(12-26-2022 01:34 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(12-26-2022 01:03 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(12-26-2022 11:57 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  Maybe STF & Co. have stumbled onto the right strategy to deal with where non-P5 FBS is going.

Why bother to market and spend money/attention on keeping/buiding live attendance when weekday night games and minor bowls have already handed it to the made-for-TV fans and gamblers? Are the Saturday games going that way too?

And why fund-raise for expensive Huskie Stadium improvements for masses of fans? Like that "ring thing" promo sale for the north end/Yordan project, just go for premium seating/donors and take when you can get from the peasants. Costs less time and effort from a smaller staff anyway. And the diehard grayhairs won't be around much longer to complain.

The MAC is not the SBC, where the local towns and fan bases are bigger, the conference has remade itself into the cool and froody, money is being spent on better/bigger facilities and remodels, the weather is better, the regional population is growing, etc.

Thank goodness for cable/digital and live streaming.

100% correct. And this is why we won’t see any stadium improvements except for fixing what breaks. Interest in NIU sports is waning, led by our own athletics administration’s lack of interest in anything except collecting money and their paychecks. They may talk a good game (sometimes), but they know the reality. All the big honchos need to do is look out their skybox window to see the lack of fans.

For a few years, I have been a big proponent of moving down to FCS and letting the chips fall where they may. I am an even bigger proponent of that now. What’s the worry? Less attendance? So, we’ll decrease from 11K to 9K. Big deal. Maybe we can generate some excitement with annual games against the other state directional schools and build some true rivalries. IMO, our days in FBS are numbered anyway.

We’re not getting a new AD, so maybe the only thing to save our existence is moving down to FCS. With a lack of interest in NIU sports, we are only fooling ourselves that we are FBS caliber.

OMG, so over the sky is falling garbage. We were champions of our FBS conference just 2 seasons ago, and one of the few G5's to ever make a major bowl game. We're very FBS caliber, we need and deserve an FBS caliber AD, looks like thats a 36 month wait.

If we're not FBS level, then neither is NU or the Illini every third year when the both go 4-8, and NU's stadium is 2/3 empty.

I wonder what fans of other conferences think when we beat our chest and brag about being MAC Champions.

Sometimes things are only impressive as it seems from a certain point of view. And if we're the only people thinking our accomplishments are something to brag about...then maybe they aren't actually brag-worthy accomplishments.