What's the next realignment domino to fall?

[da_bears]

I think it's great that you put 18000 in the stands, and I sincerely hope you are able to repeat that.

Who'd you play and did you win?

North Dakota of the Big Sky Conf. Bears won big 38-0.

Also, it'd be nice if you guys would bring back football.(I'm assuming your a WSU fan) Seriously, you guys can afford it now and I'd love the rivalry with you guys.

[glm38]

I think it's great that you put 18000 in the stands, and I sincerely hope you are able to repeat that.

Who'd you play and did you win?

We played North Dakota ( university). Bears won 38 - 0

What a great atmosphere we had for this game. And the renovated stadium is beautiful. I'm not really a big football guy but there's something wonderful about college football on a crisp fall evening.

[Snaggletooth]

Seriously, you guys can afford it now and I'd love the rivalry with you guys.

WSU is not going to add football. It is a useless distraction and wastes resources. All you have to do and look around the MVC and see how it destroying athletic programs. It just came out that ISUB can't even afford basketball uniforms and are trying crowdsourcing to fund the purchase.

[da_bears]

Seriously, you guys can afford it now and I'd love the rivalry with you guys.

WSU is not going to add football. It is a useless distraction and wastes resources. All you have to do and look around the MVC and see how it destroying athletic programs. It just came out that ISUB can't even afford basketball uniforms and are trying crowdsourcing to fund the purchase.

useless distraction? Its by far the biggest sport in the US and draws the biggest crowds. MSU football today drew roughly 8,000 more than what your basketball games draw.

[Aargh]

If you can put 18K in the stands, that is awesome. If the average ticket price was in the $20 range and the butts in the sets paid it - and didn't show up for free corporate-purchased tickets, that would be even better.

I have a very bad feeling about FBS non-P5 FB. With maybe $5,000 for "cost of attendance" stipends and another $5,000 for licensing rights per player, the P5 may be dropping $1 mill a year into the pockets of their players. If the non-P5 can't match that, they will be getting a lower tier of recruits.

The P5 look like they're going to basically become a minor league system for the NFL. In an odd turn of events, that could actually escalate FCS FB. It's possible that the P5 become the #1 attraction and BCS becomes the #2 attraction because that's the amateur system on an even playing field.

That could leave non-P5 FBS in some weird never-never land where they're neither relevant as a minor league for the NFL, nor are they relevant for any level of a national championship.

If you can continue putting 15K - 18K butts in seats, then maybe you're ready to move up to FBS. In that case, I wish you the best.

[Aargh]

useless distraction? Its by far the biggest sport in the US and draws the biggest crowds. MSU football today drew roughly 8,000 more than what your basketball games draw.

The NFL and the P5 conferences are the biggest sport in the US. Soccer is starting to move past non-P5 and FCS FB.

Congratulations for having a game where your FB team outdrew WSU basketball. WSU basketball has been averaging 10K+ for about the last 10 years. What has MSU FB been drawing for the last 10 years.

If you think putting 18K in your stands for 1 game makes you relevant, I will be happy to compare WSU's national TV money for athletics to MSU's, even though WSU doesn't offer "the biggest sport in the US". I got news for you, neither does MSU. It would not surprise me if WSU gets more TV revenue from VB than MSU gets from FB.

I suspect that MSU's shares of WSU's NCAA appearances are larger than MSU's TV revenues for their FB team.

[Championz]

Rumor has it there were a lot of $5 tickets for this MSU-UND clash. Is that true?
If true, then it's going to take more than one sold out game full of $5 football tickets (I don't think that would get you into most high school games) to get you to sniff at any FBS doormat door.

If there was a 5 year average of 18,000+ for football games, then you may be on to something. And even then, it would be a longshot at anything meaningful. One sold-out game opening up a renovated stadium doesn't mean squat, except some feel-goodness on a Saturday evening in September in Springfield, Missouri.

If Missouri State is striving to be the next Arkansas State, then more power to them. But Arkansas State is a nobody and I'm sure anybody outside of a 50 mile radius surrounding Hot Springs? (I don't know what city they hail from) even knows Arkansas State (I don't even know their nickname) exists.

[BEARZ77]

The news here is simply Missouri State is trying to see how far they can take their football program ; whether it falls short or whether it makes it to another level isn't even that big a deal. It's just college sports. If you can't allow yourself to entertain the what if's and possibilities of sport, why bother having them. Our administration spent a lot of energy and resources seeing what they could do to provide a better game day experience to our students and community. Today they got rewarded; who knows how that plays out the rest of the year. I appreciate the effort.

[mvcfan]

Congratulations to Missouri St.on 18,000. We been there and done that. It didn't last but the Shockers had numerous football games where we brought in 25,000-30,000 fans to single games. The high attendance didn't last. Right now M.S.U. is in the FCS division and wanting to move up. The Shox have never been anything other than Div. 1 and never will. That just wouldn't fly. However at this time, leadership is putting fund raising into growing the university with the new Innovation Campus initiative as well as trying to grow the student body to 20,000-27,000 students. The Innovation Campus is designed to combine area businesses and WSU research/engineering programs. Maybe some day if timing, support, and funding are aligned, leadership may try to bring it back but right now it isn't part of the vision.

[glm38]

useless distraction? Its by far the biggest sport in the US and draws the biggest crowds. MSU football today drew roughly 8,000 more than what your basketball games draw.

The NFL and the P5 conferences are the biggest sport in the US. Soccer is starting to move past non-P5 and FCS FB.

Congratulations for having a game where your FB team outdrew WSU basketball. WSU basketball has been averaging 10K+ for about the last 10 years. What has MSU FB been drawing for the last 10 years.

If you think putting 18K in your stands for 1 game makes you relevant, I will be happy to compare WSU's national TV money for athletics to MSU's, even though WSU doesn't offer "the biggest sport in the US". I got news for you, neither does MSU. It would not surprise me if WSU gets more TV revenue from VB than MSU gets from FB.

I suspect that MSU's shares of WSU's NCAA appearances are larger than MSU's TV revenues for their FB team.

No reason to get defensive. Every other program in the Valley should be envious of where the Shockers are with your mens basketball program. In regards to football MSU and the Shox have gone different directions that's all. But I wouldn't call football a "useless distraction". There is value in a football program both to a community and to a student body. From a purely monetary standpoint MSU may be better off without football (at least short term) but that doesn't mean it's the best course. Football just adds something special to a college campus.

Can we sustain this? I don't know but it's sure exciting to think about. I know I hadn't attended a game in several years but my wife and plan to attend the rest of the home games this year after yesterday.