happen in enough major markets today because, after the WFL and USFL runs, NFL teams made sure that their stadium leases allow them to veto any other pro football team from using the stadium.

(04-22-2014 07:11 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  FCS teams play in the spring, USFL style. They'd get tons more exposure as the only game in town, as opposed to being buried deep under the FBS games.

Would be great to have some good games to watch during the spring lull.

How would schools still have FBS money games? Without them at least 10 FCS schools get rid of football(that is likely being conservative), it would hurt recruiting at other FCS schools as well.

Beyond not being able to play FBS schools, to finish the season before Memorial Day and try to avoid having to keep dorms open between sessions except for a few playoff teams you have to start by the 3rd Saturday in January. That makes the bulk of the regular season in miserable weather in most of the US and it runs past the NFL draft.

(04-22-2014 07:11 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  FCS teams play in the spring, USFL style. They'd get tons more exposure as the only game in town, as opposed to being buried deep under the FBS games.

Because people are skiing in February and the north is still buried in snow. Add in no money games and 2/3 of the FCS goes broke and drops to d2

(04-22-2014 10:20 PM)FargoBison Wrote:  How would schools still have FBS money games? Without them at least 10 FCS schools get rid of football(that is likely being conservative), it would hurt recruiting at other FCS schools as well.

What if the NCAA allowed the FBS schools to schedule an FCS exhibition game in place of the spring game. This would allow the FCS schools to pick up a money game during thier regular season.

Perhaps the same legislation could allow the reverse to happen in the fall. So in the fall FBs season, FCS schools would be allowed to have thier "spring" game, except it could be on the road as an official money game vs a FBS school. In order to make the game more competetive, maybe the FCS schools playing an actual game vs FBS in the fall could even have a few more practices than the FCS schools just having a normal fall "spring" game.

The other option would be a split season. 8 games in the fall and 4 games+play-offs in the spring. Eliminate the spring game and replace it with a couple of weeks of practice prior to the spring season. That saves the money games and takes care of the time issues in the spring. That would give FCS a nice little window of national football focus for the final 4 games of the season. Then the playoffs could start a couple of weeks after March Madness.

I think this would be best for college football, and it need not be limited to a single game. I don't see a reason that schools couldn't play 2 or even 3 spring games against FCS opponents.

Let's say that 2 games against the FCS are allowed annually and see how it might look for Nebraska:
- vs South Dakota St (underclassmen game)
- vs Northern Iowa (full roster)

Note that one of the games could easily be Freshmen/Sophomores vs FCS as a way of getting playing time for the younger guys on the team. Would be fun for the fans, too, to see the up and coming players in real competition.

What are the current NCAA rules about exhibition games? How do they really differ from a normal practice? I wonder if this couldn't already be done under existing rules.

(04-22-2014 11:59 PM)billings Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 07:11 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  FCS teams play in the spring, USFL style. They'd get tons more exposure as the only game in town, as opposed to being buried deep under the FBS games.

Because people are skiing in February and the north is still buried in snow. Add in no money games and 2/3 of the FCS goes broke and drops to d2

I thought you guys up in Big Sky country were tough. Are you going to let a little snow stop you? (I keed, I keed!)

Seriously, there is a reason basketball wasn't invented in Miami. Its original purpose was to fill the gap between football and baseball. So do you think FCS football would really be the "only game in town" while NCAA basketball is in full swing? Or in the northeast, during hockey season?

I think this is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" ideas, where, when you think about implementing it, you answer your own question.

This all assumes that the purpose behind FCS is similar to FBS, but it's not. 98% of the schools that play FCS football don't worry about exposure and know they're going to lose money. They would rather stay under the radar and let their fans and alumni enjoy football during the traditional season and get their money games.

Plus, college baseball runs approximately the same schedule that's being proposed and it doesn't help its exposure much.

I bet a lot of people would support their large state school in the fall then a local school in the spring. You'd probably end up with more total fans.

(04-23-2014 08:29 AM)JMUDukeDawg Wrote:  This all assumes that the purpose behind FCS is similar to FBS, but it's not. 98% of the schools that play FCS football don't worry about exposure and know they're going to lose money. They would rather stay under the radar and let their fans and alumni enjoy football during the traditional season and get their money games.

Plus, college baseball runs approximately the same schedule that's being proposed and it doesn't help its exposure much.

There are definitely some issues with doing it, but I would think the potential exposure might be worth at least investigating the possibility. Ask your president and BOD sometime if they don't care about exposure. I doubt you will hear the same message you just delivered. On second thought, JMU just decided to pass on FBS in order to remain an FCS school---so you may be exactly right. Maybe they don't care about exposure.

(04-23-2014 08:52 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 08:29 AM)JMUDukeDawg Wrote:  This all assumes that the purpose behind FCS is similar to FBS, but it's not. 98% of the schools that play FCS football don't worry about exposure and know they're going to lose money. They would rather stay under the radar and let their fans and alumni enjoy football during the traditional season and get their money games.

Plus, college baseball runs approximately the same schedule that's being proposed and it doesn't help its exposure much.

There are definitely some issues with doing it, but I would think the potential exposure might be worth at least investigating the possibility. Ask your president and BOD sometime if they don't care about exposure. I doubt you will hear the same message you just delivered.

I was probably incorrect in saying they weren't worried about exposure, but most schools are comfortable with where they are in the exposure hierarchy. Heck, I haven't seen anything from our admin to indicate they want to move up the exposure hierarchy into FBS. I think most schools are comfortable where they are and with how the season works.

I also don't think that FBS schools are going to give up their spring game for an FCS exhibition. They'll be playing FCS schools that have had camp and possibly a few games under their belt. The chance of an upset is MUCH greater and that's not what spring games are about.

And while there is a chance that you could gain some fan support from fans that support larger state schools, I think there's a risk you lose some fan support because fans just don't want to go to football year round. If somebody follows Tech for 13 weekends in the fall (going to some games, watching TV on others), they may not want to spend another 11-13 weeks following JMU. That's half of your weekends in a year gone. That's a lot.

Another thing about exposure is that your really only going to get that by TV and Sportscenter coverage. Who's going to cover these games? I would guess ESPN won't, they've got NBA and college basketball. Would some of the "other" sports channels cover it? Maybe, but they've got college basketball contracts to fulfill. And how many games are getting on TV? Most of the top FCS conferences have regional deals that put a lot of their games on TV right now. JMU usually has at least half their games televised. So there's not much of a benefit for those schools and I don't think the bottom half of FCS is getting on TV even in the spring.

And as far as SportsCenter goes, the hierarchy during that time period is going to be:

1. NBA
2. College Basketball
3. NHL
4. FCS Football...maybe.

Then once baseball starts we drop down again.

(04-22-2014 10:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Beyond not being able to play FBS schools, to finish the season before Memorial Day and try to avoid having to keep dorms open between sessions except for a few playoff teams you have to start by the 3rd Saturday in January. That makes the bulk of the regular season in miserable weather in most of the US and it runs past the NFL draft.

That would be like---18 Saturdays. Don't need that many.
Using the 2014 caldendar, the season could start March 15 and end May 31. That would be 12 Saturday's.

(04-23-2014 08:15 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 11:59 PM)billings Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 07:11 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  FCS teams play in the spring, USFL style. They'd get tons more exposure as the only game in town, as opposed to being buried deep under the FBS games.

Because people are skiing in February and the north is still buried in snow. Add in no money games and 2/3 of the FCS goes broke and drops to d2

I thought you guys up in Big Sky country were tough. Are you going to let a little snow stop you? (I keed, I keed!)

Seriously, there is a reason basketball wasn't invented in Miami. Its original purpose was to fill the gap between football and baseball. So do you think FCS football would really be the "only game in town" while NCAA basketball is in full swing? Or in the northeast, during hockey season?

I think this is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" ideas, where, when you think about implementing it, you answer your own question.

When did Naismith invent basketball? When did college football begin?

(04-23-2014 11:28 AM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 10:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Beyond not being able to play FBS schools, to finish the season before Memorial Day and try to avoid having to keep dorms open between sessions except for a few playoff teams you have to start by the 3rd Saturday in January. That makes the bulk of the regular season in miserable weather in most of the US and it runs past the NFL draft.

That would be like---18 Saturdays. Don't need that many.
Using the 2014 caldendar, the season could start March 15 and end May 31. That would be 12 Saturday's.

So no post-season?

(04-23-2014 11:38 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 11:28 AM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 10:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Beyond not being able to play FBS schools, to finish the season before Memorial Day and try to avoid having to keep dorms open between sessions except for a few playoff teams you have to start by the 3rd Saturday in January. That makes the bulk of the regular season in miserable weather in most of the US and it runs past the NFL draft.

That would be like---18 Saturdays. Don't need that many.
Using the 2014 caldendar, the season could start March 15 and end May 31. That would be 12 Saturday's.

So no post-season?

The college baseball regular season (including conference tournaments) ends the last weekend in May, and the NCAA tournament starts the following weekend (on Friday). The College World Series will end on June 24 or 25 this year. So it wouldn't be the only NCAA playoff to end in the summer.

Let's say you wanted to play the FCS title game the Saturday before, on June 21. With the current 24-team bracket, the FCS playoffs would start on May 24, and the last day of the regular season would be May 17. FCS has an 11-game regular season, if you give them 12 weeks to play it, then the first Saturday of the season would be March 8. If you want to give them an extra week for more flexibility, then start the regular season on March 1.

(04-23-2014 11:55 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 11:38 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 11:28 AM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 10:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Beyond not being able to play FBS schools, to finish the season before Memorial Day and try to avoid having to keep dorms open between sessions except for a few playoff teams you have to start by the 3rd Saturday in January. That makes the bulk of the regular season in miserable weather in most of the US and it runs past the NFL draft.

That would be like---18 Saturdays. Don't need that many.
Using the 2014 caldendar, the season could start March 15 and end May 31. That would be 12 Saturday's.

So no post-season?

The college baseball regular season (including conference tournaments) ends the last weekend in May, and the NCAA tournament starts the following weekend (on Friday). The College World Series will end on June 24 or 25 this year. So it wouldn't be the only NCAA playoff to end in the summer.

Let's say you wanted to play the FCS title game the Saturday before, on June 21. With the current 24-team bracket, the FCS playoffs would start on May 24, and the last day of the regular season would be May 17. FCS has an 11-game regular season, if you give them 12 weeks to play it, then the first Saturday of the season would be March 8. If you want to give them an extra week for more flexibility, then start the regular season on March 1.

But the school has to house and feed the players. Baseball is around 25 and most of those making CWS are upper tier financially.

FCS would have to house and feed 85-100 and aren't rolling in cash. They are going to want to finish before the dorms close.