I looked at ISU's board and the thing that gets me the most is that they constantly trash NIU's football facilities and program. The fact is that NIU's football facilities are massively better than ISU's facilities. Here are some facts:
Huskie Stadium seats 28,000 plus. Hancock Stadium seats 13,400.
The Yordon Center is 62,000 square feet, ISU's Kaufman Football Building is 16,000 square feet.
The Yordon Center weight room and training room is 16,000 square feet. ISU's Owen Strength and Conditioning Center is 9,200 square feet.
NIU's Chessick Practice Center is 80,600 square feet with a 120 yard long indoor practice facility and a 65 foot tall ceiling for kickoff, punt and field goal practice. ISU has no indoor practice facility.
NIU has the Northwesten Medicine Performance and Sports Nutrition Center. ISU has no performance or sports nutrition center.
NIU has the 6,500 square foot Barsema Hall of Champions to display its football trophies. ISU has no similar facility.
NIU has the 37,000 square foot Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center to host pre and post game football events. ISU has no similar facility.
As a member of the MAC, NIU is part of the MAC's 130 million TV deal with ESPN. The contract guarantees that every game will be televised and or live streamed nationally.
As part of the MAC deal, ESPN would also pay for a state of the art video recording and production facility at each MAC school.
The ESPN MAC deal also includes bowl slots for the MAC.
ISU is a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Their 2018 football deal includes "The Missouri Valley Football Conference will have more than 50 events on ESPN’s networks during the 2018 season, Commissioner Patty Viverito has announced. The Conference will produce eight league games as part of its 2018 Game of the Week package, with each streaming live on “Valley Football on ESPN” -- the league's co-branded digital network." I am unable to find how much the TV deal is worth.
https://valley-football.org/news/2018/8/...h=football
Now, who has better facilities, more national exposure, every game televised and makes some money off of their TV deal?