5 Markets That NEED FCS Football

[NAU_Alum10]

I grew up in small town Artesia NM in the southeast part of the state and thats even TECH territory. I would go so far as saying anything from Amarillo to the north, the whole eastern part of NM to the east, Odessa/Midland area to the south Red Raider territory and they are pretty passionate. Tech for the longest time granted in-state tuition rates to our high school. Im my opioion no body would care if there was another college football program in this area, because the Raiders rule this roost.

As for New Mexico football its in such a mess,I dont think FCS would work there at all. Portales(ENMU) 11,000 pop. is in the middle of nowhere hard to get to, same thing for Silver City (WNMU) 10,000 pop. UNM and NMSU tend to turn their noses up at the few talented in-state players so it rubs the locals the wrong way. Oh and before someone says theres no talent in NM Landry Jones the pride of my hometown has the keys to Bob Stoops offense in Norman. College football just doesnt draw well in this state....as far as college sports in NM it begins and ends with the PIT and lobo mens basketball.

[Keeper]

How about Kansas ???

[Green Cookie Monster]

The problem with Cal-State Northridge was it's a commuter school. I flew down one year when they hosted the Bobcats and I don't think they even had dorms. Their football facility was inferior to almost any Class AA highschool facility in Montana- a set of bleachers on each side (one side had what was literally a plywood shack attached to the top which was the press box) and a small bleacher at one end zone (but they did have a small beer garden on that end ). There were probably as many Montana St. fans as Northridge fans at the game- commuter schools just don't draw a crowd. I think the campus also suffered some major quake damage which probably didn't help the whole situation. It's too bad because both Montana schools have recruited CA over the years and that opened some doors, but the last couple years Montana St. has worked the Texas circuit much more due to connections one of the assistant coaches has there.

It's not just CSUN that's like that, is part of the problem; nearly every CSU is like that except for basically Chico, and San Jose (kindof), fresno and san diego (who already have teams -chico). But i personally think that having a football team is part of that equation, it helps build a campus community. or at least, it can

There is one school in UCSB that is begging for a football team. I mean, just the way the campus is, the way DP is on a friday night, you go there and you ask yourself, how can this place not have a football team? But for the most part, the commuter school issue isn't particular to any one CSU, it's pretty systemic throughout (i didn't know SFSU was a commuter school before i went there from bakersfield...)

What constitutes a commuter school? In the case of Sac they have six on-campus dorms that house ~1,800 students, BUT the surrounding area is mostly residentual and I know from experience that perhaps close to 10K students live within walking, bus or bike to campus. Pretty much the entire community across the Guy West bridge is made up of students or professors. I don't think it is necessary a symptom that you are labeled a 'commuter school' that keeps fans away.

In the case of Northridge, they have like 10 CSU campuses within driving distance. Too much parity and with bare bones funding, nothing to make any one campus stand out as a leader. In towns/cities where there is only one CSU they seem to have better attendance.

[bucs90]

The one school that doesn't have it that needs it is the College of Charleston. Of course, The Citadel is about 1 mile down the road, and Charleston Southern is 15 miles up the road, but CofC is a big school located in the middle of a metro area of about 800,000 people, and the school has rabid support for it's successful basketball program. They have a lot of land across the river to build a stadium.

But the best part would be the Citadel vs College of Charleston rivalry expanding to football. The two schools are both in the Southern Conference, so it would be a conference rivalry between two schools whose campuses literally almost overlap. In fact, for a while most Citadel cheerleaders were volunteer females who were CofC students!! May still be that way. Talk about a bitter rivalry! The "Downtown Throwdown", I can see it already, sold out Johnson Hagood, massive tailgate party, would be awesome.

[frinq]

Commuter schools - I dunno. There's something to that. Driving in just for classes and then home again means your focus isn't on university happenings. And there's just too much happening in Portland. Sure, we've got dorms like Sac State that house maybe 2-3000 - but that's still only 2-3000. "Commuter" also means older working students, often with their own families and family things to do. Not particularly football-inclined. Hell, we have 28,000 students and recently draw only 7-8000 to a football game. BUT. Winning plays a much larger role in attendance. A media sold out to UO, OSU and the Pac-10 plays a big role for us. I'm impressed that we've drawn 5000 over the past three years of losing under Glanville. With new coach Burton winning (he might) attendance will go up again. Could reach 16-18000 - we've done it before.

[txstatebobcat]

Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley are two areas in Texas that would have successful FCS schools. Corpus Christi metro population is around 400,000 while the RGV metro is around 1.2 million people. Both of these areas are pretty isolated and have no major league professional sports to compete with and would quickly become the home team. Corpus Christi A&M and UT-PanAm would be the obvious choices.

[kalm]

Denver?

[Col Hogan]

Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley are two areas in Texas that would have successful FCS schools. Corpus Christi metro population is around 400,000 while the RGV metro is around 1.2 million people. Both of these areas are pretty isolated and have no major league professional sports to compete with and would quickly become the home team. Corpus Christi A&M and UT-PanAm would be the obvious choices.

+1

Really an untapped market...

[FWJack]

Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley are two areas in Texas that would have successful FCS schools. Corpus Christi metro population is around 400,000 while the RGV metro is around 1.2 million people. Both of these areas are pretty isolated and have no major league professional sports to compete with and would quickly become the home team. Corpus Christi A&M and UT-PanAm would be the obvious choices.

+1

Really an untapped market...

Isn't A&M Kingsville just southwest of Corpus? Over the last two decades they have been a very powerful DII program. Think this would be an excellent option to move up? What would happen if A&M Corpus Christi started up football. Would that hurt interest in the A&M Kingsville product?

[Sader87]

Just for the record, UVM essentially had FCS football until the early 1970's. They were a member of the Yankee Conference and played some Ivies etc. for OOC games. Not sure the #'s are there though to get back to that level.

[rowdy]

The saint louis area is an excellent spot to have a FCS program. We have Washington University in St Louis in the D III ranks, and we have Lindenwood University in the NAIA who have really become a power on that level and who has been approved to enter D II and most likely the MIAA and they're located in st charles, mo. We are big sports town in all sports and the MIZZOU-Illinois game which is held here is always a sell out as well as our Gateway Classic. Biggest problem is there isnt any real options. SLU doesnt have a football team and im not sure what the feel is about starting one. Lindenwood is D2 bound, and Wash U isnt going to move up. I think SLU could start up a program and get some good homegrown talent from right here