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FBS Conference Realignment

As long as we're entertaining wet blanket talk, what is the worst case scenario? If too many teams leave the Big Sky, it could lose its automatic berth in the NCAA tournament right? Isn't there a rule about continuity of conference makeup that strips a conference of their "rights" with the NCAA? To me, that is the worst case scenario. Even if a couple of schools left the Big Sky and PSU was stuck there, but they became the Gonzaga of that conference and just turned into a basketball school, they'd at least have some Division I cache. I just don't want to be left out in the cold, trying to piece together some conference with the likes of Northern Colorado and Dixie State.
 
As a new member of this site let me say I'am a long time USU supporter. I can give you some info on the aggies, when we joined the WAC in 2005 we had a budget of just over $10 million, with the increase the students voted for which will start in sept. 2010 our budget will be close to $20 million.

We play football in a 25,500 seat stadium we averaged just under 16,000 this last season. We have had a hard time with football, but we just built a $17 complex which is in the north endzone, it is our football complex, we also have a indoor practice building, which is a 100 yard football field for bad weather, we added field turf, and remodeled the east side of the stadium, and south end zone plaza, and we increased salaries for football staff, we hired Gary Andersen who was the D coordnator for the Utes when they had their great success. We play basketball in a 10,270 seat arena, we are much better at basketball, we averaged 10,000 for WAC home games this last season. We play home games againist BYU and Utah in football which helps bring big bucks Weber st. cant get home games with those schools because they are 1aa. maybe OSU. and Oregon would play you folks at home.

It has helped us a lot being a WAC member, and it might help you folks a lot also, if you get invited. Good luck in any case
 
Thanks for the Aggie insight! USU has a tremendous basketball program but drawing football fans, like you said, is the challenging draw to the area. Having 16,000 to a football game is certainly light, but having 16,000 to a basketball game would be fantastic. I see great basketball in USU's present and future.

I think PSU needs to just rev up "the general celebration of college football," the fact that we have it here live in Portland. During the game, we can have fun squeezing in the announcement of all college football scores of interest to the attending fans---everything from the Pac-10 to the Oregon small colleges to the Top 25---and just make it a celebration of the great American Saturday past-time. For that, we need healthy, enthusiastic emotional & spiritual leadership. College football is very spiritual. And only emotionally-charged teams get anywhere.

Trying to force (or plead) the crowd to cheer is an exercise in moronic emotional leadership. What follows is the crowd's rejection of the emotional ploy and a reputational loss to boot. As Wyoming lawyer Jerry Spence said, that sounds like "a gurgle from hell." It's all about hitting the right chords with the crowd--SERVING THEM---like a musician in concert. If the right gameday chords were struck on a reliable basis, I believe Portland would go pretty wild for it. They love music.
 
16,000 USU football fans when you only win four games is not good , but with winning USU could be at 20,000 plus. 10,000 basketball fans is of course all we can ask for in an arena that seats only 10,270.

How would a move up in football effect PSU as far as attendance goes ? Of course winning is the big factor in most schools. Do you have good tailgate parties at PSU ? I guess you believe you need better game atmosphere at PSU, how is your marching band ?

I see PSU is remodeling PGE park, that can be a very good thing. What will the new capacity be ? What is your basketball arena like as far as atmosphere, attendance, capacity etc.

Weber state only draws 7 or 8 thousand with good football, and 5 or 6 thousand with good basketball. I believe that being in the BSC while your neighbors are in the MWC or in USU's case the WAC is part of their problem. In my earlier post I said we spent $17 on our new football complex it was of course $17,000,000
 
USU has a great future in basketball. The new coach may make football more successful. Could you draw more to basketball if there were greater arena capacity? Is the stadium sufficient in capacity now should improvement in fortunes come your way?

Insofar as PSU is concerned, the PGE Park Renovation project is a salient point in our developmental history. For the first time EVER, we will have fans appropriately on either side of the field in a proper U-shape formation instead of some other bizarre formation ill-suited to spectating the sport of football. The capacity is slated to be 22,000, keeping 5,000 in reserve behind screens in the north upper tier. This location would correspond to the upper-tier of the lower-bowl of the U-formation.

I expect a surge of attendance in 2011 simply because of the bright novelty the renovation will bring and added dignity in finally having a proper seating arrangement. Then, to maintain attendance, we have to become an immediate contender for a I-AA national championship. We have to look forward to WAC membership and drive ourselves forward in meriting the invitation. If we do not, disappointment in our leadership would overshadow any earlier interest-enthusiasm. We need to charge the building like Vikings in this mission-effort.

Tailgating is a work-in-process. Ideas keep surfacing. Its a growing pre-game tradition working its way to establishment. It has to be done in creative fashion and catch-as-catch can but participation continues upward,

Our marching band has heretofore been a great challenge for us. I believe the solution is to make it a 3-or 4-credit class within Fine-and-Performing-Arts. I think the image of "band geek" may prevail within the students' mind-set or they may simply be over-extended in their commitments. Another resource is the surrounding community colleges of which there are five. Those students planning on transferring to PSU can probably gain a co-enrollement status and be free to participate in a marching band, should one actually be formed!

Right now, we have a student drum line and an alumni pep band. So some progress is being realized in that department. Jaded PSU students should realize that Berkeley and Michigan and UCLA all have marching band participants and should then ask themselves who are they to think they are any more hip than those universities' band members. There must be something good about marching band membership. Is the problem here lethargy? Apathy? Lack of Vitamin D? Sickness-of-the-soul? Who can tell? This would be a good topic for PSU-TV.
 
USU could use a larger basketball arena it is nearly sold out. Football is capable of sell outs also, and unlike basketball it is easy to expand by 5,000.

If PSU is willing and able I would like to see them move up to the WAC. It is a easy flight from SLC which is only 85 minutes from Logan.

The remodel of PGE sounds like a good deal for you guy's
 
Speculation is that change will start next week....

http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_15207026

Should send message boards into a frenzy. ;-)
 
Pac-10 will likely begin the expansion-dominos moving June 7th.

Portland State, in order to be in a winning position in this conference realignment whirlwind, must end up in a conference with a television market worthy of Portland, or Portland will revert to disowning it again, at least in some significant measure. We need to be engaged talking to the Portland Media about this. Find Scott Lynn, Joe Becker, Paul Linnman, etc. and gain their aid and insightful expertise!

By way of comparison, the Portland Television Market, #22 in the nation, Salt Lake #31, Las Vegas #42, Albuquerque #44, Fresno, #55, Honolulu #71, Spokane #75, Reno #108, Boise #112, Pocatello #162, Missoula #166. The others don't even come on the radar. www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/us_hh_by_dma.asp

The Kansas City Star, in its recent series on the Big 12, considered the possible jump of the Colorado Buffaloes. Wrote Blair Kerkhoff: "Colorado, the only Big 12 school in another time zone, often looks West. Could it resist an overture from the Pac-10?" If Colorado headed West, it likely would do so with another team to maintain balance in the new conference and give the Buffaloes a travel partner.

Although Air Force, Colorado State, Utah and Brigham Young are mentioned as candidates to join Colorado in the new league, the Utes and Cougars make the most sense to the Wiz. Now why would the Pac-10 even consider expansion?

First, the conference could split into North and South divisions, with Colorado and its partner joining the Washington and Oregon schools in the North. This in turn would create a lucrative football title game without disturbing cherished league rivalries (Oregon-Oregon State, USC-UCLA, etc.).

The second reason is that a beefed up Pac-10 — with the addition of the Denver and Salt Lake City markets — would be a television juggernaut. Consider this: outside of San Diego, Las Vegas and Albuquerque, the league would have every major TV market in the West. As for the Big 12, it likely would look to snare Arkansas from the SEC. The Razorbacks, from a geographical standpoint, are a better fit in the Big 12. And interestingly, Arkansas — a longtime rival of Texas — is appearing more and more on Big 12 schedules.

PSU needs to get itself in informal consultative communication with Portland's media professionals. Time for a soiree.
 
PAC-10 won't expand. You need all 10 schools to agree to it and I just can't see all 10 going for it. Plus, the Washington and Oregon schools want to play football games in the L.A. area every year due to recruiting. If the league went to a 12 team format, you couldn't have that happen anymore.
 
http://blog.oregonlive.com/pac10/2010/06/report_pacific-10_big_12_confe.html

So, how would this superconference impact PSU? Would the Big 12 leftovers either join the Big Ten or merge with the MWC?
 
ManOfVision said:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/pac10/2010/06/report_pacific-10_big_12_confe.html

So, how would this superconference impact PSU? Would the Big 12 leftovers either join the Big Ten or merge with the MWC?
Click to expand...

IF (and that's a BIG IF) the PAC-10 adds 6 from the Big 12, I'd predict that....

Nebraska and Missouri hi-tails it to the Big Ten.
Iowa State could go to either the Big Ten or the Mid-American (Conference USA could be possible).
Kansas and K-State could end up in the Mountain West
Baylor....probably C-USA
 
BroadwayVik said:
Whaddaya mean? How do you see the Arizona schools being adversely impacted.
Click to expand...

Easy. Should this rumor be true, the Arizona schools won't be able to play football games in the Los Angeles area every year anymore thus taking away their souther California pipeline. Granted, they'll gain a new pipeline into Texas but still....
 
The old WAC tried out the super-conference idea of 16-teams and ended up using it to split itself into two new (reorganized) conferences: the new Mountain West and new WAC. The old WAC essentially sloughed off Hawaii and UTEP and added in UNLV, giving themselves a new name and freshened image in the process. The rest were left to be a conference together under the old WAC name, constituting the new WAC, but many of those opted for "C-USA" and newcomers were added. Is the Pac-10 up to something similar here? My guess is they may well be.

Is the idea for Larry Scott to form a super-conference of northern and southern 8-team divisions and then to spin-off the Northern Division? Wouldn't this be something similar to what the NBA did in reforming the Pacific Conference by spinning-off Portland and Seattle to the new Northwest Divison with Denver, Utah and Minnesota? I believe the thinking here is that life in the NW and SW are markedly different and that creates a geographical inconsistency.

I could see similar motivation to slough off the traditional Pac-10 arrangement and isolate the "unproductive media markets" of the NW (e.g. Pullman, Corvallis, Eugene) and replace them in the south with vastly bigger national-interest markets. Through such an "end-around strategy" of formulating a 16-team super-conference (and then deciding later, as the old WAC did, that it is just too big after all), Larry Scott could formulate a new

Southwest Conference with the schools from Los Angeles, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas, i.e.:

UCLA-USC, Arizona-Arizona State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Texas-Texas A&M

and a new Northwest Conference with the schools from the Bay Area, Oregon, Washington, Boulder, and Salt Lake City, i.e.:

Stanford-California, Oregon-Oregon State, Washington-Washington State, Colorado-Utah

The rumored inclusion of Texas Tech may or may not be just a red herring. The longer-term goal may well be to reorganize two eight-team divisions into autonomous conferences, concentrating huge media market riches for the new Southwest Conference. This wouldn't be such a bad geographical arrangement, but is it really necessary to do away with the Pac-8 and Pac-10 tradition of spanning the entire West Coast? Would we in the NW still have access to the Rose Bowl once a separate conference? Maybe we could work something out.

If this came about, both conferences could then add four more teams each. Boise State becomes viable to join the NWC and Stanford and Cal may beg to go back with the L.A. schools in the SWC. Lots of possibilities open up, especially for PSU under such a scenario.
 
Mountain West's decision should stabilize Big Sky

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100608/SPORTS/6080317
 
forestgreen said:
Mountain West's decision should stabilize Big Sky

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100608/SPORTS/6080317
Click to expand...

No really. Rumor has it that the MWC will wait until something happens with the Big 12 afterwards the MWC will invite Boise State.....before July 1.
 
Put it this way guys....

The Big 12 Conference will officially be dead as of July 1, 2012!

So in a way, those stupid 2012 end of the world predictions are true. :roll:
 
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