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Poly and UCFE coming to the Sky for Football?

I missed the following article that came out over a month ago. But, some points based on inviting Davis and Poly only as football.

1) Fullerton is interested in expansion and making the Sky a divisional conference.
2) If it were up to Fullerton, he would prefer not to invite future members who wouldn't join in all sports, and if the Sky went that direction it would "be dangerous."
3) "that policy could also come up for debate this October"
4) Portland State is very interested in the WAC

Athletic spending reevaluated by Big Sky, conference expansion discussed
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/bobcats/article_da739988-9f7d-11df-8322-001cc4c002e0.html
 
I agree with the Poly poster. SLO is too remote to be able to sustain a FBS program either through tv or gate attendance. Davis won't be able to do it either as their tuition is too high. No way they can expand their football program, maintain 24 varsity sports and play FBS ball, just too much $$$.

As we are seeing, tv revenue is what is driving this expansion. I also have a hard time seeing the Montana schools sustaining the move up, especially MSU. Sure UM currently sells out 23K and is the only game in town, but they also play Heckle & Jeckle U, once they start playing real FBS programs and losing those fans will drop off fast.

Only programs that really have a shot are Portland and Sacramento in big metro markets. But, Portland would have to double their current budget and probably add sports. Sacramento, well what can I say, I don't really see us going up as we have too many holes to plug. Namely a new arena and stadium. And a very fickle market that unless you are winning will stay away.

Idaho drew 11K in their home opener, Nevada drew 16K. I am not sure how those programs are going to stay afloat posting numbers like that.

Maybe Poly will join the Sky as an associate along with UCFE. Makes financial sense, but I would like to see all their programs join, not just football for convenience.
 
Is cal-davis also having a news conference this week too? If so I could see relevance in the BSC football only idea. If the BSC does allow football only members, Wanless better yell and scream about it and demand Sac State be allowed to pull the same status as well. I wouldn't mind seeing Sac State save a large sum of money by not having to ship the non-football sports all across the western United States for competition.

The fact is we don't know what the Cal Poly news conference will be about. It could be anything from them dropping football to them accepting an invite to the Pac-12. Slo any ideas as to what the announcement might be about?
 
I have no problem with either or both of them joining the Sky. The Great West is a football version of the Titanic. The Big West is too good for both of them in most sports (though CP occasionally does something worthwhile in boys hoops). Plus, their football teams would either be competitive in the league RIGHT NOW (in the case of the Mustangs) or fairly soon (Manure Pile). In addition, it would reinvigorate the Sac rivalries for both schools. Causeway for a conference championship? That would be something!

While the most likely scenario would be associate membership in the Sky and maintaining Cali Bus League membership for everything else, a full jump would make sense. The problem for the CBL would be that it would force their hand on the issue of taking in Bako and may cause them to ask Humboldt or Chico to jump to D-I, thereby destroying what little RPI cred they have left after USU left.
 
So should the rumor have any validity and Poly and those other guys down the way are coming to the Sky, are there other implications? What I mean is, does this mean the Big Sky is expecting some of their teams to bail to the WAC? It could very well be Poly is sick of being in the not-so-Great West and the Sky want another program with a good reputation. Still, if the Sky is scared that Montana, Portland and Sac are seriously looking to upgrade, they would need to bolster their membership so they wouldn’t have to scramble. It makes a lot of sense if Sac is a serious candidate in that they would want to retain the California market.

Maybe imminent WAC implications are all in my head, but it also raises the question of associate membership. If Poly and them get associate membership I have a feeling Sac will try to follow them. I remember that article when they talked about bringing football back to the Big West, Wanless seemed pretty interested in membership. It would certainly cut down on travel costs (plus I would love to be able to see the Hornets on the road more). It would make for a 12 team football conference and 9 team rest of the sports conference (if Southern Utah was included).

Anyway, we will find out Tuesday. Could be that they are just going to explore 1-A or putting together a stadium expansion effort or even offering sushi at home games now. Interesting topic to speculate about though.
 
Both Cal Poly and the Big Sky Conference have scheduled press conferences for Tuesday afternoon, and though neither body is talking about the subject matter, the timing appears to be related.
The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Calif., announced that Cal Poly's press conference is set for 3:30 p.m. Mountain time, in the president's suite at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, home to the football Mustangs.
Jon Kasper, assistant commissioner for media relations for the Big Sky, said on Monday, "All I can tell you is the Big Sky will be having a press conference at 1 p.m. tomorrow."
There has been rampant speculation in California that Cal Poly could be part of a conference realignment. That includes a rumor that the Mustangs, as well as UC-Davis, could become either full-fledged or football-only members of the Big Sky.
The latter would be a first for the Big Sky, which took shape in 1963. The league mandates that member schools all take part in the same 14 sports.
"There's a lot of rumors out there, but we're hearing the same thing, and we're not sure what's coming across," Montana athletic director Jim O'Day said. "There's a lot of speculation about the Big Sky, the WAC and where Cal Poly will end up.
"I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow morning."



Montana moves up to No. 1; Cal Poly may join Sky

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/article_fd3e10dc-b9f0-11df-8c66-001cc4c002e0.html
 
Well I think that seals it. What’s left to find out is if CP will be a full member or football only. I sure as hell hope it’s a full member as they would be a good traveling partner for hoops. Also it will be interesting to find out if the BSC take cal-davis as well. We will know this afternoon.
 
Both schools plus the Sky have press conferences scheduled for today. Looks like Davis and Poly will both join the conference. I think its actually great for Sac State and the conference...With the WAC imploding, the California schools sticking together for football makes sense.

I know that we all wish nothing but bad fortune on the Farm Extention, but if you think analytically, this really makes too much sense.
 
Big Sky Conference will add two schools


http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/bobcats/football/article_b3809196-bab7-11df-bba8-001cc4c03286.html
 
Super Hornet said:
The only question I have is: will Doug try to mess with the timing of Causeway?
Click to expand...

Does he screw with the Montucky - Montucky State game?
When we are at home the Causeway is the second biggest attended game in the BSC.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
Super Hornet said:
The only question I have is: will Doug try to mess with the timing of Causeway?
Click to expand...

Does he screw with the Montucky - Montucky State game?
When we are at home the Causeway is the second biggest attended game in the BSC.
Click to expand...

Exactly. This just solidifies (as long as we stay in the Big Sky) Causeway being the last game of the year, plus, I would assume we would host Poly in the even number years. So right there is a guaranteed 15K at Hornet Stadium.
 
The obvious question is whether or not Sac State can move all sports but football to the Big West Conference whose performance in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball are far better than the Big Sky.
 
the Rat said:
The obvious question is whether or not Sac State can move all sports but football to the Great West Conference whose performance in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball are far better than the Big Sky.
Click to expand...

Dont you mean the Big West?
 
the Rat said:
The obvious question is whether or not Sac State can move all sports but football to the Big West Conference whose performance in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball are far better than the Big Sky.
Click to expand...

And sans basketball we have dominated. Join the BW and we are now ho-hum.
 
I would rather play better competition than mediocre competition. With your logic, we shouldn't move up to WAC because we would be bottom feeders for some time.
 
SactoHornetAlum said:
the Rat said:
The obvious question is whether or not Sac State can move all sports but football to the Great West Conference whose performance in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball are far better than the Big Sky.
Click to expand...

Dont you mean the Big West?
Click to expand...

In THEORY, we COULD go to the Great West, but why? That would literally DESTROY our travel budget as we'd have to go to Houston Baptist and NJIT several times a year for various sports.

Ugh!
 
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