Explain this to me

[Wufan]

I don't see the Sunbelt as an upgrade from FCS. Maybe I'm wrong. The Big East Basketball conference is making a name for itself without football. My guess would be that MSU is much closer to Big East basketball than FBS football.

[squirrel]

I don't see the Sunbelt as an upgrade from FCS. Maybe I'm wrong. The Big East Basketball conference is making a name for itself without football. My guess would be that MSU is much closer to Big East basketball than FBS football.

That's not the point. If you have the opportunity of playing football at the highest possible level, you do it. While technically being FBS non-big 4 may not seem like that big a deal, it's all about positioning and leverage. The higher level football you play, the greater your leverage. Where MSU has a leg up on all the others they'd be competing against for the Sun Belt spot is they already have a solid hoops program/following.

Football ruins everything. I wish it didn't, but it does.

[squirrel]

You can't argue about it being a step down in basketball, it is, but it's an enormous step up in football and is a step up in baseball.

It may seem ridiculous now, but NCAA baseball will likely see major economic growth at its highest level. Moving to a more southern-oriented league in this regard is also a big enticement for the move.

[Wufan]

I don't see the Sunbelt as an upgrade from FCS. Maybe I'm wrong. The Big East Basketball conference is making a name for itself without football. My guess would be that MSU is much closer to Big East basketball than FBS football.

That's not the point. If you have the opportunity of playing football at the highest possible level, you do it. While technically being FBS non-big 4 may not seem like that big a deal, it's all about positioning and leverage.

And I think this is where many fans on this board disagree. There is no positioning or leverage in the Sunbelt. The BCS is more likely to cut bait with the Sunbelt than allow them to tag along.

[Wufan]

You can't argue about it being a step down in basketball, it is, but it's an enormous step up in football and is a step up in baseball.

It may seem ridiculous now, but NCAA baseball will likely see major economic growth at its highest level. Moving to a more southern-oriented league in this regard is also a big enticement for the move.

Yes, this seems ridiculous when compared to Men's Basketball.

[jwa123]

There is leverage to be gained by moving to the Sunbelt from FCS football. You may not see it from Wichita but just because you don't see it from your basketball slanted viewpoint does not mean it doesn't exist. If there wasn't I'd ask why have all these schools made that move in the last 10 years and why do we continue to hear about other FCS schools exploring the possiblity?

I find it amusing that the attack dogs on this are associated with WSU. Why do all of you care? You're leaving the conference anyway. The AAC, MWC, A10 or Big East all beckon you.

As I stated earlier, I hope it doesn't happen but if it does I understand. Perhap ISUr will be in a position to make that move at some point.

[da_bears]

What does MSU have to gain by staying in the MVC? We will get about 1 or 2 games against a ranked opponent each year, but that ranked opponent is an MVC team so it still means nothing on a post season resume.
Winning the MVC regular season outright didn't earn us an NCAA trip.
Finishing the season win an RPI of 21 meant nothing because the MVC isn't respected.

CU is gone and WSU is shopping, the MVC isn't a destination and the replacement options are low majors.

MSU is looking at the future, do we want to play basketball games in the Dakotas in Janurary, or would we rather play baseball games in the south? Do we want to play in South Dakota and Iowa where we don't recruit, or do we want to play in Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina?. We aren't dropping football and we are stuck without moving to FBS. Without going FBS, we will never even be an option for the AAC, CUSA, or MWC. Those conferences aren't going to be calling anytime soon, but they will NEVER call if we stay in the MVFC and the Sun Belt is our foot in the door.

[rlh04d]

There is leverage to be gained by moving to the Sunbelt from FCS football. You may not see it from Wichita but just because you don't see it from your basketball slanted viewpoint does not mean it doesn't exist.

So basically, because your school has football, you automatically understand the concept of football movement far better than anyone from Wichita, because WSU doesn't have football?

I'm a Florida State and Oklahoma grad. Obviously any opinion I hold on football now automatically trumps yours

I wouldn't attack the idea. I absolutely understand why MoSt would do it, and I think they will. But the Sun Belt is a marginal improvement over the FCS. And I don't think a lot of the schools that are interested in moving from FCS to FBS are entirely rational about their reasoning. Low level FBS football is simply not profitable. It's mostly about making the fans happy because the fans want to be at the highest level possible, IMO. I still personally think the more teams join FBS, the closer we are to the BCS conferences re-writing the rules. And so I feel bad for teams that are looking to spend significant amounts of money to get to FBS level because I don't know if they'll be able to stay at that level.

I think the issue of moving to FBS is bigger than just wanting to play at the highest level, and people simplify it too much. The FBS is simply much more expensive to compete at than the FCS. FCS teams are almost never successful moving to the FBS ... in fact, of the 24 or so FCS teams to switch since 1978, I'd say two of those have been successful: Boise State and UConn. And only Boise State had to actually build their program ... UConn was able to just spend Big East money on it. That's a big failure rate. Most of those FCS schools outside of those two have not been successful, I don't believe any of them have ever made a BCS bowl game, most are unprofitable, etc.

Doesn't bother me any if MoSt moves on, and I think they will. But there's a more to it than most talk about.

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2013 ... ve-to-fbs/
http://www.bcinterruption.com/2013/8/22 ... s-football
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... s-foo.aspx

[squirrel]

And I think this is where many fans on this board disagree. There is no positioning or leverage in the Sunbelt. The BCS is more likely to cut bait with the Sunbelt than allow them to tag along.

And this is where that thinking is wrong. Just because the Valley is a good basketball league and its fans understand that and live for it...we are like less than 1% of reality.

It has nothing to do with the lack of prestige of the football conference, but everything to do with the fact that it is football at the highest possible division they can reach.

Drake has better positioning and leverage than Wichita or Bradley simply because they have football. If Wichita is able to move up in basketball, if league football is an issue, the Bulldogs are the team that might get to tag along. It doesn't matter that its non-scholly football, but simply that they have football.

Football controls everything. Basketball ultimately is irrelevant.

[rlh04d]

Football controls everything. Basketball ultimately is irrelevant.

Aww. So that's why the Big East makes more revenue than the AAC.