Bluehens to FBS?

[Gil Dobie]

Sam Herder link

Delaware’s silent-fundraise-stage north-end-zone-adjoining indoor facility project (80 mil) has not been publicly announced,] But some who have been briefed on the venture have been told it signals a likely move up to FBS, Delaware Online has learned.”

[Wildcat Ryan]

Sometimes it pays to be a team on the east coast.

[GannonFan]

I think it's going to finally happen. Not sure what it will look like exactly, and likely whatever the move is may not be a final move in terms of conference affiliation (that could be fluid for many years to come as eastern, and especially northeastern FBS football is kinda a murky proposition - think UMass and UConn as examples). But it's good to see UD is finally seeing the light and that hanging out in the CAA is not a long term viable option for the type of vibrant football program (and really other sports programs too) that they'd like to have.

[Pwns]

Said basically the same thing on AGS, but if you're East of the Mississippi and you're a school like UD, Kennesaw, or Jacksonville State there just aren't any really good homes in FCS that won't make you a complete geographic outlier.

I can get why some Blue Hen fans might not be overly happy with this but I'm glad they're not going to just let their program whither on a vine. TBH I think UD can be better than non-P5 northeastern teams like Temple, UMass, and UConn.

[GannonFan]

Said basically the same thing on AGS, but if you're East of the Mississippi and you're a school like UD, Kennesaw, or Jacksonville State there just aren't any really good homes in FCS that won't make you a complete geographic outlier.

I can get why some Blue Hen fans might not be overly happy with this but I'm glad they're not going to just let their program whither on a vine. TBH I think UD can be better than non-P5 northeastern teams like Temple, UMass, and UConn.

It would've been better to do this a decade ago when the fanbase was more vibrant. UD tried to jack up prices to season ticket holders while not improving anything on the field or the facilities and it drove away a lot of the generational fans. Season ticket holder base used to be up around 11k, now it's likely 5k or so. But, don't have a time machine so we can't go back and change the past. The current administration for UD is actually really good so if these are the people driving the bus on a move to FBS then I feel better about it. But yes, there is a better foundation here than what any of those other non-P5 northeastern teams have had, and UD isn't that far north as well so they're not as impacted by the lack of a football base you see in those far northern regimes.