I don't think anyone is saying we shouldn't be critical. However, some criticism of this move is off base when considering other recent realignment moves, especially compared to the NDSU deal.
I don't get the hard on for NDSU. Yes they are a national brand name due to their domination of JV, but if they can't be competitive immediately from the jump then they'll just be another G6 in fly over country. From a stadium standpoint, they are capped because they don't even own the arena they play in so their financials will have to pan out on its 18.7k capacity. Couple that with not bringing a significant market with them and they'll have a hard time gaining traction with the lackluster MW media deal outside their region. With all the success and supposed upside they bring to FBS, they still had to pay $12.5M and forgo 6 years of TV money from the MW media deal to join the club. Their agreement with the MW also stipulates that they must increase the football budget if they fail to win enough games. But somehow the pundits are overlooking this and calling our deal—a deal with known expenditures over a defined timeframe—the worst ever.
I don't get the geographical criticisms at all given the CalFurd situation which is far worse for travel than ours and NDSU's setup. I think it's mostly from uninformed people that think our MAC invite is an all-sports move, which it isn't. We will save a lot of money by not sending Oly sports to all the podunk towns of the BSC...money which will be redirected to cover a portion of the MAC travel subsidy.
People are assuming this move could have been made at a later time, but that's not a given. I do agree with Dr. Wood in that the JV to FBS door may close once NCAA D1 governance adjusts the requirements in a few years. Hence his urgency to close the deal now, especially since a conference was willing to do business. The nPAC and MW didn't want us so Dr. Wood pivoted to the MAC. Obviously I'm biased, but that speaks more to his resiliency during this process than to desperation.
I get the criticism over the $18M entry fee paid over the 5 year term, but anyone in CA with a clue knows the taxpayers/students are picking up the tab. Those same people bitching about the MAC entry fee aren't up in arms about all the other financial waste and graft (to the tune of 10's of billions of dollars annually) by our state government which makes them unserious people.