(04-12-2017 02:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  UALR sponsors 14 sports.
FBS will require 16 sports.
UALR does not fund all of the allowed scholarships currently.
FBS would require funding a minimum of 200.

UCA reported to the state (which uses significantly different accounting from the report USA Today does, namely not looking at capital expenditures) that they spent almost $3 million more on athletics than UALR.

So to get to the level of a pretty good FCS school UALR has to increase annual operating budget about 32%
To get to the level of AState, UALR has to increase annual operating budget 99.8%
That's an annual outlay in excess of $9 million more than they currently spend on athletics.

Now they could go with a student fee. Arkansas State charges $19 per credit hour per semester. UALR currently charges $20 per credit hour per semester. UCA one of the two FCS programs charges $18 per hour. UAPB the other FCS charges $17 per hour.

So UALR already has the highest athletic fee of the five Division I schools in Arkansas. That doesn't leave a lot of room to divert the cost to students.

They really have to have a benefactor step up, not only to help them get past the start-up costs (football will operate for a year with no revenue at all) but to deal with ongoing costs.

Appreciate the analysis, but you seem to be ignoring that UALR -- I assume -- gets no portion of the Sun Belt distribution for football. That would be more income.