(04-12-2021 10:41 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-12-2021 10:09 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  The issue with Dixie State and SUU going FBS isn’t facilities. It’s population. Despite the rapid growth of the St. George and Cedar City metro areas their combined population is only about 240K. That’s arguably enough to support one FBS program but certainly not two.

Since CCU was brought up for comparison, the Myrtle Beach metro area population is around 560K.

Not only is southwestern Utah very low in population -- it has only one-tenth as many people as the Las Vegas metro area that is about 2.5 hours away -- a large number of the newer residents are retirees who moved there both because of the weather and because it's much cheaper to live there than LA or Chicago or wherever they used to live.

SUU and the university soon-to-be formerly known as Dixie State are growing like crazy. Southern Utah is among the fastest growing areas in the nation and could very well hit critical-mass population in the next 10-15 years. The median age in Utah is 30 - way below the national average. While there is definitely a retirement community in St. George, it's young families driving the population growth, which will fuel the continued growth of SUU and DSU.

FBS would be a stretch, but the enrollment and demographics trends could compete with the typical MAC and Sun Belt university enrollment and surrounding populations within the next 10-15 years.

But, I have my eye on UVU, from which whispers of a football program continue (a football helmet is circulating social media and I've seen the prospective stadium plans). Its enrollment is now over 40K and it's situated closer and more convenient to the growing 2M+ Wasatch Front population than Utah State. It would take a significant investment and a deliberate plan, but I could see UVU support a G5-level FBS football program in the next 10-15 years.