Hofstra is dropping football

[Noles & Griz]

In addition to the additional revenue from bowl games, being in the WAC also gives more money from the NCAA tournaments in all sports as they consistently put more than 1 team in almost all NCAA sanctioned tournaments, where as the BSC usually only has 1.

Western Kentucky is a bad example, as they are only in year 2 of being in FBS, Marshall has absolutely had success in FBS, having been to several bowl games since the move up and have won at least 2-3 conference championships. In addition to that, they are on the Big East "shortlist" for potential additions to the conference.

Have you looked into Marshall this year. Dead in the water. 2/3 attendance, need a new coach, Once the Mo stops in Marshall it will take years to get it going again if ever. IMO they tried and gave it a good run buy in the end they failed and aren't going to make it.

Dead in the water? Do you even pay attention? Marshall went 6-6 and will likely get about a million dollar payday by going to the EagleBank Bowl. Prestigious? No. Dead in the Water? Absolutely not.

 

[jagur1]

Have you looked into Marshall this year. Dead in the water. 2/3 attendance, need a new coach, Once the Mo stops in Marshall it will take years to get it going again if ever. IMO they tried and gave it a good run buy in the end they failed and aren't going to make it.

Dead in the water? Do you even pay attention? Marshall went 6-6 and will likely get about a million dollar payday by going to the EagleBank Bowl. Prestigious? No. Dead in the Water? Absolutely not.

Bullshit, google the Marshall paper. Million dollars laugh my ass off do you have a clue how the minor bowls pay out. Yeah it says a million but the schools see far far less. In 20 years we'll still be talking about the 60 or so Big Conf schools. (Big east, ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC) Miami, FSU are the only schools that I can think of that have been allowed in by the big schools. Maybe Boise and TCU have a chance if the MWC or WAC every get accepted. All the other Marshall, Northwesteastsouthern region, commutter schools will not be accepted. Marshall is going to be on that Big East waiting list for a long time. I'm not against moving up. I'm against moving up to be in a crap conf. playing on Friday night in front of a half empty stadium. If the MWC wanted Montana I'm all for it.

 

[Noles & Griz]

Dead in the water? Do you even pay attention? Marshall went 6-6 and will likely get about a million dollar payday by going to the EagleBank Bowl. Prestigious? No. Dead in the Water? Absolutely not.

Bullshit, google the Marshall paper. Million dollars laugh my ass off do you have a clue how the minor bowls pay out. Yeah it says a million but the schools see far far less. In 20 years we'll still be talking about the 60 or so Big Conf schools. (Big east, ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC) Miami, FSU are the only schools that I can think of that have been allowed in by the big schools. Maybe Boise and TCU have a chance if the MWC or WAC every get accepted. All the other Marshall, Northwesteastsouthern region, commutter schools will not be accepted. Marshall is going to be on that Big East waiting list for a long time. I'm not against moving up. I'm against moving up to be in a crap conf. playing on Friday night in front of a half empty stadium. If the MWC wanted Montana I'm all for it.

I honestly do not know how C-USA distributes bowl money, but regardless, the conference will bring in around 5-6 million dollars this bowl season, and the EagleBank payout is $1,000,000 per school. Even if that is distributed evenly, it would still be around $500,000 for the school. That is a good chunk of money. Marshall may be on a waiting list for the Big East, but it is better to have your foot in the door for those conferences than not at all.

Saying that WaGriz would not be packed for a nationally televised Friday night game against Boise or Utah or Tulsa or whomever is assinine. You are basically saying that UM has a terrible fan base and would not show up just because the game is on Friday. Do you realize how silly that sounds? I know I hold the Grizzlies fan base in a lot higher regard than that.

 

[jagur1]

Bullshit, google the Marshall paper. Million dollars laugh my ass off do you have a clue how the minor bowls pay out. Yeah it says a million but the schools see far far less. In 20 years we'll still be talking about the 60 or so Big Conf schools. (Big east, ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC) Miami, FSU are the only schools that I can think of that have been allowed in by the big schools. Maybe Boise and TCU have a chance if the MWC or WAC every get accepted. All the other Marshall, Northwesteastsouthern region, commutter schools will not be accepted. Marshall is going to be on that Big East waiting list for a long time. I'm not against moving up. I'm against moving up to be in a crap conf. playing on Friday night in front of a half empty stadium. If the MWC wanted Montana I'm all for it.

I honestly do not know how C-USA distributes bowl money, but regardless, the conference will bring in around 5-6 million dollars this bowl season, and the EagleBank payout is $1,000,000 per school. Even if that is distributed evenly, it would still be around $500,000 for the school. That is a good chunk of money. Marshall may be on a waiting list for the Big East, but it is better to have your foot in the door for those conferences than not at all.

Saying that WaGriz would not be packed for a nationally televised Friday night game against Boise or Utah or Tulsa or whomever is assinine. You are basically saying that UM has a terrible fan base and would not show up just because the game is on Friday. Do you realize how silly that sounds? I know I hold the Grizzlies fan base in a lot higher regard than that.

have you watched the ESPN games on Monday, Tuesday, We, Fri. Other than 12-0 Boise the crowds suck because it's 5-6 Central Michagan vrs 7-4 Bowling Green. The only time a mid game week espn game is packed is if one of the teams is ranked high or if its a major conf. Question Is this High regards fan base going to sell out this weekend? How do you think that 4-7 LA Tech vrs the 5-6 Griz on Friday night do on 12/4/21015? I'm the biggest griz stroker you'd want to meet, but even I realize when we over stroke ourselves. Payouts for Conf USA teams are far below value once tickets not sold are subtracted from the payout. Look it up.

 

[jagur1]

http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2009/11/29/Snyder-resigns-as-Marshall-football-coach/UPI-53931259539577/

It's the internet. Nice 5 year record in front of a half empty stadium. I'm thinking they had a lot more fun back in 1995?

 

[jagur1]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/257660-fan-support-waining-for-marshall-football

Another one on how half the stand had SIU fans.

 

[Noles & Griz]

I honestly do not know how C-USA distributes bowl money, but regardless, the conference will bring in around 5-6 million dollars this bowl season, and the EagleBank payout is $1,000,000 per school. Even if that is distributed evenly, it would still be around $500,000 for the school. That is a good chunk of money. Marshall may be on a waiting list for the Big East, but it is better to have your foot in the door for those conferences than not at all.

Saying that WaGriz would not be packed for a nationally televised Friday night game against Boise or Utah or Tulsa or whomever is assinine. You are basically saying that UM has a terrible fan base and would not show up just because the game is on Friday. Do you realize how silly that sounds? I know I hold the Grizzlies fan base in a lot higher regard than that.

have you watched the ESPN games on Monday, Tuesday, We, Fri. Other than 12-0 Boise the crowds suck because it's 5-6 Central Michagan vrs 7-4 Bowling Green. The only time a mid game week espn game is packed is if one of the teams is ranked high or if its a major conf. Question Is this High regards fan base going to sell out this weekend? How do you think that 4-7 LA Tech vrs the 5-6 Griz on Friday night do on 12/4/21015? I'm the biggest griz stroker you'd want to meet, but even I realize when we over stroke ourselves. Payouts for Conf USA teams are far below value once tickets not sold are subtracted from the payout. Look it up.

The biggest difference is looking at who is around those schools, the big schools:

C. Michigan: Most of the area are fans of Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame
LA Tech: LSU, Tulane, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, etc are all in close vicinity
Bowling Green: Louisville, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame

Who else is around Missoula? There are no other big schools in the area that make Missoula area fans not care about that local team. Fans dont go to CMU, BG, LA Tech, etc because they don't care. Boise always has a pretty full house because there is nobody around to cheer for other than them.

 

[Grizbeer]

While I usually stay on the sideline with this discussion it should be pointed out that I believe Boise runs an athletic budget that's about $11,000,000 higher than the UMs. Where would we make up those costs to be at that level?

Adding more sports won't, most added sports will probably not increase revenues but decrease it.

Moving up is probably something that will have to be done at some point, but just to say, "Hey look, Boise can do it!" isn't telling the whole story. Boise did it b/c they had the financial ability to do so. We could aslo point out that Idaho, W. Kentucky, and Marshall to name a few have really had very limited success if any at all at the next level.

You could be right about this figure - I don't doubt it is true now. However, according to the the NCAA Financial Reports Database, as reported by the IndyStar, in the 2004-2005 school year Boise had revenues of $16,693,080, while Montana had revenues of $15,340,537, a difference of $1,352,543. Additionally Boise received NCAA/Conference distributions of $2,298,468, while Montana received NCAA/Conference distributions of $925,595, a difference of $1,372,873. Excluding NCAA/Conference distributions Montana had higher revenue than Boise State 5 years ago.

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/revenue_stat/show_school_comparison

So if Boise State now has a budget $11 million higher than Montana it means in the last 5 years they took the $1.4 million in additional revenues the NCAA/WAC gave them and turned in into an additional $10 million, while in the same period Montana hosted 9 playoff games, had a semi-final and NC game appearance, and fell $10 million further behind our former peer school.

 

[griz4life]

And, even once there were lights installed (which is another big expense), I wonder just how many people would travel from the far points of Montana to a Tuesday or Wednesday night game? Not many, I fear, and you do need to remember that a large chunk of UM's fans are not here in Missoula.

That is the consequence that bothers me the most about going FBS. There will be many out of town fans who can't make games in the middle of the week. That's not FBS' fault, necessarily. It has everything to do with craving national exposure at any cost.
I watched the Ducks and the Beavers on Thursday night on ESPN. It was a great game, but I just kept thinking a game that storied deserved to be played on Saturday. I don't ever want to see Griz-Cat played in the middle of the week just so a bunch of out of staters can watch.

 

[General Disarray]

I honestly do not know how C-USA distributes bowl money, but regardless, the conference will bring in around 5-6 million dollars this bowl season, and the EagleBank payout is $1,000,000 per school. Even if that is distributed evenly, it would still be around $500,000 for the school. That is a good chunk of money. Marshall may be on a waiting list for the Big East, but it is better to have your foot in the door for those conferences than not at all.

Saying that WaGriz would not be packed for a nationally televised Friday night game against Boise or Utah or Tulsa or whomever is assinine. You are basically saying that UM has a terrible fan base and would not show up just because the game is on Friday. Do you realize how silly that sounds? I know I hold the Grizzlies fan base in a lot higher regard than that.

have you watched the ESPN games on Monday, Tuesday, We, Fri. Other than 12-0 Boise the crowds suck because it's 5-6 Central Michagan vrs 7-4 Bowling Green. The only time a mid game week espn game is packed is if one of the teams is ranked high or if its a major conf. Question Is this High regards fan base going to sell out this weekend? How do you think that 4-7 LA Tech vrs the 5-6 Griz on Friday night do on 12/4/21015? I'm the biggest griz stroker you'd want to meet, but even I realize when we over stroke ourselves. Payouts for Conf USA teams are far below value once tickets not sold are subtracted from the payout. Look it up.

38 FBS schools average under 25,000 attendance, including the schools you mentioned. That's 32% of the division. If the attendance for one of those games you saw looked bad, then it's probably because that's the culture of the program, university, and town, not because of the day of the week. JMO.

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/football_records/Attendance/2008.pdf

 

[General Disarray]

List of bowl game payouts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_bowl_games

 

[General Disarray]

Do people forget that the loudest and rowdiest atmosphere that WA-Griz has had in recent history happened on a Friday evening? December 8, 2006. UMass. I just don't buy the fact that weekday ESPN games will be a bust in Missoula. Facing a challenging opponent and being broadcast nationally is when Griz fans, and often Griz football, bring their best.

Also keep in mind that this is something that would maybe happen every couple of years if UM were FBS. It shouldn't be a big factor in the discussion. It's not like half UM's games would be played on Tuesday.

 

[jagur1]

GD I'm not against a move up. If done with the proper funding and the correct conf. I'm all for it. I'm against a bunch of people pointing to marshall as a successful move up. Marshall is not a successful move up. FSU and Miami are the only successful move ups that I can point to in the last 40 years. Maybe Boise can do it? I will let you know in 15 to 20 years. If the Griz move up I want a long term approach. Becoming a major member of a solid conf. should be the only goal.

 

[TheBud]

With major forced budget cuts this year and the next few by state governments, expect many more universities to cut football. We have only seen the start of it.

 

[General Disarray]

GD I'm not against a move up. If done with the proper funding and the correct conf. I'm all for it. I'm against a bunch of people pointing to marshall as a successful move up. Marshall is not a successful move up. FSU and Miami are the only successful move ups that I can point to in the last 40 years. Maybe Boise can do it? I will let you know in 15 to 20 years. If the Griz move up I want a long term approach. Becoming a major member of a solid conf. should be the only goal.

I agree that supporting one side of an argument blindly without considering contrary evidence is stupid, and I am more or less in the middle on this, but . . . do you really not consider Boise State's conference change a success????? WIthin 10 years their athletic department has gone off the charts of whatever success they could have possibly predicted.

And if we're going to step back and look at this from the macro time scale, then we shouldn't forget that UM used to be members of the PCC along with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, and Idaho, so we should change the nomenclature to "move back" rather than "move up".

 

[jagur1]

GD I'm not against a move up. If done with the proper funding and the correct conf. I'm all for it. I'm against a bunch of people pointing to marshall as a successful move up. Marshall is not a successful move up. FSU and Miami are the only successful move ups that I can point to in the last 40 years. Maybe Boise can do it? I will let you know in 15 to 20 years. If the Griz move up I want a long term approach. Becoming a major member of a solid conf. should be the only goal.

I agree that supporting one side of an argument blindly without considering contrary evidence is stupid, and I am more or less in the middle on this, but . . . do you really not consider Boise State's conference change a success????? WIthin 10 years their athletic department has gone off the charts of whatever success they could have possibly predicted.

And if we're going to step back and look at this from the macro time scale, then we shouldn't forget that UM used to be members of the PCC along with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, and Idaho, so we should change the nomenclature to "move back" rather than "move up".

I only wish the state of Montana had the money and will to stay in the PAC. To many people look at a University education as an evil brain washing machine in Helena. I'd love to move back, can we replace WSU?