(06-18-2022 03:46 PM)bullet Wrote:  Losing Texas St. and then the SFA game to Houston seems to have dropped home attendance. Less outstanding SHSU teams might draw an average of 10k or so 10 years ago. Texas St., SFA and Sam Houston had been together since 1931 in the Lone Star Conference. They moved up to Division I in the SLC together. Lamar was with them some of the time in the LSC and then also in the SLC.

Yep. Those three (SH, SFA, and Texas State) are pretty similar to each other. SFA is more isolated than the others, but they share histories and profiles. And they don't like each other.

I suspect Texas State's move to FBS is driving Sam Houston to do the same thing, even if to a different conference. Texas State is growing like crazy. They benefit from their location: near Austin, close to San Antonio, and within a reasonable drive from Houston.

Sam Houston doesn't benefit from location like Texas State does, but it's not exactly isolated, either. They haven't seen the benefit from winning at the highest level in FCS, so they're looking for the benefit of being part of FBS.

Sam Houston has a very good coach and is in a good location to recruit high school players and transfers to build quality teams. Ironically, it's probably easier for them to build a quality team than it is to build a fan base.