(01-08-2021 03:51 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote: (01-08-2021 02:19 PM)LUSportsFan Wrote: Here's a comparison of Troy vs Lamar looking at the Knight Commission on College Athletics database revenue breakdown. The comparison is restricted to the most recent year in the database, 2018, because I am lazy, but similar comparisons could be made going back to 2005. I picked the Knight Commission information because it provides a little more detailed breakdown without doing a lot of work compared to other sources.
It's not about that. It's about the commitment to athletics and how certain thresholds should be met before moving up to the FBS.
Lamar had their football disbanded for nearly 20 years because the admin didn't want money being diverted to football anymore. Granted, things are different now for Lamar... but the football program has had only two winning seasons since starting football back up in 2010 in the FCS.
Lamar has won zero conference titles since then.
Lamar football has a record of 47-68 since starting football back up, with a really bad 26-48 record in the Southland Conference alone.
Putting that into perspective, in Troy's first year of playing in Division 1AA (1992) we went 10-1... beating UCF, along with four Top 25 1AA teams.
In Troy's second year of ever playing 1AA (1993), we went 12-1, finished the regular season undefeated, and finished as the #1 ranked team in the TSN poll... losing to Marshall in the 1AA semifinals.
Troy was already prepared for the jump to 1AA after winning Division II national titles.
Upon moving to FBS, Troy had already been to the 1AA Playoffs 7 times in 8 years of being in 1AA. Troy won the Southland Conference 3 times after being in it only 5 years. Troy also compiled a record of 87-23 while in 1AA, and was considered one of the top perennial powers in 1AA with Georgia Southern, App State, Marshall, Montana, etc. We positioned ourselves for that move.
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Lamar averages around 7,000 fans per game, in a stadium that seats 16,000. In a city of over 100K people, with a metro of 400K.
Troy was averaging 17,000 in a stadium that seated 17,500 before we moved up to FBS. In a city back then of 14K people, with a county of 28K.
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Troy, along with most of the teams that have moved up to the SBC, have had a very strong commitment to athletics, especially football, for many years. Most of the teams that moved up did so after establishing a run of success that warranted a bump up in competition and notoriety. Hell, even ULM had already won a 1AA national title, won a few Southland Conference titles, and was an annual Top 25 team before moving up!
The same cannot be said about many of the teams moving to the WAC (except for two or three of them).
That's why the NCAA needs to set stronger requirements, instead of the current silly requirements that aren't even enforced. If they were enforced, 1/4 of the MAC would already be back in the FCS.
Those are all great points and Troy's attendance and game success are definitely things to shoot for. Luckily, for schools still trying to build the record as well as for many current FBS members, the number of wins is not a requirement. One requirement is based on averaging 15,000 every other year. It would be great to be able to have a great actual attendance, but that is not the case even for several current FBS members. It is also not a requirement.
Paid attendance can be used to meet the 15,000. Below is a look at the number of FBS schools with reported attendance below 15,000 each year; probably paid. I also added the lowest average for each year. I added Lamar's average attendance and money that would be needed to push paid attendance to 15,000 PAID attendance each year. The requirement is every other year so I alternated columns to reflect that. Only one column would be used since the requirement is every other year. FCS has no minimum requirements so what you see is what you get for the Lamar attendance. There is no need to kick in a little extra to meet a paid attendance number for FCS.
The amount of money required to hit 15,000 is minimal, a little over 5%, based on Lamar's 2018-19 FCS football budget of $4,300,112 according to the OPE Equity in Athletics. Looking at worst case below, meeting the 15,000 paid attendance requirement would be a little over $250,000 added each year ($502,140.00 / 2 = $251,070.00 for the time period 2016-2017). The actual incremental percentage increase, if required, should be less in real case. The football budget would be higher in FBS. Also, hopefully, attendance would be higher minimizing the need for additional outlay of funds to reach the 15,000 average every other year requirement.
========FBS Low Annual Attendance==|=====Compared to Lamar====================
Year.....# below 15k.....Lowest Attendance.....Lamar Attendance...LU Get to 15k...LU get to 15k
2019...............9......................8518...........|..........7173..................$469,620.00
2018.............14,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,10288.........|..........7077..............................................$475,380.00
2017.............13........................9899.........|..........6631...................$502,140.00
2016.............11........................7789.........|..........7429..............................................$454,260.00
2015.............10........................4897.........|..........9364....................$338,160.00
2014...............9........................9170.........|..........8347..............................................$399,180.00
2013...............6........................4051.........|..........8379....................$397,260.00
One would hope having OOC teams at the level of Southern Miss on the schedule instead a schedule with teams the level of NAIA Bethel (TN), home attendance would be a little better.
Here are the OOC home games for the time period above. The future OOC schedules are better.
2019 - Bethel (TN) NAIA; Mississippi Valley State
2018 - Kentucky Christian (NAIA)
2017 - UT- Permain Basin (Division 2)
2016 - Coastal Carolina (Great opponent transitioning to FBS - Top home attendance of the year, but lower than I would like)
2015 - Bacone (NAIA)
2014 - Grambling State (FCS) - (Great opponent - 2nd best attendance
2013- Oklahoma Panhandle State (NAIA)