NoDak
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RE: Dixie State Already Being Mentioned A Possible Big Sky Conference Candidate
(11-05-2019 06:40 AM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote: (11-04-2019 11:58 PM)NoDak Wrote: (11-04-2019 10:21 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote: (11-04-2019 06:51 PM)NoDak Wrote: (11-04-2019 03:49 PM)Pounder Wrote: I read this a bit differently. Just a bit. This does involve the ability to read between the lines.
First: where? Bozeman. So, basically, columnist talks to the Montana State AD, the AD vents, and after a considerable amount of massaging, it ends up here.
Here's the problem: Montana State wants to be seen as a big deal... but do you think they can afford to send their Olympic sports teams all over the west? Heck no.
Are they in favor of the WAC taking away southern Big Sky schools? Probably.
As that won't happen by itself, would they be in favor of the northern schools breaking away? Probably. It does depend on the schools involved.
What's the core for Montana State? Montana, Idaho, Idaho State... and Weber State. Hey, Weber usually holds up the standard that barely exists for basketball in the Big Sky; they're the only school in the Big Sky that draws more than 3,000 fans per game (they usually double that 3K). Add Eastern Washington and Portland...
...wait a minute.
I don't know about Montana State necessarily. I know Montana recruits Seattle and Denver rather well. The crowd in Sacramento seeing Montana was kind of large. Would they value recruiting in Portland over Sacramento? Would they value Northern Colorado over either? Huge questions there.
Now... would they want Seattle U to join for basketball? I bet they do. Would Seattle make that move? I'll let you guys answer that, and I'm guessing both your answer & SU's answer will converge nicely.
This is where someone will scream about their dream FBS conference. That's not happening BECAUSE that conference will need TV more than all the others, but networks will ask them to pay for TV time instead of the networks doing it. END OF SUBJECT.
So if you can process this:
Eastern Washington
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
Portland State (we'll call it close enough to Seattle to matter)
Sacramento State
Weber State
Now maybe you add Northern Colorado to that. Maybe you don't. If not, Sac is the shameless outlier... after the BSC tries to lure UC Davis away to derisive laughter.
That doesn't mean the Big Sky won't want to manage a larger FOOTBALL conference. That can be done separately from where the southern schools find their conference for their other sports. Thing is, outside that flight to Sacramento, basically you have a conference serviced generally by one airline and, theoretically, is less expensive to manage without giving up too many "schools that matter."
That’s effectively what I said two years ago, but have been trashed since. David St has said my projections were just trash, but now he is spouting them too.
ESPN even said Montana wanted in the FBS WAC.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/ne...id=5792840
Montana St then didn’t have a 15k seat stadium, but went in debt to expand. Both Montanas have elevated their FBS facilities since, for practice, training, and academics. Weber St has too. EWU is trying, but the progress is slow.
Idaho St doesn’t have money nor does Portland St for facilities. Sac St will go with Davis and Cal Poly to a new FBS WAC. California was really financially impacted by the 2009 recession so its schools were really reeling. But not now.
The new Summit will stretch from St Paul to Spokane and south to Denver and Ogden. NDSU, SDSU, UND, and USD aren’t living in the 1930’s anymore and they now have money. Omaha, Denver and St Thomas will be non-football members. The Montanas have wanted in a league with the Dakotas since the 1970’s, as all the states there have similar fan bases which actually care.
The Big Sky doesn’t offer the Montanas much of anything with the commuter schools.
NoDak, I am glad to see you, even though the Great North will never happen. You are right about ISU, but the Montanas seem very happy in FCS.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
So, you dont believe Montana asked for WAC FBS membership, even though that was stated right in front of your eyes by ESPN?
The last eight years the Montanas have been lining up regional FBS conference mates even though they publicly deny any interest. The Dakotas would be happy to oblige, as well as Weber St, EWU and Idaho. The depleted Summit would be happy with all those schools, as IUPUI and PFW, have left and soon W Illinois will too.
Good luck with your new conference mates: UVU, Dixie St, CWU and Seattle. Sincerely hope you can win mbb now without Weber and Montana.
You are a very decent poster, but so naive.
Montana showed some interest in the WAC when Boise State was still in the conference. Once Boise State left the conference for the MWC and WAC football was decimated by further school defections, Montana lost its interest in the WAC. Furthermore, the State of Montana didn't seem to want to allow Montana to move to any conference without Montana State tagging along as well. And, at the time, Montana State was not financially ready for the FBS. With the greater separation between the Power 5 and the rest of the FBS schools, I'm not sure the Montana schools want to make the jump to the FBS anytime soon; rather seeming willing to wait for conferences like the AAC, MWC, CUSA, and the SBC to be left behind to form an intermediate FBS division which the Big Sky as a whole could join.
Montana State has expanded its stadium and updated its football practice, workout and study areas for FBS at considerable cost but that’s conveniently ignored. So Montana St, Montana,Weber St, and Idaho are all ready to move up and EWU has plans to upgrade its stadium now.
They need to start transitioning soon as they will miss out again on the CFP, which is a big part of the FBS revenue side. If they miss it again, they will have to wait 10 more years. Boise St and Nevada have just too great a revenue gap for any of those Big Sky school to attempt following them.
(This post was last modified: 11-05-2019 11:29 AM by NoDak.)
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