(12-19-2017 05:58 PM)_C2_ Wrote: FTR, NDSU is a little under 12 hours from Kalamazoo [Western Michigan] and under 9 hours to NIU, neither as the crow flies and faster for people who drive really fast.
NDSU is not going to the MAC. Period. They don't want to play on Tuesday nights, and they wouldn't be gaining leaps and bounds on the TV deal; they get $400k a year from NBC North Dakota to put their games on statewide OTA television, while MAC schools get $670,000 to be ESPN filler. The MAC's meager bowl payouts aren't impressive and the added expenses of additional FCOA scholarships is problematic, and on top of all that, ticket sales would decline because of all the midweek games. It's no bueno.
Even NDSU to the Mountain West is a long shot because of geography; they would be the only team in the Central Time Zone in that conference. It'd take a pretty radical alteration of the landscape such as it is for that to fly. San Diego or Fresno to Fargo is almost halfway across the country, which is a stretch even if it were just for football. To say nothing of the fact that it takes NDSU away from its recruiting base in the Upper Midwest.
IMO, the only way NDSU moves up is if they can join the American as a football affiliate if/when the American gets hit by the Big 12. Otherwise, they have a reasonable TV deal, excellent crowds, play for national titles every year and are competitive against Minnesota, Iowa, and Iowa State for recruits in the region without playing in a G5 conference.
I can't speak for JMU, their math might be different. But purely from an outside optics standpoint, I'd hold out for the American as well if I were them.