Much better game, atmosphere, attendance, et al today than the vast majority of those FBS bowl games that were played in virtually empty stadiums challenging the camera crews to the limit. How can money possibly be made by the little schools with this system? What kind of payouts do these little bowls offer the teams to come and play?

Yeah but the sad thing is that both of those schools, especially JMU, lust for the FBS and the chance to play in one of those nothing bowl games. If you're not a power 5 school the best you can do is get a participation trophy like UCF basically got for their undefeated season.

Both of you are exactly right. I just don't see the appeal of making the move to FBS as far as football goes.

For basketball, we would be on "real" TV more often if we were in a bigger conference but that is about the only appeal there. That is an area that the SoCon has really dropped the ball the past several years where other similar conferences receive much better exposure.

Unless moving to a P5, there is little advantage to playing FBS football.

(01-06-2018 06:20 PM)BucDoctor Wrote:  Unless moving to a P5, there is little advantage to playing FBS football.

I’m starting to come around to this thinking but I still would like to be in the same conference as App and Marshall again some day.

(01-06-2018 06:20 PM)BucDoctor Wrote:  Unless moving to a P5, there is little advantage to playing FBS football.

Perception is reality. With all these move-ups and the dilution of the non-P5 conferences, the average college football fan sees the Power 5 as major college football and ALL the rest as small college football, with some varying exceptions. Try explaining all the NCAA football classifications, especially the FBS bowl set up with this strange playoff system of bowls and the rest of the other bowls and how all that works. Then, toss in the playoff system of FCS, ( try explaining the difference between NCAA Division I FBS and FCS) DII, and DIII. Is it convoluted or what?

I'd far rather remain at a level where I could aim to play at that atmosphere in Texas than to play in the Toilet Bowl on December 20.

What's not to love about spending the days leading up to Christmas in a half empty decrepit stadium in a decaying Alabama city? Appalachian State fans seem content to do that in perpetuity or at least until they get that ACC invite.

Appy's bowl payout....1,500,000

JMU bowl payout. ......200,000

Plus there were four other Sun Belt teams playing in a bowl game. Appy got a share of those monies.

Sun Belt football teams get twice as much money to play the big boy money games.

Sorry guys, Appy is much better off playing in FBS than FCS.

Wish we could move to Sun Belt. The Bucs would be playing in a division with Appy, Ga. So., GA.ST., Coastal CAR. Troy, etc.

Even though the Sun Belt is last in FBS ratings, they are moving closer to the other nonpower 5.

Better football and basketball schedules, better OCC games, better attendance, more money, tv games, possible bowl appearances. I would take the Sun Belt conference over SoCon if I had the choice. There's no comparison IMO.

(01-08-2018 05:18 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  Appy's bowl payout....1,500,000

JMU bowl payout. ......200,000

Plus there were four other Sun Belt teams playing in a bowl game. Appy got a share of those monies.

Sun Belt football teams get twice as much money to play the big boy money games.

Sorry guys, Appy is much better off playing in FBS than FCS.

Wish we could move to Sun Belt. The Bucs would be playing in a division with Appy, Ga. So., GA.ST., Coastal CAR. Troy, etc.

Even though the Sun Belt is last in FBS ratings, they are moving closer to the other nonpower 5.

Better football and basketball schedules, better OCC games, better attendance, more money, tv games, possible bowl appearances. I would take the Sun Belt conference over SoCon if I had the choice. There's no comparison IMO.

And that money is all eaten up in increased travel costs for every sport they play. Doesn't net much at all.

There is the P5 and then everyone else.

(01-08-2018 05:18 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  Appy's bowl payout....1,500,000

JMU bowl payout. ......200,000

Plus there were four other Sun Belt teams playing in a bowl game. Appy got a share of those monies.

Sun Belt football teams get twice as much money to play the big boy money games.

Sorry guys, Appy is much better off playing in FBS than FCS.

Wish we could move to Sun Belt. The Bucs would be playing in a division with Appy, Ga. So., GA.ST., Coastal CAR. Troy, etc.

Even though the Sun Belt is last in FBS ratings, they are moving closer to the other nonpower 5.

Better football and basketball schedules, better OCC games, better attendance, more money, tv games, possible bowl appearances. I would take the Sun Belt conference over SoCon if I had the choice. There's no comparison IMO.

Now if we could get in the sun belt with that division setup then that is ideal.

Any FBS CONFERENCE would be tremendous. Maybe a newly formed FBS conference.

We need to become competitive at the FCS level first. Then may opportunities may open up.

(01-08-2018 09:36 PM)bucfan81 Wrote:  We need to become competitive at the FCS level first. Then may opportunities may open up.

Where will JMU and NDSU now go for the dollars and fame? And, looks like App State has North Carolina coming to Boone in 2022 per their future OOC schedules. That’s a big reason they jumped, to play ACC schools in Boone as often as possible, or all the NC FBS programs. Still, App State in the Sun Belt looks strange. Why not a regional, geographically compact south conference of these regional universities? NCAA football sure needs another reshuffle.

They will take any offer to move up.

No you do not have to be competitive in FCS football to move up. Plenty of teams have done it, UNCC didn't even play football and went FBS.

(01-08-2018 10:16 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  They will take any offer to move up.

No you do not have to be competitive in FCS football to move up. Plenty of teams have done it, UNCC didn't even play football and went FBS.

Didn’t JMU reject a Sun Belt invite more recently? They waiting on C-USA or MAC? North Dakota State to Mountain West or MAC? NDSU has some kind of special phenomenon going. It’s not just their winning — it’s also their fan base, that packed indoor facility that rocks, etc. Could they maintain the magic by “moving up”?

(01-08-2018 10:16 PM)Buc76 Wrote:  They will take any offer to move up.

No you do not have to be competitive in FCS football to move up. Plenty of teams have done it, UNCC didn't even play football and went FBS.

Yes it is true a team does not have to win to move up to FBS. But is it not be better if we actually had a winning team for a while? I think it is different for teams that went immediately to FBS. I would love to go to the FBS but I would first like to start beating SoCon teams.

You have to average 15,000 fans for 2 years to be eligible for FBS. We have a facility that holds half of that, and we are going to be hard pressed to fill that this season. I don't see any scenario where ETSU would have enough community support to average 15,000 per game even if we had a facility for it.

And 90% of our fans would not perceive a football schedule playing Georgia Southern, Troy, Coastal Carolina, etc. to be any more attractive than UTC, Citadel, and Western Carolina. And it would not help basketball at all. And the costs would increase to partially offset the bowl revenue increases.

We are not even close to having this conversation.

(01-09-2018 10:41 PM)etsubuc Wrote:  You have to average 15,000 fans for 2 years to be eligible for FBS. We have a facility that holds half of that, and we are going to be hard pressed to fill that this season. I don't see any scenario where ETSU would have enough community support to average 15,000 per game even if we had a facility for it.

And 90% of our fans would not perceive a football schedule playing Georgia Southern, Troy, Coastal Carolina, etc. to be any more attractive than UTC, Citadel, and Western Carolina. And it would not help basketball at all. And the costs would increase to partially offset the bowl revenue increases.

We are not even close to having this conversation.

Isn’t that 15,000 tickets sold? Many of these lower level FBS games have nothing near 15,000 fans in seats, obviously. Of course everybody uses that counting procedure. The Power Five conferences are distancing themselves from the rest of FBS and relegating them to FBS-AA status de facto. I still can’t understand how App State fans, for example, are turned on to playing Sun Belt schools from far away places, academically beneath them, and actually never heard of by many of their fans. But, in our current culture of pretentiousness, guess it does make some sense.

According to USA Today, the ETSU Athletic Budget is just short of $18 million. It takes north of $30 million athletic budget to be among the leaders in the Sunbelt (App State's athletic budget is $32 million and they are not at the top of the Sunbelt).

That is roughly a doubling of the current ETSU athletic budget to play in a one bid league with a tournament in New Orleans.