Big Sky Conference Question

[Mainebrother]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/dec/09/after-22-season-and-ups-and-downs-idaho-football-i/

Not to get off topic here but after 22 years Idaho is headed back to the BIG SKY Conference...what determination criteria did they use to decide to move up to FBS and then 22 years later decide to head
back to FCS. All FCS programs face similar decisions..so it would seem these days. UMASS moved up three years ago and they still seem to be struggling with it.

 

[goeagles17]

I think Boise State going FBS had a lot to do with Idaho making the jump. What led to the drop down? Something like two winning seasons in that span and being booted from the Sun Belt conference, thus forcing them to go independent. I think they rarely meet the 15k attendance criteria for FBS status too.

In short, they were nowhere near capable of sustaining an FBS program but wanted to keep up with the Jonses. Ironically some of Idaho's better teams were from their FCS days.

 

[Mainebrother]

UMASS is facing the same difficulty although perhaps it is getting better now, they do play a lot of their games in Foxboro now...UCONN went up I think about 10 years ago. But they also built a new stadium outside Hartford, Conn. UMASS is still Independent having left the MAC conference.

I don't know what criteria they use to make the move to FBS. And I believe Liberty University is making the move up soon if I am not mistaken and JMU is looking at it as well. I don't see the advantage, Do they
get more money by playing other FBS programs...certainly they have to pay out these other FBS programs when they come to play them at home.. I don't understand why we are seeing so many mid-major programs making the move up to FBS...

 

[LDopaPDX]

Part of the problem out West is you have the Pac-12 and the MWC. The Mountain West is sort of a top-tier Group of 5 conference. We don’t have a Sun Belt, MAC, or Conference USA where a middling FBS team can compete. Idaho wasn’t nearly good enough to be a Mountain West team, so they were dependent on getting hitched to an Eastern conference. But why would one of those conferences want the travel costs associated with heading to Idaho to play a game that is at best revenue-neutral? So Idaho (and New Mexico State) were sort of caught in limbo where they could get paid a cool mil to travel somewhere and get their heads beat in... or they’d have to pay out a fortune to get some other middling FBS team to come to Idaho.

 

[Mainebrother]

UMASS - Independent - left MAC
Idaho - Independent - moving back to FCS
Liberty - FBS - not sure of Affiliation
Appalachian State - Sunbelt
Georgia Southern - Sunbelt
South Alabama - Sunbelt
UCONN - American Athletic Conference
JMU - CAA - Considering making the move up to FBS.

These are all schools who have made the move from FCS to FBS in the last 10 years
or are considering it and I am sure there may be more...at this point I am not totally sure. I can see the issue for Idaho. The rest I just don't get it. I don't see them making any money at the FBS level. Troy State moved up several years ago and lost their rivalry with Jacksonville State, still an FCS Institution. I guess these schools all had good reason to make the move up but I just don't see it.

 

[HeavyIsTheCrown]

Here’s the answer: Any successful move requires ONLY two things.

1. A nice stadium, that seats ~25k or better.
2. Decent attendance, ~66% full or better.

Any team that’s ever made the move and has met that criteria has been successful. Please send payment to “EWU Football Stadium Expansion Fund,” Cheney, Wa.

 

[Mainebrother]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

 

[GreatDayToBeAnEagle]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

No

 

[LDopaPDX]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

Agreed. No. Eastern struggles financially, although the situation is improving as attendance continues to rise. The problem is that there is nowhere for us to go. In the East, being Independent might work as there are a lot of smallish-FBS teams you can play. But none of those teams want to head to the Far West unless they are getting a huge payday that only the Pac-12 teams could afford.

 

[FormerEag]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

No Eastern fan should want us to. At least I don't (unless P5 breaks off on their own)

 

[93bird]

Finally! A "move up" thread. It was only a matter of time before we went full EGriz.

 

[goeagles17]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

Not anytime soon. If the non major FBS conference split off I could see a case for EWU doing so. But wasn't that the point of FCS (or I-AA) to begin with so that major programs could have their own, nearly unrestricted division? I guess merge scholarship FCS programs with the non-major programs and have FCS be non-scholarship?

Maybe in another 10 years at the rate things are growing for EWU though but it would likely still take an entire (or most) Big Sky move for it to even remotely make sense for an FBS move.

 

[Rjones61]

Can't say that I would be a fan of an FBS EWU. Absolutely hate the FBS system.

 

[360Eag]

Can't say that I would be a fan of an FBS EWU. Absolutely hate the FBS system.

I'd be in favor if the group of five adapt a playoff system and national titles instead of the bowl system. If the bowl system stays in place, stay in the FCS.

FCS National titles > FBS Potato Bowl

 

[Mainebrother]

Really excellent article on realignment and Idahos move back down to FCS

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristidosh/2016/04/28/will-idaho-be-the-only-football-program-to-move-from-fbs-to-fcs/#284687d847f7

 

[EWURanger]

Do you think EWU will be making that move?

Agreed. No. Eastern struggles financially, although the situation is improving as attendance continues to rise. The problem is that there is nowhere for us to go. In the East, being Independent might work as there are a lot of smallish-FBS teams you can play. But none of those teams want to head to the Far West unless they are getting a huge payday that only the Pac-12 teams could afford.

Yep, this. Eastern is committed to the Big Sky in whatever shape or form it exists. There is no other conference on the West Coast that can house all of its varsity sports.

 

[EWURanger]

Can't say that I would be a fan of an FBS EWU. Absolutely hate the FBS system.

I'd be in favor if the group of five adapt a playoff system and national titles instead of the bowl system. If the bowl system stays in place, stay in the FCS.

FCS National titles > FBS Potato Bowl

Maybe, but that will never happen. The powers that be will continue to put the most marketable teams in...it's definitely not a meritocracy. The BCS was a crap system, but you'd at least see a "BCS Buster" team like Boise State get into one of their bowl games from time to time. You'll never see a non-P5 school get into the "College Football Playoff" System. It's a joke.

Also, what the "Group of 5" really translates into is the little sisters of the poor in the FBS world. Most FBS schools outside of the P5 struggle financially because they don't have the same lucrative media deals.

 

[EdubU10]

Can't say that I would be a fan of an FBS EWU. Absolutely hate the FBS system.

I'd be in favor if the group of five adapt a playoff system and national titles instead of the bowl system. If the bowl system stays in place, stay in the FCS.

FCS National titles > FBS Potato Bowl

Maybe, but that will never happen. The powers that be will continue to put the most marketable teams in...it's definitely not a meritocracy. The BCS was a crap system, but you'd at least see a "BCS Buster" team like Boise State get into one of their bowl games from time to time. You'll never see a non-P5 school get into the "College Football Playoff" System. It's a joke.

Also, what the "Group of 5" really translates into is the little sisters of the poor in the FBS world. Most FBS schools outside of the P5 struggle financially because they don't have the same lucrative media deals.

This.

 

[maine612]

FCS > FBS

612

 

[goeagles17]

Can't say that I would be a fan of an FBS EWU. Absolutely hate the FBS system.

I'd be in favor if the group of five adapt a playoff system and national titles instead of the bowl system. If the bowl system stays in place, stay in the FCS.

FCS National titles > FBS Potato Bowl

Maybe, but that will never happen. The powers that be will continue to put the most marketable teams in...it's definitely not a meritocracy. The BCS was a crap system, but you'd at least see a "BCS Buster" team like Boise State get into one of their bowl games from time to time. You'll never see a non-P5 school get into the "College Football Playoff" System. It's a joke.

Also, what the "Group of 5" really translates into is the little sisters of the poor in the FBS world. Most FBS schools outside of the P5 struggle financially because they don't have the same lucrative media deals.

This.

One might argue that even P5 teams struggle financially. WSU is in quite the budgetary mess right now...