The Alliance

[the Rat]

The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac 12 Alliance should raise red flags of concern for FBS schools reliant on playing annually a school from one of those conferences for a paycheck that heavily subsidizes their football program or athletic budgets.

The Alliance schools will be more interested in playing each other to gain better leverage for future television contracts than paying $500k+ to beat up on an FCS school.

For Sac State, the best I can gather online is that the only Pac 12 schools besides Cal this year is Sanford (2023) and Oregon State (2026). The rest are Mountain West schools.

I don’t know what the MW schools pay out, but I hope Sac State's football’s long-term viability isn’t reliant on playing the Pac 12 for funding.

I would hate to see FCS schools dropping football because the big payday body bag games dry up.

 

[superhornet]

Sac Rat,

While I'm sure you meant FCS schools, there IS precedent for lower-tier FBS schools (now generally known as G5) fitting that paradigm. The only catch that I can see to that is that the only such conference out West was the Big West (and perhaps the WAC, which is now officially FCS). There ARE exceptions to that general rule, though. UOP (while in the Big West), Sac, and even the Manure Pile have been known for P5 (generally Pac-10/12) upsets. The Manure Pile used to have a "thing" for beating Stanford, and I think both UOP and Sac have beaten Oregon State. (In the case of UOP, it was somehow a HOME game in which they beat Oregon State, and it was badly needed because that 3-8 season was rather influenced by injuries caused by an EXTREME bodybag schedule featuring Fresneck, Arizona, Nebraska, and BOTH major Oregon schools.) While I don't see Big Sky/WAC schools taking bodybag scheduling as far as UOP did (must have been DESPERATE for $$), if balanced with peer and D-II games, such scheduling can not only help the coffers, but prepare one for a competitive playoff-worthy schedule. The problem is that up until the WAC went FCS, it was VERY hard for us to get peer OOC games without "cheating" with in-conference "OOC" games (i.e. if, say, BBQ wasn't on our in-conference schedule, we would schedule them during OOC) because we can't afford cross-country OOC trips. A D-II game would be a nice "breather" for Homecoming, but it's getting harder to get those without getting a D-II powerhouse because they're moving into the WAC (a la Dixie State).

Oh, the joys of a perfect schedule (some difficulty to push up SOS, some peer and play-down games as a breather, and good in-conference matchups) to lead into a good playoff bid....

 

[SDHornet]

I haven't read up on this much but I actually think this will hurt the Mountain West/G5 more than it hurts us/FCS. If I understand it correctly, Pac 12 will have more of its non-conference scheduling dates eaten up with this scheduling alliance. This will limit home and home agreements available for MW programs and so I think Pac12 programs would be more inclined to buy a single home game from an FCS/MW program instead. FCS games are cheaper than a single MW game so we have that going for us.

We'll see how this shakes out but I like seeing the Power Conferences separate themselves from everyone else. It's about time this happened.

 

[superhornet]

That's an interesting perspective, SD. If I'm reading you correctly, if MWC is shut out of Pac-12 games, they might have to play the Big Sky/WAC instead, which would give us a bit better chance. Regardless, we get FBS credit for SOS purposes for the playoffs, and if we win, so much the better.

I think I like your thinking on this one better than mine. Good work, SD!

 

[HornetHope]

I haven't read up on this much but I actually think this will hurt the Mountain West/G5 more than it hurts us/FCS. If I understand it correctly, Pac 12 will have more of its non-conference scheduling dates eaten up with this scheduling alliance. This will limit home and home agreements available for MW programs and so I think Pac12 programs would be more inclined to buy a single home game from an FCS/MW program instead. FCS games are cheaper than a single MW game so we have that going for us.

We'll see how this shakes out but I like seeing the Power Conferences separate themselves from everyone else. It's about time this happened.

I still think there will be much more shaking. P5 is becoming P4, with Big 12 out. There will be a national championship in the Alliance. That will leave Big 12 and G5 wanting a national championship too. This group will coalesce around an FBS championship. This will mean conferences like WAC will look to be FBS, and then there will be FCS. I think out of Big 12, 4 will move to P4, and conferences realign. I think about 15-20 FCS schools will go FBS.

I could be wrong, but the sharks are smelling blood in the water!

 

[SDHornet]

That's an interesting perspective, SD. If I'm reading you correctly, if MWC is shut out of Pac-12 games, they might have to play the Big Sky/WAC instead, which would give us a bit better chance. Regardless, we get FBS credit for SOS purposes for the playoffs, and if we win, so much the better.

I think I like your thinking on this one better than mine. Good work, SD!

Shut out isn't the right view, more like diminished opportunities for home and home scheduling agreements or singe game money games.

 

[SDHornet]

I haven't read up on this much but I actually think this will hurt the Mountain West/G5 more than it hurts us/FCS. If I understand it correctly, Pac 12 will have more of its non-conference scheduling dates eaten up with this scheduling alliance. This will limit home and home agreements available for MW programs and so I think Pac12 programs would be more inclined to buy a single home game from an FCS/MW program instead. FCS games are cheaper than a single MW game so we have that going for us.

We'll see how this shakes out but I like seeing the Power Conferences separate themselves from everyone else. It's about time this happened.

I still think there will be much more shaking. P5 is becoming P4, with Big 12 out. There will be a national championship in the Alliance. That will leave Big 12 and G5 wanting a national championship too. This group will coalesce around an FBS championship. This will mean conferences like WAC will look to be FBS, and then there will be FCS. I think out of Big 12, 4 will move to P4, and conferences realign. I think about 15-20 FCS schools will go FBS.

I could be wrong, but the sharks are smelling blood in the water!

Agree, and that is my hope as well. We need to position ourselves to be in the new "Tier 2 group" when all the music stops.

 

[Kadeezy]

I haven't read up on this much but I actually think this will hurt the Mountain West/G5 more than it hurts us/FCS. If I understand it correctly, Pac 12 will have more of its non-conference scheduling dates eaten up with this scheduling alliance. This will limit home and home agreements available for MW programs and so I think Pac12 programs would be more inclined to buy a single home game from an FCS/MW program instead. FCS games are cheaper than a single MW game so we have that going for us.

We'll see how this shakes out but I like seeing the Power Conferences separate themselves from everyone else. It's about time this happened.

I still think there will be much more shaking. P5 is becoming P4, with Big 12 out. There will be a national championship in the Alliance. That will leave Big 12 and G5 wanting a national championship too. This group will coalesce around an FBS championship. This will mean conferences like WAC will look to be FBS, and then there will be FCS. I think out of Big 12, 4 will move to P4, and conferences realign. I think about 15-20 FCS schools will go FBS.

I could be wrong, but the sharks are smelling blood in the water!

Agree, and that is my hope as well. We need to position ourselves to be in the new "Tier 2 group" when all the music stops.

Simplest, best way I’ve hear it out. Agreed - we need to be ready for the Group of 5 (or whatever that looks like), when the Power 5 break away…

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I haven't read up on this much but I actually think this will hurt the Mountain West/G5 more than it hurts us/FCS. If I understand it correctly, Pac 12 will have more of its non-conference scheduling dates eaten up with this scheduling alliance. This will limit home and home agreements available for MW programs and so I think Pac12 programs would be more inclined to buy a single home game from an FCS/MW program instead. FCS games are cheaper than a single MW game so we have that going for us.

We'll see how this shakes out but I like seeing the Power Conferences separate themselves from everyone else. It's about time this happened.

I still think there will be much more shaking. P5 is becoming P4, with Big 12 out. There will be a national championship in the Alliance. That will leave Big 12 and G5 wanting a national championship too. This group will coalesce around an FBS championship. This will mean conferences like WAC will look to be FBS, and then there will be FCS. I think out of Big 12, 4 will move to P4, and conferences realign. I think about 15-20 FCS schools will go FBS.

I could be wrong, but the sharks are smelling blood in the water!

Agree, and that is my hope as well. We need to position ourselves to be in the new "Tier 2 group" when all the music stops.

Simplest, best way I’ve hear it out. Agreed - we need to be ready for the Group of 5 (or whatever that looks like), when the Power 5 break away…

Yeah, with our porta potties and erector stadium, not to mention HS gym, Sac is a golden get for any prospective FBS conference!
Yes the Queens Arena can be used, but that is not a long term solution and Mr. Bean hasnt mentioned any new developments in the 'Power of 1,000 Hornets' Campaign or stadium rehash. Yes, the new turf is nice, but lipstick on a pig.