(10-27-2026 08:49 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(10-26-2026 08:33 PM)HuskieBowWow Wrote:  

(10-26-2026 08:05 PM)DiehardHuskie Wrote:  My favorite comment from Frazier today was the “we’re still transitioning to the Mountain West.” YOU HAD TWO YEARS TO BEGIN TRANSITIONING TO THE MOUNTAIN WEST!!! like I said in the other thread - zero momentum coming into the new conference. This guy is something else.

This guy refuses to bring any energy or innovation to his role. It’s like having Aunt Edna as our AD.

He's just going through the motions, zero attempt from Frazier to build something next level in Dekalb. Has to go ASAP.

Imagine a more effective AD, with a new promising new football coach. We have a rich FBS history and we're planted in the #3 DMA, someone should be building a top notch G6 program with a killer 30k seat stadium + suites. Not all that crazy of a goal, and then we're positioned well for whatever comes down the pipe......

Before any new stadium talk, a little history might help. The original plan in the early 1960s for Huskie Stadium was a horseshoe about 30,000 with the open end at the south for the scoreboard (the reason the south end is jammed up against Stadium Drive South ... no grandstand was planned there).

A major mistake was not building the Yordan and Chessick; it was building the Yordan and Chessick right up against the north end zone when those could have been built 50 yards north. That would have allowed for a north grandstand and the horseshoe. (Note: at that time the outdoor track was in the way, but ended up being built west where it and the soccer field now are).

All of the above meant Huskie Stadium was cut off from real expansion (hence, STF's ridiculous south end zone grandstand plan from 2014-15).

The HS site is valuable real estate for something else, being located where it is. But the only alternative is a new stadium on NIU-owned land west of the Convo. Never going to happen, since were talking 100s of millions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Whew.

Do we need more seating?

(10-27-2026 09:46 AM)JeffNIU Wrote:  Do we need more seating?

As I understand it, the issue is not capacity. HS seats (officially) 23,595, and NIU can't fill that anymore. Illinois State drew an official 17,582. Air Force/Homecoming was 15,292. The issues are age and lack of repairs and upgrades. STF's answer was to dress up the spaces off the north and south end zones. Whoopee. The bottom line need is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

(10-27-2026 09:54 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  

(10-27-2026 09:46 AM)JeffNIU Wrote:  Do we need more seating?

As I understand it, the issue is not capacity. HS seats (officially) 23,595, and NIU can't fill that anymore. Illinois State drew an official 17,582. Air Force/Homecoming was 15,292. The issues are age and lack of repairs and upgrades. STF's answer was to dress up the spaces off the north and south end zones. Whoopee. The bottom line need is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Money talks, BS walks.

Dear Huskies,
There is no evidence that the MAC will be collapsing. Many of you may want that to happen, but it isn't in the cards. I think those that say that, are seeing that the move to the Mountain West maybe wasn't such a red hot idea. Good Luck in the future.

I'm reposting this everywhere

We are to receive $34M over the course of the next 6 years.

• Signing Bonus: $1.5 million upfront.
• MAC Exit Fee Assistance: Up to $2.5 million covered by the Mountain West.
• Media-Rights Share: Starts at a 75% share in 2026, rising to an 85% share for full-member media value distribution in subsequent seasons.

While we offer
• Conference Entrance Fee: $2 million total, payable in six annual installments (approximately $333,333.35 per year), approved by the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees. This fee is funded through conference revenue distributions and guarantees rather than institutional operating funds.

And MOST importantly...
• Football Budget Requirements: NIU is required to scale its football budget to $13.5 million in 2026 and $15 million in 2027.

So regardless of what we think the deal is, we get more money flowing in and we are supposed to spend more on our program. Thus forcing us to be competitive and giving us the ability to go out and get players, as well as a competent coaching staff.

If all these hold true, this is as bottom as it gets...at least financially

(10-27-2026 11:19 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Huskies,
There is no evidence that the MAC will be collapsing. Many of you may want that to happen, but it isn't in the cards. I think those that say that, are seeing that the move to the Mountain West maybe wasn't such a red hot idea. Good Luck in the future.

Dear Ken,

Please explain why 3 other schools are trying to get out?

See Miami O (willing to pay 40mil to get out), Ohio U (sunbelt prior to season), and Toledo (reached out to the American).

The MAC took a lifeline in Sac State (a team no other conference wanted) to get some $$ into the conference and it still doesn't have enough.

Ive said this from the beginning and I think it holds even stronger now, the move the Mountain West was a liquidation of Huskie footballl, it was not a move to develop football. It was a going out of business sale by Frazier and the Board of Trustees

(10-27-2026 02:37 PM)Huskies_1030 Wrote:  Ive said this from the beginning and I think it holds even stronger now, the move the Mountain West was a liquidation of Huskie footballl, it was not a move to develop football. It was a going out of business sale by Frazier and the Board of Trustees

Are Miami, Ohio, and Toledo liquidating football too?

(10-27-2026 02:37 PM)Huskies_1030 Wrote:  Ive said this from the beginning and I think it holds even stronger now, the move the Mountain West was a liquidation of Huskie footballl, it was not a move to develop football. It was a going out of business sale by Frazier and the Board of Trustees

I'm pretty sure you are MD

Dear HuskiePride12,
Having a school looking at possible options, does not mean they are leaving, as you suggest. Even if a school were to leave the MAC, I'm sure there are schools that will want to join the MAC. It was just mentioned that Marshall University was considering rejoining the MAC, but these are nothing, but rumors of one kind of another. So, I wouldn't hold my breath on rumors or suggestions.

(10-26-2026 02:41 PM)Max Power Wrote:  For those who say the MWC was a lateral move. From Tom Fornelli:

And the MAC is looking to get even worse with Miami one foot out the door.

I LOVED the MAC. But the weekday games for very little money and their leadership's (including STF) inability to get together with elements of the sunbelt and Conf USA was a deathknell. If the MAc tried but was unable to do something (to pick off some teams, or work a merger, or something) then that was bad, And if they were uninterested in doing so is just as bad, or worse. To me, that was the handwriting on the wall. And I never saw STF appear in any way to try to push the conference towards that. So, can't look back now.

(10-27-2026 06:50 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear HuskiePride12,
Having a school looking at possible options, does not mean they are leaving, as you suggest. Even if a school were to leave the MAC, I'm sure there are schools that will want to join the MAC. It was just mentioned that Marshall University was considering rejoining the MAC, but these are nothing, but rumors of one kind of another. So, I wouldn't hold my breath on rumors or suggestions.

Okay fine. Let's only look at absolutes...

NIU has left the MAC. Marshall left the MAC. UCF left the MAC. Temple left the MAC. Miami Ohio is leaving the MAC. All in the last 25 years.

Who did the MAC add? UmASS and SACk State.

The MWC fell apart, but at least it was able to rebuild itself several times...remaining competitive and navigating an incredibly difficult college football environment

(10-27-2026 06:50 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear HuskiePride12,
Having a school looking at possible options, does not mean they are leaving, as you suggest. Even if a school were to leave the MAC, I'm sure there are schools that will want to join the MAC. It was just mentioned that Marshall University was considering rejoining the MAC, but these are nothing, but rumors of one kind of another. So, I wouldn't hold my breath on rumors or suggestions.

The MAC is in the last year of their media deal, so they have no doubt been negotiating the next deal with ESPN. If the media deal under negotiation was looking good, the teams rumored to leave would have come out with strong statements denying the rumors. In fact, the opposite has happened, with at least one school (Miami) openly confirming them. This signals that the media deal they are negotiating is crap. If that’s the case, the schools with market value will leave before they are locked into a new GOR, just as NIU did. The only schools left will be the ones happy to have anything. And the only schools the MAC will attract to replace the departing schools will be FCS teams who have no media deal at all. Expect all this to happen this year, before the new GOR is signed.

(10-26-2026 08:36 PM)mattresspolice Wrote:  

(10-26-2026 02:41 PM)Max Power Wrote:  For those who say the MWC was a lateral move. From Tom Fornelli:

And the MAC is looking to get even worse with Miami one foot out the door.

So what does this prove?

It's the haves sand have nots. No one cares about one ranking and one point here or there. It's P4 and G6. The details don't matter. FBS is about to split between P4 and G6.

MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West, Pac 12, whatever. 98% of people that follow college football don't know the difference nor care who is the tallest midget.

Either way, NIU is on the wrong side of the ledger. How will you all feel when the P4 breaks away from the G6?

This is just lazy oversimplification. The details between the American and MAC don’t matter? Okay. I guess Miami just likes throwing away $40 million.

(10-27-2026 09:46 AM)JeffNIU Wrote:  Do we need more seating?

We certainly don't need a 42k stadium at this juncture, but if we want to look like we're aiming higher, 30-32k would be a great number for this eventual stadium upgrade. (I think the proposed plans said 29k or so). 30k+ is just a great milestone to pass optics-wise, and the extra 5-6k seats allows us to pay extra for an Iowa State, Minnesota to visit our stadium every other season, and the cost can now be absorbed over 6k more seats (300-500k extra game day revenue).

A clean, connected horseshoe, a suites tower, and 30k seats is a very reasonable immediate goal and positions us for upward movement if/when the door opens again.

The first thing we need to do is field a team that can win football games - especially at home. Makes no sense to improve anything for the few thousand fans who show up and then leave early. The first priority should be to get the fans back. Wins will bring the fans back, unless they already feel disconnected and ignored.

I would venture to say that there are more “fans” who spend the game tailgating in the parking lot. So maybe instead of improving the stadium at this point, NIU should improve the tailgating experience to attract even more tailgating fans. We could become the school with the best tailgating in the country. I’m starting to think that those who tailgate throughout the game are the smart ones, since they don’t go to the game and watch the garbage on the field.

(10-27-2026 06:50 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear HuskiePride12,
Having a school looking at possible options, does not mean they are leaving, as you suggest. Even if a school were to leave the MAC, I'm sure there are schools that will want to join the MAC. It was just mentioned that Marshall University was considering rejoining the MAC, but these are nothing, but rumors of one kind of another. So, I wouldn't hold my breath on rumors or suggestions.

Even if the MAC doesn't fizzle out and become extinct, it still sucks. MAC usually has the worst OOC and bowl record every single season.

(10-28-2026 08:41 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  The first thing we need to do is field a team that can win football games - especially at home. Makes no sense to improve anything for the few thousand fans who show up and then leave early. The first priority should be to get the fans back. Wins will bring the fans back, unless they already feel disconnected and ignored.

I would venture to say that there are more “fans” who spend the game tailgating in the parking lot. So maybe instead of improving the stadium at this point, NIU should improve the tailgating experience to attract even more tailgating fans. We could become the school with the best tailgating in the country. I’m starting to think that those who tailgate throughout the game are the smart ones, since they don’t go to the game and watch the garbage on the field.

I agree that a winning football team comes before any improvements to the stadium. I can continue buying season tickets and going to games if there's a team worth watching. Especially in an age of a new and fun conference with interesting opponents.

We really should have made those improvements and fundraised for them, all the years we had a good team. Every year they used to say death, taxes and NIU winning the MAC. Those should have been years we made fundraised and made improvements. We could have had a good team and an okay stadium. Now we have a bad team and a deplorable stadium.

As for tailgating, I feel like tailgating is a culture. People love it. More people tailgate than gone to games at NIU since I can remember. But I also feel like that's true for everyone else too.

When i will the lottery tonight, I will donate big $$$ to the NIL slush fund. Been playing same numbers for 10 years but tonight is the night!!!