Poll: Would Missouri State accept a Sun Belt invite?

[BCPanther]

Appy State gets to run a 3 hour infomercial on national TV next week because of football. An invite to anywhere other than CUSA is a no brainer.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Appy State gets to run a 3 hour infomercial on national TV next week because of football. An invite to anywhere other than CUSA is a no brainer.

A 3-hour infomercial with 1.8 million viewers. With their campus, fan base, & signs in the background.

The Sun Belt was the story of college football yesterday. 2 top-10 wins. 3 wins over traditional bluebloods.

And they were all paid $1.25 million, $1.39 million, & $1.5 million just for playing.

If the 12-team playoff was this season, the Sun Belt would have a good shot of sneaking in that #6 conference champion slot and collecting a hefty payout.

[BEARZ77]

Perhaps a few of the privates understand the draw now. One weekend doesn't make the case, but it does clarify the interest a bit more. Again I'm ok either way given the likely changing landscape to come.

[TBS_20]

If every MVFC had the funds they would all go if offered by the Sun Belt.

[squirrel]

The Sun Belt has had some good basketball teams mind you, but the reason they aren't given much credibility overall on the hardwood is because they are all in on football. And in the past few rounds of realignment, they have arguably moved from the worst FBS league to one of the top 1-2 football leagues outside the P5. If you can focus and football and be competent in doing so, it's a game changer.

[BearsCountry]

Sun Belt is also one of the top baseball and soccer conferences now as well.

[Mikovio]

This weekend MVFC SIU takes down Northwestern and Missouri State is taking Arkansas to the wire. Yes App State had a great infomercial, but they made their name by beating Michigan as an FCS. North Dakota State has brought ESPN Gameday to Fargo. So it's pretty clear you don't need to be FBS to grab headlines. Yes it helps but it's an expensive proposition.

Coastal Carolina lost $36 million last year.
Texas State lost $27 million
Louisiana-Lafayette lost $25 million
South Alabama and Georgia State each lost $23 million
Troy $22 million
App State $20 million
Georgia Southern $19 million
These numbers include their payday games.

Northern Illinois had put all their eggs in the football basket for decades and while they have a nice practice facility and play the occasional big game the rest of their campus is neglected as the athletic department bleeds money. But the grass is always greener.

As an aside I don't think any Sun Belt team is taking a playoff bid. Marshall just lost to Bowling Green. It is exciting to think about but the AAC has historically hogged those Access Bowl bids, with the MAC taking a couple. But the SB will probably get one maybe two a decade

[TBS_20]

Sub belt has passed both the mac and aac for best group of 5 conferences.

[Action10]

The Sun Belt is definitely up this year in football, but let's not overlook that being the top ranked G5 conference doesn't automatically give you a New Years Six bid (or playoff bid when if expands to 12). That goes to the highest ranked TEAM that is a champion of a G5 league, which would be Cincinnati at this point. Making a New Years Six game and eventually the expanded playoff is still a huge hurdle.

[BEARZ77]

This weekend MVFC SIU takes down Northwestern and Missouri State is taking Arkansas to the wire. Yes App State had a great infomercial, but they made their name by beating Michigan as an FCS. North Dakota State has brought ESPN Gameday to Fargo. So it's pretty clear you don't need to be FBS to grab headlines. Yes it helps but it's an expensive proposition.

Coastal Carolina lost $36 million last year.
Texas State lost $27 million
Louisiana-Lafayette lost $25 million
South Alabama and Georgia State each lost $23 million
Troy $22 million
App State $20 million
Georgia Southern $19 million
These numbers include their payday games.

Northern Illinois had put all their eggs in the football basket for decades and while they have a nice practice facility and play the occasional big game the rest of their campus is neglected as the athletic department bleeds money. But the grass is always greener.

As an aside I don't think any Sun Belt team is taking a playoff bid. Marshall just lost to Bowling Green. It is exciting to think about but the AAC has historically hogged those Access Bowl bids, with the MAC taking a couple. But the SB will probably get one maybe two a decade

You seem to have a lot invested in arguing against a school considering moving up. I get many of your arguments, have made some of the same myself over the years. And I'm one of those who thinks FBS and high level FCS will all be together in the [near] future. But I also think you overstate some of the points. All schools besides about 50-60 lose money on sports , including Bradley , so it's really just a matter of how much you lose and what your sense of the benefit is in doing so. Some of that benefit is blue sky, but many see value in that, and some have tangible value like a football booster contributing to other building projects. Missouri State is in , I won't say a unique situation, but one different than many at our level. We have a large enrollment and are the second largest university in the state, and there really is no competitor except MU . We have great facilities and a great campus overall, so no real issues with football robbing us of that; actually it's football that needs more attention that way[ facility wise] . We've always had a well rounded athletics department , made the NCAA's in baseball, softball, soccer, wbb, the FCS playoffs and the mens NIT last year, have dominated swimming and diving for a decade in the valley; the point being, we have healthy programs established, so I'm not overly concerned football will crash everything. It's a risk, but what's wrong with risk.

I think if I was a Bradley fan, I'd be looking at taking some risk or whether sitting safe in a cocoon has been smart given almost all your original constituents in the MVC have found their way to better settings while Bradley stayed pat. Look at Cinn., Memphis, WSU, SLU, Louisville, Tulsa, etc ; all gone and much higher status Even later adds like Loyola and Creighton, in and out of the Valley to better settings. I started following the MVC in the 60's and I think only Drake and Bradley were members then that still are. Nothing wrong with that, but you have to think about why have all those other schools been able to move up and not Bradley. Perhaps the same small mindedness .

Also I think some of you look at bowl games as the payoff in FBS; it's the noncon games . Missouri State got $450,000 I think for the Arkansas game,if we were FBS it would have been more like 1.4 million. Again , who knows what it all will look like in 5 years, I just like our options and the fact we are open to their consideration.