(non-MVC) Realignment News

[BEARZ77]

I usually try to stay out of this argument, because basically there is no winning it. I get the interest many have in FCS football; I love football , and even though I don't particularly like FCS level football, again I get why many do. But what I see the strong proponents of FCS football on this board consistently skate around addressing is the financial disaster that FCS football is for most Universities that play it. That's not a disputable fact. And given most Universities at the FCS level, have to subsidize their athletics by 60-70% and that most of that money comes from robbing the students with additional student fees or drawing down money from the general funds, and that the biggest deficit they're trying to cover comes from football, therein lies my bitch. To me it is fiscally irresponsible plain and simple. Has nothing to do with liking or not liking football. It's about managing very finite resources in the way that benefits students the most.

It's been shown that schools able to finance basketball at the $4,500,000 level or greater have a huge advantage in making NCAA Tournament appearances, and that nothing those universities do could positively impact their bottom line financially in their athletics department more than making an NCAA Tournament even once every 6-8 years would. But few of our football playing schools have the ability to adequately fund the one sport they could actually use to improve their financial standing because they are already operating at such a deficit in athletics with football being the main reason.

Football should be held to the same standard basketball is, that being, it needs to pay for itself or at least close to it, and if it can't then you shouldn't be playing it and expecting everything else to take a cut to make it happen. And again, I love football, but I get tired of hearing how Universities need more money and watching them shirk on other student services because they are diverting funds to offset losses in athletics when they have a multi million dollar albatross they don't have to have.

[All-MVC Fan]

Indiana State spends more on football than UNI - by over a million and a half dollars. It's not UNI's fault Indiana State is just really really bad with money apparently

Budgets of the MVFC

ISUb $4,048,550

UNI $3,549,488

Math lessons courtesy of the University of Northern Iowa...

[RacerJoeD]

The problem, if I may, with that analogy is that mid major basketball makes national news. FCS football doesn’t.

Farokhmanesh
McCollum
Jesperson
Drew
George Mason
VCU
Loyola
FGCU “Dunk City”

These are stories, to some degree that are mentioned every single year. Most of the country couldn’t care less about fcs football. If you do, great. People collect stamps too. But that doesn’t make it compelling.

Yeah stories from guys like
Jerry Rice
Walter Payton
Steve McNair
David Johnson
Kurt Warner
Bryce Paup
Carson Wentz
Phil Simms
Terrell Owens
Andre Reed
Tony Romo
Rich Gannon
Joe Flacco
Ken O'Brien
Jimmy Garropollo
Jimmy Smith
Donald Driver
Brian Westbrook
Larry Centers
Shannon Sharpe
Nate Newton
Matt Birk
Adam Timmerman
Tunch Ilkin
Richard Dent
Michael Strahan
Jared Allen
Charles Haley
Everson Walls
Albert Lewis
Aeneas Williams
Eugene Robinson
Tyrone Braxton
Rodney Harrison
Adam Vinatieri
San Landedta
Jerick McKinnon
Tarik Cohen
Cooper Kupp
Dallas Goedert
Terron Armstead
JC Tretter
Julin Davenport
Javon Hargrave
Darius Leonard
Samson Ebukam
Rumaine Jonson
Josh Normal
Antione Betha

Those are terrible for getting publicity to schools. Nothing quite like Being a 13 seed and losing by 17 in the first found of the NCAA tournament to a 6th place ACC school

I don’t think I have ever seen any of those players in their college uniforms. Certainly no video. And yeah, being a 13 seed vs a 4 gets many many more eyes

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2019/0 ... nship-cbb/

https://awfulannouncing.com/cbs/first-r ... years.html

[mvfcfan]

I think there is a pretty good argument to be made on spending more on FCS football than basketball. Why spend many millions on a sport where the only games in the season that matter are the 3 in St Louis, when you could spend many millions on football where the whole season counts for something. Whether you make the NCAA basketball tournament or not, you are still going to get your piece of the pie.

I want my school to win in football, basketball, and baseball. If you are in it for money then you are in the wrong conference. Sports is about school pride at this level. The money you may get and national exposure is just extra if you get really lucky.

[RacerJoeD]

As it comes to fcs football one of the good arguments is not return in investment.

[glm38]

As it comes to fcs football one of the good arguments is not return in investment.

Pretty sure the lower tier FBS football programs lose big money too.

[VUGrad1314]

I think there is a pretty good argument to be made on spending more on FCS football than basketball. Why spend many millions on a sport where the only games in the season that matter are the 3 in St Louis, when you could spend many millions on football where the whole season counts for something. Whether you make the NCAA basketball tournament or not, you are still going to get your piece of the pie.

I want my school to win in football, basketball, and baseball. If you are in it for money then you are in the wrong conference. Sports is about school pride at this level. The money you may get and national exposure is just extra if you get really lucky.

While we will never be as successful as the autonomous five and Big East and our budgets will never be this large, this kind of attitude and sentiment is exactly why most years the only games that matter are the three games in St Louis. This kind of thinking hurts the conference. "Why should we try to be good when some other school is going to make our money for us? Why should we try to fight for extra bids that mean extra money and try to be that team that gets lucky and brings necessary honor and prestige to the conference that might make it easy for our conference to get the recognition it so richly deserves and stop having its teams screwed over by the committee so that the whole season matters instead of just the games in St Louis? After all we've got money to light on fire in pursuit of a championship we won't even sniff because of NDSU that wouldn't pay us any money anyway. The only thing FCS football is good for is getting bought by FBS teams. That's it. Other than that there's no payoff. And even getting bought multiple times won't bring in the money a basketball tournament credit would. It's a bad financial decision any way you slice it. You can talk about school pride but wouldn't it be easier to have school pride if you actually won in a sport that mattered?

[uniguy]

If being profitable, financial payoffs, and making money were the most important thing.....and crucial.....none of the schools in the MVC should have athletic departments.

I would venture to guess that no MVC basketball teams make money in the classic sense that ticket sales do not outweigh expenses. I doubt, even if you count money from TV contracts and NCAA credits and sponsorships that most make money at this level. And, in general, NCAA credits (which are split 10-ways) do not make schools more money than a payday football game at a power five.

You all are talking like MVC basketball is some sort of cash cow. This aint the power five. There is no multi-million dollar TV deal. You aren't getting eight-figure sponsorship deals from Learfield et all. You aren't selling millions of dollars in tickets. If you cut football, you cut much of the fundraising and sponsorship dollars that go with it. Your whole department is smaller. Sometimes thats better, sometimes thats worse. But its semantics at this level. No one is making money.

But, again, you miss the point. Saying things like, "wouldn't it be easier to have school pride if you actually won in a sport that mattered" is getting really old. UNI football matters to me. It matters to a lot of people, actually. And it doesn't have to matter to you. But I don't see the difference between what you just said there and Hoosier fan or Purdue fan saying something to Valpo fans along the lines of "wouldn't it be easier to have school pride if you actually supported a school that matters?"

I hate to rip on the MVC, because I LOVE the MVC and I root for all ten schools. But this dichotomy of folks who have the loyalty, patience and humility to root for mid-major basketball teams that can't understand why someone would root for their school's football team (even if it isn't FBS) is mind-boggling to me.

[Mikovio]

I hate to rip on the MVC, because I LOVE the MVC and I root for all ten schools. But this dichotomy of folks who have the loyalty, patience and humility to root for mid-major basketball teams that can't understand why someone would root for their school's football team (even if it isn't FBS) is mind-boggling to me.

Because at this level you can't be good and profitable at both, and one losing money robs from the budget of the other.

Because the most successful midmajor basketball programs (Creighton, Wichita, Gonzaga, Butler, the entire A10) aren't feeding an FCS football money pit.

Because D1 basketball is first-rate and provides a real shot at a legitimate national championship (eg Butler in 2010).

Because FCS is third-rate football (P5= first-rate, G5=second-rate), and winning it doesn't even make you the best mid-major because it doesn't count AAC, MWC, CUSA, MAC, SB.

Because one good NCAA basketball run made a national sensation out of a 99-year old nun and was not only a windfall for that school in a myriad of ways but all its conference mates for years to come. I must have missed the bobblehead deals for FCS Final Four Montana State last month.

Because FCS playoff teams lose money.

Because there are no office pools for FCS brackets.

Because America cares about one and not the other.

[TheDrake]

I hate to rip on the MVC, because I LOVE the MVC and I root for all ten schools. But this dichotomy of folks who have the loyalty, patience and humility to root for mid-major basketball teams that can't understand why someone would root for their school's football team (even if it isn't FBS) is mind-boggling to me.

Because at this level you can't be good and profitable at both, and one losing money robs from the budget of the other.

Because the most successful midmajor basketball programs (Creighton, Wichita, Gonzaga, Butler, the entire A10) aren't feeding an FCS football money pit.

Because D1 basketball is first-rate and provides a real shot at a legitimate national championship (eg Butler in 2010).

Because FCS is third-rate football (P5= first-rate, G5=second-rate), and winning it doesn't even make you the best mid-major because it doesn't count AAC, MWC, CUSA, MAC, SB.

Because one good NCAA basketball run made a national sensation out of a 99-year old nun and was not only a windfall for that school in a myriad of ways but all its conference mates for years to come. I must have missed the bobblehead deals for FCS Final Four Montana State last month.

Because FCS playoff teams lose money.

Because there are no office pools for FCS brackets.

Because America cares about one and not the other.

This +1000. Thank you.