I wrote the following article for this month's Bobcatfans Magazine in an attempt to encourage our fans to consider the Sun Belt.

Based on what I heard at yesterday's tailgate (by people who had no clue I was the author), I would say it had the desired outcome.

Quote:Bring On The 'Belt

Conference Expansion is a staple for internet messageboards. Current members imagine the possibility of adding a rival from a neighboring conference or an FCS-school that is looking towards the next level. Texas State has shown that they are committed to moving to that next level, but we have to wait until the NCAA moratorium is lifted. The NCAA moratorium, which prohibits FCS teams from moving to FBS until 2011, has fans from several conferences wondering what changes may occur in the near future.

When the moratorium is lifted, Texas State should strive to gain membership in The Sun Belt Conference. The SBC consists of thirteen schools from Colorado to Florida. It sponsors nineteen sports (most of which we currently offer). It is affiliated with five postseason bowl games, and it has sent multiple teams to NCAA postseason play in basketball, baseball, and volleyball in the last five years. In only eight years as an FBS conference, the Belt has managed to elevate several teams including Troy, Florida Atlantic, and Western Kentucky onto the national stage.

Unfortunately, The Sun Belt has been painted as a weak football conference by the media because they agreed to a large number of ‘pay-out’ games during their first few years as an FBS conference. Storied programs like Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma bought home games against SBC teams as a way to pad their win/loss records. This stigma has stuck around and caused average sports fans look down on the ’Belt. However, it proved to be a baptism by fire for the teams involved. Playing against the best forced the conference to get stronger, and they are now playing spoiler to BCS teams. In the past three years, Sun Belt members have knocked off teams like Texas A&M, Alabama, and Minnesota. Some Belt teams are starting to negotiate home games against major conferences rather than the paycheck. This season, teams from the Big XII, CUSA, and Mountain West will visit Sunbelt Stadiums.

While football dominates messageboard chatter, the ‘Drive to FBS’ is not just about Football; it is about improving all of our athletic programs and having the opportunity to be nationally competitive. The best way to do that is to play a stronger conference schedule, and improve our Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). The NCAA guarantees that each of the thirty-one conferences receives an automatic bid to their national tournaments. In most cases, the thirty-one conference-tournament champions receive the automatic bid, and the remaining spots come from ‘at-large’ bids. At-large bids are based on a number of factors including a school’s win-loss record, strength of schedule, and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). Conferences with higher RPIs typically have more teams in this tournament.

The Southland Conference, our current home, is a habitual one-bid conference for all of the major sports. In most cases, the SLC only sends its tournament champion to the NCAA tournament. The Bobcats play teams like Texas, Rice, and TCU in out of conference contests, but then we get stuck with weaker teams during the conference schedule. This means that we could be sitting at home if we failed to win the SLC conference tournament (even if we had best conference regular-season record). Over the last five years, The Sun Belt has had a higher RPI rating, and placed more teams in postseason play than the Southland Conference in baseball, softball, basketball (men and women), and volleyball. With the exception of Men’s basketball, the Sun Belt Conferences has finished nearly 10 spots ahead of the SLC in end-of-season Conference RPI standings over the last five years. The Sun Belt’s Conference RPI in baseball and softball has finished in the Top-10 three of the last four years (ahead of the Big Ten, Mountain West, Southland, and WAC).

Some of our fans complain that moving to the Sun Belt would be a death sentence for our athletic programs. They think that the WAC is a better choice because it has marquee football teams like Boise State or Hawaii. I might consider this option if we were only joining a conference for football, but we need to focus on a conference that can better our entire athletic department. RPI ratings for baseball, softball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and volleyball all have the Sun Belt ahead of the WAC. I have a feeling that football will be up there in the near future. If we joined the WAC, our closest rivals would be Louisiana Tech (467 miles) and New Mexico State (632 miles). The SBC has six teams located within 630 miles of San Marcos which means that we could bus to most contests. Many of the SBC teams are located close to an international airport, and all can be reached from Austin with either a direct or one-layover flight (if air travel is preferred). It is important for Texas State to join a conference that promotes regional rivalries, and affords us the best opportunities to be competitive on the national stage. The Sun Belt will help us achieve that goal.

Here are some images from last night's game.

(09-06-2009 07:06 PM)chrisattsu Wrote:  I wrote the following article for this month's Bobcatfans Magazine in an attempt to encourage our fans to consider the Sun Belt.

Based on what I heard at yesterday's tailgate (by people who had no clue I was the author), I would say it had the desired outcome.

Quote:Bring On The 'Belt

Conference Expansion is a staple for internet messageboards. Current members imagine the possibility of adding a rival from a neighboring conference or an FCS-school that is looking towards the next level. Texas State has shown that they are committed to moving to that next level, but we have to wait until the NCAA moratorium is lifted. The NCAA moratorium, which prohibits FCS teams from moving to FBS until 2011, has fans from several conferences wondering what changes may occur in the near future.

When the moratorium is lifted, Texas State should strive to gain membership in The Sun Belt Conference. The SBC consists of thirteen schools from Colorado to Florida. It sponsors nineteen sports (most of which we currently offer). It is affiliated with five postseason bowl games, and it has sent multiple teams to NCAA postseason play in basketball, baseball, and volleyball in the last five years. In only eight years as an FBS conference, the Belt has managed to elevate several teams including Troy, Florida Atlantic, and Western Kentucky onto the national stage.

Unfortunately, The Sun Belt has been painted as a weak football conference by the media because they agreed to a large number of ‘pay-out’ games during their first few years as an FBS conference. Storied programs like Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma bought home games against SBC teams as a way to pad their win/loss records. This stigma has stuck around and caused average sports fans look down on the ’Belt. However, it proved to be a baptism by fire for the teams involved. Playing against the best forced the conference to get stronger, and they are now playing spoiler to BCS teams. In the past three years, Sun Belt members have knocked off teams like Texas A&M, Alabama, and Minnesota. Some Belt teams are starting to negotiate home games against major conferences rather than the paycheck. This season, teams from the Big XII, CUSA, and Mountain West will visit Sunbelt Stadiums.

While football dominates messageboard chatter, the ‘Drive to FBS’ is not just about Football; it is about improving all of our athletic programs and having the opportunity to be nationally competitive. The best way to do that is to play a stronger conference schedule, and improve our Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). The NCAA guarantees that each of the thirty-one conferences receives an automatic bid to their national tournaments. In most cases, the thirty-one conference-tournament champions receive the automatic bid, and the remaining spots come from ‘at-large’ bids. At-large bids are based on a number of factors including a school’s win-loss record, strength of schedule, and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). Conferences with higher RPIs typically have more teams in this tournament.

The Southland Conference, our current home, is a habitual one-bid conference for all of the major sports. In most cases, the SLC only sends its tournament champion to the NCAA tournament. The Bobcats play teams like Texas, Rice, and TCU in out of conference contests, but then we get stuck with weaker teams during the conference schedule. This means that we could be sitting at home if we failed to win the SLC conference tournament (even if we had best conference regular-season record). Over the last five years, The Sun Belt has had a higher RPI rating, and placed more teams in postseason play than the Southland Conference in baseball, softball, basketball (men and women), and volleyball. With the exception of Men’s basketball, the Sun Belt Conferences has finished nearly 10 spots ahead of the SLC in end-of-season Conference RPI standings over the last five years. The Sun Belt’s Conference RPI in baseball and softball has finished in the Top-10 three of the last four years (ahead of the Big Ten, Mountain West, Southland, and WAC).

Some of our fans complain that moving to the Sun Belt would be a death sentence for our athletic programs. They think that the WAC is a better choice because it has marquee football teams like Boise State or Hawaii. I might consider this option if we were only joining a conference for football, but we need to focus on a conference that can better our entire athletic department. RPI ratings for baseball, softball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and volleyball all have the Sun Belt ahead of the WAC. I have a feeling that football will be up there in the near future. If we joined the WAC, our closest rivals would be Louisiana Tech (467 miles) and New Mexico State (632 miles). The SBC has six teams located within 630 miles of San Marcos which means that we could bus to most contests. Many of the SBC teams are located close to an international airport, and all can be reached from Austin with either a direct or one-layover flight (if air travel is preferred). It is important for Texas State to join a conference that promotes regional rivalries, and affords us the best opportunities to be competitive on the national stage. The Sun Belt will help us achieve that goal.

Glad you published it, Chris. The SBC has many strengths most fans outside the Belt aren't aware of, and admission, of course, is not automatic. I would consider ourselves very fortunate to receive an invite.

How is Texas State's average attendance looking? I noticed last year you averaged a little over 11k and had 14k at your first game which is a nice increase. Does State anticipate averating 20k within the next 5 or so years?

That is a very nice stadium by the way.

(09-06-2009 07:27 PM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  How is Texas State's average attendance looking? I noticed last year you averaged a little over 11k and had 14k at your first game which is a nice increase. Does State anticipate averating 20k within the next 5 or so years?

That is a very nice stadium by the way.

Thank you for the complements

It is still too early to tell the seasons' attendance outcome. According to my friends in the athletic department, we usually have a hard time drawing on Labor Day weekend. People go home, go hunting, or whatever.

If we can keep winning at home, I am sure the numbers will only increase. Road wins help you win championships, but the local fan base only sees the final score. Playing awesome at home will get us to a sellout.

Three of our remaining home games are against Texas opponents (SFA, Sam Houston, and Texas Southern). TxSo's band will bring fans to the game, and people like to see us beat up on Sam and SFA. Plus the proximity of the schools will bring some visiting fans.

Will we brake 20,000? Right now, capacity is just over 15,600. If we are still strong towards the end of the season (or we have a home playoff game) I would not be surprised to see between 16-18,000. However, we will not break 20. We don't have a grass-brim or any large open space to act as overflow.

The images below came from an Athletics Department mailer. As you can see, we have a roadmap for Stadium Expansion.
1st Down
-- DONE

2nd Down
-- To be completed in next 4 years (Hopefully). The delay being that in order to complete this phase we have to also move/build a new Track Complex.

3rd Down


Touchdown

The stadium expansion photos look great! And the article was fantastic. I really think you guys have what it takes to move up whenever you are able and when the NCAA will allow it. Hopefully with this article many high and mighty FCS fans will realize that the Sun Belt is not as bad as they believe it is. Thanks for sharing and Good luck for the rest of the season!

Good read; I hope you achieve your aims with the article. Thanks for sharing.

Great article and the TX State crowd looks great!

hey man enjoyed your blog. like i've said in the past, I'd LOVE to have Texas State among our membership. It would provide UNT with a closer Conference-mate and could boalster our growing football membership. best of luck guys!

I posted this thought on GMG, but figure more people will see it here. I'm not trying to disrespect TS-SM, but how would the school draw fans to gameday if and when the move to FBS came about? Trying to pull from Austin is a no win situation, and if and when UT-SA gets their program into FBS, will the Bobcats draw at all from SA?

San Marcos is such a small town, and kind of in between a rock and a hard place when it comes to luring casual fans. Just my honest opinion, it feels like UT-SA has more of an upside.

people said the same thing about Troy.

MT/Vandy/WKU and their association with Nashville is very similar, and without a 2nd big city to pull from. No one has any qualms about these schools.

WKU is competing for UK, UL, and possibly Vandy fans. MT is fighting the big orange love fest that exists statewide.

If you were to pick one of those two, based only on markets, UTSA would win. But, I'd think right now, Texas State is more appealing. Since they have a football team and all. . .

But, I don't think either are appealing at all to the conference. I hope we don't expand into FCS ranks.

As I posted on another thread. Expansion makes NO sense for football. We are at 10 now. A conference championship game with 12 teams makes no sense. It would be a money loser and could make someone who was bowl eligible, not eligible. We only have one tie-in.

Unless a team brings big bucks to the conference along with a bowl tie-in, then no team makes sense for expansion. None. Only exceptions are existing Sun Belt members.

(09-08-2009 03:32 PM)ColoradoEagle Wrote:  I posted this thought on GMG, but figure more people will see it here. I'm not trying to disrespect TS-SM, but how would the school draw fans to gameday if and when the move to FBS came about? Trying to pull from Austin is a no win situation, and if and when UT-SA gets their program into FBS, will the Bobcats draw at all from SA?

San Marcos is such a small town, and kind of in between a rock and a hard place when it comes to luring casual fans. Just my honest opinion, it feels like UT-SA has more of an upside.

You make an excellent point. Texas State is both blessed and cursed by our location. The Austin media market has always been and will continue to be controlled by the University of Texas. They are the 'pro' team for Austin's 1.2 Million person metro area. They have a storied history, and they are nationally competitive in nearly every sport they compete in.

San Antonio's metro population is now over 2 Million people. They have a variety of entertainment options, including several minor league teams, and the Spurs. They have been starving for an NFL or an FBS team that they can call their own for decades. If UTSA can manage to get themselves in that position, Texas State may have a hard time gaining a large foothold in that community.

This is why I am less concerned with Austin and San Antonio proper, and more interested in the inbetweeners along the I-35 corridor. These two cities are growing together at a feverish pace and San Marcos (located on the Interstate, 30 minutes from Austin / 45 minutes from NE San Antonio) can benefit from this.

What we need to do is win the fight at home, and spread the message outward. San Marcos' estimated population is just over 50,000 people. Combine this with 30,000 students and you have enough to fill the some of the larger stadiums in the country. However, lets face it, not everyone is going to attend Bobcat Stadium.

Next, look at Hays County (San Marcos' home), which is quickly becoming the bedroom community for those who want to escape Austin's chaos. Hays' population is greater than 100,000 residents and increasing like crazy. Neighboring Comal and Guadalupe Counties are doing the same thing for people who work in San Antonio, but hate the city. Comal's population is over 80,000 residents and Guadalupe is greater than 90,000.

People travel fairly fluidly between these cities / counties on a regular basis, and so there is no reason to believe that they wouldn't travel to the games if they adopted the team. If I am a fan from this mid-cities area, I see Texas State being able to offer the College game experience that is 30 minutes from home that does not have the excessive costs of a UT game, and does not have the traffic/urban issues that one experiences trying to get into downtown Austin or San Antonio.

If done correctly, Texas State's fanbase could target Austin and San Antonio but would not necessarily need it (except for media coverage). Which we are already getting from Austin and San Antonio affiliates. News 8 Austin, has an office in San Marcos currently and KSAT San Antonio has one in New Braunfels (Comal County). Right now they cover Bobcat athletics whether it is a 700 person basketball game or a sold-out crowd at Bobcat Stadium. They recognize when their reader/viewer base is turned on to something. If we can get significant buzz about our sports, we will get increased presence.

However, there in lies the rub, we have to get excitement around the program before fans and the media start to take interest. If maintain a winning tradition, we will sell tickets, this will cause more sellouts, and we can expand the stadium, again sell more tickets, and it builds upon itself.

(09-08-2009 05:48 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  MT/Vandy/WKU and their association with Nashville is very similar, and without a 2nd big city to pull from. No one has any qualms about these schools.

WKU is competing for UK, UL, and possibly Vandy fans. MT is fighting the big orange love fest that exists statewide.

Not really the same thing. TS-SM is literally about 30-35 miles from UT-Austin. About 60 miles from UT-SA which could produce highly attended games in the future due to 1) lack of NFL or any college teams, and 2) San Antonio's tendency to rabidly support the home team (see Spurs).

Quote:If you were to pick one of those two, based only on markets, UTSA would win. But, I'd think right now, Texas State is more appealing. Since they have a football team and all. . .

But, I don't think either are appealing at all to the conference.

TS-SM to me just isn't appealing because I don't see where the fans will come from. I'm all for being proven wrong, however. UT-SA needs to field a team, but I can see the upside in the future.

Either way, I would like to see another Texas school in the conference at some point.

(09-08-2009 06:12 PM)chrisattsu Wrote:  

(09-08-2009 03:32 PM)ColoradoEagle Wrote:  I posted this thought on GMG, but figure more people will see it here. I'm not trying to disrespect TS-SM, but how would the school draw fans to gameday if and when the move to FBS came about? Trying to pull from Austin is a no win situation, and if and when UT-SA gets their program into FBS, will the Bobcats draw at all from SA?

San Marcos is such a small town, and kind of in between a rock and a hard place when it comes to luring casual fans. Just my honest opinion, it feels like UT-SA has more of an upside.

You make an excellent point. Texas State is both blessed and cursed by our location. The Austin media market has always been and will continue to be controlled by the University of Texas. They are the 'pro' team for Austin's 1.2 Million person metro area. They have a storied history, and they are nationally competitive in nearly every sport they compete in.

San Antonio's metro population is now over 2 Million people. They have a variety of entertainment options, including several minor league teams, and the Spurs. They have been starving for an NFL or an FBS team that they can call their own for decades. If UTSA can manage to get themselves in that position, Texas State may have a hard time gaining a large foothold in that community.

This is why I am less concerned with Austin and San Antonio proper, and more interested in the inbetweeners along the I-35 corridor. These two cities are growing together at a feverish pace and San Marcos can benefit from this.

What we need to do is win the fight at home, and spread the message outward. San Marcos' estimated population is just over 50,000 people. Combine this with 30,000 students and you have enough to fill the some of the larger stadiums in the country. However, lets face it, not everyone is going to attend Bobcat Stadium.

Next, look at Hays County (San Marcos' home), which is quickly becoming the bedroom community for those who want to escape Austin's chaos. Hays' population is greater than 100,000 residents and increasing like crazy. Neighboring Comal and Guadalupe Counties are doing the same thing for people who work in San Antonio, but hate the city. Comal's population is over 80,000 residents and Guadalupe is greater than 90,000.
If we could just get 10% of these three counties to attend a Bobcat football game, we would be doing alright by SBC attendances.

As you know, it is not unheard of to travel 60 - 100 miles a day to commute to work in Texas. If you take that philosophy and apply it to a Saturday, I would estimate that we can pull people from South Austin to Northside San Antonio. Especially since many of our alums choose to stay in these areas.

If done correctly, Texas State's fanbase could target Austin and San Antonio but would not necessarily need it (except for media coverage). Which we are already getting from Austin and San Antonio affiliates. News 8 Austin, has an office in San Marcos currently and KSAT San Antonio has one in New Braunfels (Comal County). Right now they cover Bobcat athletics whether it is a 700 person basketball game or a sold-out crowd at Bobcat Stadium. They recognize when their reader/viewer base is turned on to something. If we can get significant buzz about our sports, we will get increased presence.

However, there in lies the rub, we have to get excitement around the program before fans and the media start to take interest. If maintain a winning tradition, we will sell tickets, this will cause more sellouts, and we can expand the stadium, again sell more tickets, and it builds upon itself.

You were right in saying our location is a curse as well as a blessing, Chris. On the blessing side, There are currently about 3,490,587 people living within a 50 mile radius of the university. We won't need to appeal to too many of them to fill our stadium, even when expanded. And speaking of appeal, it's been growing tremendously in the past few years. I've notice quite a number of people acknowledging (bobcat hand signs) my Texas State stickers when I drive through Austin or San Antonio. If we continue to garner success in our athletics, I doubt we'll have a problem with fans. My real concern is getting that all important invite to an FBS conference.

I've always wondered if WKU competes against UT-k fans, as well. I've seen quite a bit of UK stuff around Murfreesboro to know that we lose some fans to the Cayats.

(09-08-2009 05:48 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  MT/Vandy/WKU and their association with Nashville is very similar, and without a 2nd big city to pull from. No one has any qualms about these schools.

WKU is competing for UK, UL, and possibly Vandy fans. MT is fighting the big orange love fest that exists statewide.

If you were to pick one of those two, based only on markets, UTSA would win. But, I'd think right now, Texas State is more appealing. Since they have a football team and all. . .

But, I don't think either are appealing at all to the conference. I hope we don't expand into FCS ranks.

I'd probably say that Nashville is one of the most hotly contested markets in terms of college football allegiance:

Vanderbilt
MTSU
Tennessee
Memphis
Kentucky
Alabama
Louisville
Western Kentucky

That of course, is just the FBS schools. All of the schools have substantial alumni presence in Nashville, and I could have probably included some other schools as well.

Yeah, right of the top, also could include:

Tennessee Tech
Belmont
Lipscomb
Tennessee State

Well, imagine if Tennessee was 30 miles away from your school and you might have an idea of what it's like for TS-SM.