(04-29-2017 08:57 AM)Steve1981 Wrote:  panite - expansion plans are off in the distance, but that could change with some early wins this season. During this Q & A video with AD Ryan Bamford, meet with Coach Mark Whipple for two hours and they have 8 high level initiatives. There will be small improvements around the fan experience. The main thing is winning games and putting butts in the seats.

It simple supply and demand. Win games increases demand. Not starting the season with 3 or 4 teams in the P5 is the biggest change. That will make a difference. The old AD made some huge mistakes, including scheduling. Not only do you lose those games, but you are beat up/walking wounded after those games and affects the winnable games as well. The change has started this year and some early wins will go a long way to getting the butts in the seats and the expansion going.

We are going to be independent for at least 3 years in the future and AD Ryan is not concerned about scheduling 2021 and 2022 as well. He will make sure we are financially responsible long term and we are absolutely long term as FBS.

Will post the video link and scheduling is discussed first. 2018 is complete, 2019 one or two games and should be complete in a month or two. 2020 should almost be complete by the time football starts in the fall. Mentions scheduling the guarantee games, a fcs game and winnable games and specifically mentions some G5 games this year. Temple is not mentioned but seriously considering going to the game and spending the night in Philly Sept 15th.

The video mentions other things as football, hockey, etc and was done yesterday during an annual UMass Gives two day drive and the Athletic Department finished with $116,607 dollars raised and 886 donors. Obviously this just an event and does not represent most of the donations.

It's and interesting Q & A with a lot of questions answered and we'll be on the Realignment Board for sometime.

Video Q & A link


Also here is our Football Twitter followers map.

Thanks for the info. Understand stadium expansion is a supply and demand thing. So your not projecting a full stadium for a few years yet even being back on campus this year except for an occasional P5 game back in Boston. Just seeing if their were any plans for the open end of the stadium yet. Good luck and keep scheduling regionally if you can with UConn, BC, Temple, Army, and maybe start a state rivalry with Buffalo on a yearly basis. All will boost attendance with their fans in driving distance too.