(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

(06-24-2014 07:55 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 08:43 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  Listen to this clown. He takes shots at all the teams that left the Sun Belt.

http://csnbbs.com/thread-693177.html

I wonder what ASU's president, chancellor, and board of regents think of his comments?

I like Arkansas State, and I feel bad they are stuck in the Sun Belt, but I can't see how comments like these will help their situation.

To be truthful...there has not been a single mention of it. Considering that our Chancellor, AD, and President are all good friends...and both the Chancellor and President foam at the mouth every time they talk about how great of an AD they have...you wont see any worries about it.

One thing some of our former friends over here from the SBC Might remember is that the world works very differently in Jonesboro. We're in a dry county. Arkansas State is seen as the major event in town. Our only competition comes from an in state school 5 hours away that doesn't officially recognize our existence, and outside of a Memphis team that we have beaten a ton in recent history, we have zero competition at the G5 level. There is no stream of consciousness about any G5 league outside of the SBC, nor P5 league outside of the SEC.

Sure...like any fan base we hate our commissioner, hate all of our rivals, and dream of beating the major in state school. But the reality is, there is no pressure to move here. We don't gain anything exposure wise locally by a move because CUSA has zero exposure in Arkansas. There is no certain increase in ticket sales. No certain increase in a donor base. It would be sort of a blah...aint this exactly like the Sun Belt type of reaction.

(06-24-2014 05:33 PM)CrushMI Wrote:  Wasn't he the AD that was ready to "lawyer up" if WKU got the Go Daddy invite before ASU (threatening to sue if they handed out the invite too soon??)?

That was a fan who suggested that. And remember, little of it had to do with WKU. It had to do with Benson pushing for WKU to get the bowl invite...which we saw as cheap and dirty considering Sun Belt By Laws said he couldn't do such a thing.

He actually kept himself pretty restrained during the whole Bowl thing, other than admitting that Benson had told Mobile we were going to go to the Independence Bowl (Chances were low)

Throw in the way our game ended, one that right or not, ASU fans felt was taken away by the officiating crew, and it got ugly. If it had happened in reverse, we would have expected the same reaction by WKU fans.

(06-24-2014 01:57 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  As long as the Sun Belt has half their league with budgets in the $12M-$20M range, no one is going to take them very seriously, I believe the only two CUSA programs with budgets of ~$20M are USM and La Tech.

I also do not believe any Sun Belt program would turn down a CUSA invite, Arkansas State would surprise me the least, but I cannot imagine that even the Mighty Red Wolves would be feeling too good about themselves and their conference if two other programs accepted.

Perhaps Arkansas State is really so committed to the Sun Belt that they'd turn CUSA down and take the risk that other schools accept, but I doubt it. How do you think they'd feel about the Sun Belt after Louisiana and South Alabama depart and they're looking at the likes of Lamar/SHSU/Liberty? Hell even if they just added Missouri State and sat at 10/12, I'm sure they'd regret turning down the invite.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, unless there are guarantees that they'll all decline, no one is declining.

I think you are overlooking the fact that we're talking about this moment in time. The reality is that with no expansion talk on going...any move is several years on the horizon, after the SBC and CUSA have had time to develop their FCS move ups, and after CUSA has signed a new TV contract that no one knows the value of yet.

I think the biggest danger in alignment for the SBC right now would be for the CUSA TV Contract to hit 400K or less per team, and ULL and ASU saw it as an opportunity to grab a few like minded SBC Schools and form their own league. When I was doing the Math earlier, I came up with about a 4 million dollar cost to ASU to move leagues (Entrance, Exit fees, marketing and promotional work, and forfeit of media rights) With no Big donor willing to pay currently to move to CUSA or the MAC, it would take us roughly 7 or 8 years to just break even in the deal. In the end...that's not worth it. Now if CUSA was to sign another 1.3 million per team TV deal...things would change.

(06-24-2014 09:27 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Cajun Field could use upgrades. But ULL has been putting money into athletics since the middle of 2008 when they changed presidents. The CajunDome however is a nice facility. Its always clean and there isn't a bad seat in the house. I should know I was a season ticket holder for the Louisiana IceGators for 10 seasons. Also watched a few Cajun games. One where I was the only one dressed in Green and White.

I understand they are finally putting some money into it but come on porta potties. Till I was 5 years old we had a outhouse so those are a step up but this isn't 1965 any more. And I'm not a big fan of hole in the ground stadiums. Troy's is that way but once you get past that it's really nice . The CajunDome is OK but needs some upgrades (which I believe is coming) but for basketball their seats are too far away from the court. I sit mid court top row of their lower section this past Jan and it's almost like being at the very top of Diddle arena.

(06-24-2014 11:21 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  I understand they are finally putting some money into it but come on porta potties. Till I was 5 years old we had a outhouse so those are a step up but this isn't 1965 any more. And I'm not a big fan of hole in the ground stadiums. Troy's is that way but once you get past that it's really nice . The CajunDome is OK but needs some upgrades (which I believe is coming) but for basketball their seats are too far away from the court. I sit mid court top row of their lower section this past Jan and it's almost like being at the very top of Diddle arena.

ULL owns half of the CajunDome and can't do anything without city approval since the city of Lafayette owns the other half. I was never a fan of the way Cajun Field was built. But a lot of stadiums built in the late 60s to mid 70s was built this way and Cajun field opened in 71.

(06-24-2014 08:43 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  Listen to this clown. He takes shots at all the teams that left the Sun Belt.

http://csnbbs.com/thread-693177.html

Well, all new members but two....

Considering he worked in FAU's athletic program before coming the AD at Arkansas State, are you surprised?

You mean it took him this long to realize he hired a guy we turned down for this??????

(06-25-2014 12:10 AM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  You mean it took him this long to realize he hired a guy we turned down for this??????

Well yes, but after that one fun filled year of Ellis Johnson, is there any USM fan who would have not traded for Anderson in a heart beat?

On a side note...Anderson speaks Highly of USM. He loved his time there.

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I believe those numbers are 2012 I have the same and mine is 2012

(06-25-2014 12:26 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 12:10 AM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  You mean it took him this long to realize he hired a guy we turned down for this??????

Well yes, but after that one fun filled year of Ellis Johnson, is there any USM fan who would have not traded for Anderson in a heart beat?

On a side note...Anderson speaks Highly of USM. He loved his time there.

Someone call into the coach's show and ask Blake why he left MT.

(06-24-2014 11:20 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 11:09 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  Appy State is certainly more of a "brand" than Arkie State.

No they aren't...You could ask 100 casual fans and 70-80% wouldn't know where either are located.

(06-24-2014 11:03 AM)wh49er Wrote:  The same guy saying that CUSA took teams only because of markets wants his school to be compared to UCF, Memphis, Houston, and SMU.


What do all of those schools have in common?

They actually want to be like Memphis and SMU, WoW...

Since 2008 -

SMU - 36-41
Memphis - 17-55

SMU pays a coach 2 million dollars to be 5 games under .500 and Memphis for the most part could care less about the sport of football and most Memphis fans wouldn't care if they cut the sport and moved their sports to the BE.

Got it wrong there dude. Yea, over the past few years Memphis football has been bad, horribly bad. But finally we have a coach (Fuente) that knows what the hell he's doing and an A.D. (Bowen) and administration (new school president), along with some big money supporters that finally gets it when it comes to the importance of a strong football program. Just a matter of time. Things are building in the right direction, and excitement in the city for Tiger football is at an all time high. So, just to set you straight. No, Memphis fans don't want to drop the sport of football and no Memphis fans don't want any part of the Big East. For the time being we are perfectly happy to be a part of the AAC.

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I suffered from insomnia last night so I put this comparison together. It's from the latest info gathered by USA Today.

When one considers that C-USA media income per school is now approx $1.2 million (divide $84 million by 5 years and then divide by 14 schools) then you realize that media income is not all important. It's better to have it than not but as an example, UTEP will make almost that much in a payday game at Arkansas next season. Non-subsidy income is probably the best barometer of a healthy athletic department. Maybe I'll put that together later.


ODU $36.9
NMSU $30.1
TSU $29.7
UTEP $29.0
UNT $28.8
FIU $28.3
UAB $28.1
MTSU $27.6
Mar $27.5
GaSt $26.7
Char $26.6
FAU $24.5
UTSA $23.8
USM $22.7
USA $21.1
ASU $19.7
Idaho $19.5
Troy $19.5
LTU $18.5
ULL $18.1
ArkSt $16.2
GaSo $13.2
ULM $11.2

(06-25-2014 08:16 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I suffered from insomnia last night so I put this comparison together. It's from the latest info gathered by USA Today.

When one considers that C-USA media income per school is now approx $1.2 million (divide $84 million by 5 years and then divide by 14 schools) then you realize that media income is not all important. It's better to have it than not but as an example, UTEP will make almost that much in a payday game at Arkansas next season. Non-subsidy income is probably the best barometer of a healthy athletic department. Maybe I'll put that together later.


ODU $36.9
NMSU $30.1
TSU $29.7
UTEP $29.0
UNT $28.8
FIU $28.3
UAB $28.1
MTSU $27.6
Mar $27.5
GaSt $26.7
Char $26.6
FAU $24.5
UTSA $23.8
USM $22.7
USA $21.1
ASU $19.7
Idaho $19.5
Troy $19.5
LTU $18.5
ULL $18.1
ArkSt $16.2
GaSo $13.2
ULM $11.2

Threre is no uniform way to report athletic budgets. Arkansas State has a stategy in how they report their budget. In a state where the school has to fight for every dime they receive from the legislature and the newspapers are always looking to give them a black eye AND the larger SEC school is seeing less and less support and would love to take money away from ASU . . . it seems logical to not include certain $$ in your athletic budget. Could they include recent donations of over 5 million and 30 million dollar football complexes and new scoreboards and new luxury box and pressbox renovations in their budget to make it twice as much? Sure, all it take is moving columns in a speadsheet, but sometimes that might not be what is best for the program.

No one team in any conference is judged solely on what they report in their athletic budget.

(06-25-2014 08:39 AM)Rik Flair Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 08:16 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I suffered from insomnia last night so I put this comparison together. It's from the latest info gathered by USA Today.

When one considers that C-USA media income per school is now approx $1.2 million (divide $84 million by 5 years and then divide by 14 schools) then you realize that media income is not all important. It's better to have it than not but as an example, UTEP will make almost that much in a payday game at Arkansas next season. Non-subsidy income is probably the best barometer of a healthy athletic department. Maybe I'll put that together later.


ODU $36.9
NMSU $30.1
TSU $29.7
UTEP $29.0
UNT $28.8
FIU $28.3
UAB $28.1
MTSU $27.6
Mar $27.5
GaSt $26.7
Char $26.6
FAU $24.5
UTSA $23.8
USM $22.7
USA $21.1
ASU $19.7
Idaho $19.5
Troy $19.5
LTU $18.5
ULL $18.1
ArkSt $16.2
GaSo $13.2
ULM $11.2

Threre is no uniform way to report athletic budgets. Arkansas State has a stategy in how they report their budget. In a state where the school has to fight for every dime they receive from the legislature and the newspapers are always looking to give them a black eye AND the larger SEC school is seeing less and less support and would love to take money away from ASU . . . it seems logical to not include certain $$ in your athletic budget. Could they include recent donations of over 5 million and 30 million dollar football complexes and new scoreboards and new luxury box and pressbox renovations in their budget to make it twice as much? Sure, all it take is moving columns in a speadsheet, but sometimes that might not be what is best for the program.

No one team in any conference is judged solely on what they report in their athletic budget.

Ark st and ULL are freak accounting geniuses!!!! Sticking it to the man with some mad formulas in excel!!! I cannot wait for my school to start reporting that we are broke as hell to get the state to take us more seriously...

(06-25-2014 08:16 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I suffered from insomnia last night so I put this comparison together. It's from the latest info gathered by USA Today.

When one considers that C-USA media income per school is now approx $1.2 million (divide $84 million by 5 years and then divide by 14 schools) then you realize that media income is not all important. It's better to have it than not but as an example, UTEP will make almost that much in a payday game at Arkansas next season. Non-subsidy income is probably the best barometer of a healthy athletic department. Maybe I'll put that together later.


ODU $36.9
NMSU $30.1
TSU $29.7
UTEP $29.0
UNT $28.8
FIU $28.3
UAB $28.1
MTSU $27.6
Mar $27.5
GaSt $26.7
Char $26.6
FAU $24.5
UTSA $23.8
USM $22.7
USA $21.1
ASU $19.7
Idaho $19.5
Troy $19.5
LTU $18.5
ULL $18.1
ArkSt $16.2
GaSo $13.2
ULM $11.2

I liked your idea of breaking it down further to rank schools by non-subsidy income. Hope you don't mind, but I didn't want to wait on those numbers and had some down time at work, so I put a list together. I based the numbers off of the 2013 numbers from the USAToday website. Non-subsidy revenue is all revenue except for school funds and student fees. Bold represents CUSA schools; italics represents Sun Belt schools.

UTEP $14.2
Marshall $13.1
USM $13.0
UNT $11.2
WKU $11.2
NMSU $10.4
UL $10.4
Idaho $10.3
UAB $10.1
ODU $9.8
Appalachian State $9.4
LA Tech $9.4
UTSA $9.2
TSU $8.7
MTSU $8.1
Charlotte $8.0
FAU $7.9
ULM $7.1
ArkSt $7.0
Troy $6.6
FIU $6.3
GaSo $4.9
USA $4.6
GaSt $4.1

(06-25-2014 01:52 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-25-2014 12:51 AM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:30 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Just wanted to let you know that actual budgets for those schools.
NMSU 26.9 million
Texas St. 21.7 million
App St. 17.7 million
Ark St. 13.3 million

The Ark St. AD needs to put the crack pipe down.

Texas State has more budget than that. You have taken a number from our days in the Southland many years ago.

I believe those numbers are 2012 I have the same and mine is 2012

Can't be. Our budget was larger in 2012 than the current year due to being in the WAC. That number is prior to Texas State moving up.

This seems so simple to me. The AAC raids C-USA, not the Sun Belt. That is all you need to know.

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

ULL is raising money to completely redo their stadium. It was announced last year. They'd be a good addition to CUSA West.