RE: Akron cutting colleges...NIU reaction and what about us?
I had similar thoughts and was playing with the facets and details when HOF 08 posted that, so decided to post this and take the heat. Somewhat similar in a kind of if-we-have-to way. Sort of what-if scenario. Posting it here for whatever.
If NIU drops to FCS (since this is speculation) I would expect one of the goals would be to cut travel costs and play people we all know. I played with a "conference" scenario based on the expectation that many Upper Midwest schools about NIU's size/status would have similar problems and be tired of the rat race. (Note: this is playing around only).
I came up with NIU, SIU-Carbondale, IllSt (which might hate this), EIU, WIU, Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Indiana State, Ball State, Drake. That's 10 with football. (9 conference plus 2 o-o-c plus FCS playoffs, no CCG). Take one of those others out and sub in SEMO as needed. Play for a playoff spot (or at-large) and national championship every year.
For added fun, for all other sports, go to 14 members. Add Bradley (already in the pits $-wise), Loyola-Chicago, Evansville and Valparaiso. Sub SIUE as needed. Four states, mostly easy travel (including fans), well-known teams, people from the neighborhoods and hometowns, all-Saturday football. FCS+DI requires 14 sports (not 16). Keeps the MVC and MVFC auto-bids for football playoffs and NCAA tournaments.
Basically, it combines those two affiliated (MVFC and MVC) and adds NIU, EIU, WIU and Ball State for all sports. Can you see some (small) caravans going on the road? In-state rivalries? Better tailgating? No pressure to spend bazillions on facilities?
Now, for the $$. The money MAC schools make from the ESPN-MAC contract has to be going mostly to video production. There is no way ESPN produces all those games. They just provide commentary; the u's do the video work. Payday games still possible, at least 1 per season, maybe 2. ESPN has enough modes (main, U, 2, 3, +) that football and other sports could be on air or live streaming everywhere anytime. (And it's speculated Google and Amazon are gearing up to get in.) ERverybody needs content. That's the future anyway (think of all those made-for-tv bowl games), so get on laptops, pads, computers and TVs, and let the "live" audience have what it wants. Grab a share of that online/streaming ad revenue. Hire an ad agency. Still get shares of NCAA tournament money (via MVC). I can also see enhanced tailgating, bigger cut of vendor revenues.
NIU can still be FBS but only if all the cards fall right, it weathers this storm, and can also weather the coming changes post-coronavirus across the university, not just sports. I hope so.
(Footnote: STF tried to get in-state FCS to come to DeKalb; some didn't like the idea or were already signed on elsewhere)
(Second footnote: Losing NIU and Ball State (outliers in the MAC) still leaves the MAC at 10 schools in Ohio, Michigan and Buffalo).
(This post was last modified: 05-06-2020 10:58 PM by pvk75.)
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