Green Cookie Monster said:
Since this is all candyland speculation, I'd suspect that if it does materialize positively for these three Cali schools will the current WAC, sans Boise and La Tech, still contain the members that Sac State would find advantageous.
I think with the current economic situation the mantra of the Presidents at each member school, especially Fresno and SJSU, will be cost containment and a reduction in expenses. Unless your a BCS, regionalization will be key for growth and survival. As regionalization will provide a saturation of media and fan exposure and as we know, gate receipts, donations/sponsorships and media money provide the golden egg.
Having members located in Louisiana and possibly Texas is prudently irresponsible. And even crazy talk North Dakota State makes for a circus of expenses and logistics. This is afterall a Western based conference. NMSU is pushing the footprint and by adding programs that don't have direct flights or driving/travel convenience for fans will be greatly effecting gate receipt. I would easily predict at least 20,000 fans at Hornet Stadium for a game against Nevada or SJSU, more for Fresno. That 20K would be made up of fans from both programs. How many Bobcat or Runners fans will attend a game in San Jose? SJSU averaged ~ 15K fans last year, that means the program lost 5K potential revenue paying fans that would have traveled with the visiting team.
Add to that the expense of maintaining non-revenue producing sports and it just doesnt make sense.
I feel pretty confident that due diligence has been done and Dr. Wanless wouldn't be making such flippant remarks to the press and being quoted by cornerstone conference presidents if it didn't have validity.
If an invite does materialize, I'd say accept it. We already sponsor 20 varsity sports and fulfill Title IX requirements. We could add more schollies to womens crew, that program can have many schollies, to offset the additional 22 football schollies. Any additional non-revenue producing sport expenses would be negated by a bus ride v. flying for a tennis match in Pocatello or a mens golf tournament in Hartford.
The conference and teams could focus on promoting and directing media attention for games against regional rivalries. McClatchy owns the Fresno and Sacramento Bee along with the San Jose Mercury, so having three member teams with the same owner could really drive up rivalries and readership.
Thoughts?
The big question now is if Boise obtains an MWC bid. With the possible breakup of the BIg12, that would cause some major changes to the conference landscape.
If the Big12 breaks up and is left with 4 teams (KU, KSU, ISU, CU), those four will begin to reassemble a Big12 by adding TCU, Houston, Memphis, Louisville, Colorado St, Utah, BYU, and New Mexico. The rump of the MWC would be down to AFA, Wyoming, UNLV, and SDSU. AFA goes independent. The other three return to the WAC, and the WAC no longer needs any new schools. That could effectively slam the door on any FCS school moving up.
You'll have to forgive NDSU fans for their crazy talk on message boards. They are probably the most insecure set of fans you'll ever find: they truly do want to be "someone" someday.
