JMU AD: Move to FBS "very likely" in 18-24 months

[rufus]

Arguments here aside, hosting Indiana and Syracuse and whatever small incremental increase you might get for bringing them in to play at your stadium once every 5 years is not enough to justify moving to 1A football.

What fills the seats is a league where you can hate your rivals that you play once a year.

I agree with this statement. That's why I would love to see JMU move up with some natural peers/rivals like App State, ODU, and Delaware. Having a core group of rivalries would certainly help build a program. The ability to schedule some BCS home games and the occasional neutral site game (like WVU @ FedEx in 2012) would be icing on the cake.

[UD1Hens]

Would a home OOC game every other year vs a lower level program from the "Big Four 16 team league" get your fanbase all hot and heavy? I just don't see the glamor of UD hosting an Indiana or Syracuse maybe once every 3 years. It's a catch 22...you sit on your hands and get left for dead or you make the jump to the FBS into a non Big 4 conference and guarantee your year finishes with a trip to Detroit for the 6-5 vs 6-5 TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl.

[rufus]

FCS related: Looks like some more spots will be opening up in the CAA in a couple years.

What (if any) is the CAA exit fee?

$250,000 for CAA football, but there is an exception if the "institution changes its football sub-divisional affiliation to the Bowl Subdivision." In that case, there is no exit fee.

Keep in mind, the CAA football bylaws were written by several schools with their eyes on FBS.

http://www.nmnathletics.com/fls/8500/su ... OOKweb.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mcveyrl]

Would a home OOC game every other year vs a lower level program from the "Big Four 16 team league" get your fanbase all hot and heavy? I just don't see the glamor of UD hosting an Indiana or Syracuse maybe once every 3 years. It's a catch 22...you sit on your hands and get left for dead or you make the jump to the FBS into a non Big 4 conference and guarantee your year finishes with a trip to Detroit for the 6-5 vs 6-5 TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl.

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

[Skjellyfetti]

Arguments here aside, hosting Indiana and Syracuse and whatever small incremental increase you might get for bringing them in to play at your stadium once every 5 years is not enough to justify moving to 1A football.

What fills the seats is a league where you can hate your rivals that you play once a year.

I agree with you there. I'm just dispelling myths that BCS schools don't travel to non-BCS schools.

A conference with regional rivalries is important to the success of a program moving up. No doubt about it... our AD has emphasized it.

JMU announcing they are wanting to move up now... at the same time that Appalachian is looking for a conference... is good for both programs. If they moved to a conference like the Sun Belt together... they would have that regional rivalry. I loved all the JMU games we played several years ago and had been hoping that series could be renewed. JMU - Appalachian would be a great conference rivals. Certainly better than our "traditional" rivals like WCU. We could just repaint a bulldog over the cat and carry on.

[∞∞∞]

Arguments here aside, hosting Indiana and Syracuse and whatever small incremental increase you might get for bringing them in to play at your stadium once every 5 years is not enough to justify moving to 1A football.

What fills the seats is a league where you can hate your rivals that you play once a year.

I agree with this statement. That's why I would love to see JMU move up with some natural peers/rivals like App State, ODU, and Delaware. Having a core group of rivalries would certainly help build a program. The ability to schedule some BCS home games and the occasional neutral site game (like WVU @ FedEx in 2012) would be icing on the cake.

This does nothing for me. I want ODU to have a fair shot at a National Championship in the level they're competing at. I don't want our student-athletes to work their asses off for three months, go 9-2, and then be told by some fat-cats that they won't even have the chance to play for what they worked so hard for, but that they can play a consolation game named after a fast-food joint for some trophy that represents nothing.

That's not what the spirit of collegiate athletics is all about; I don't want the school I love so much to be part of that environment. Unless the FBS is revamped so that it rewards dedication and hard work for ALL student-athletes, I can't in good-faith support any such move.

[Skjellyfetti]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

13,027 attendance for Delaware - EWU

vs.

32,431 attendance for FIU - Toledo

That's more than twice the fans that find Detroit more appealing than Frisco.

[Skjellyfetti]

I want ODU to have a fair shot at a National Championship in the level they're competing at. I don't want our student-athletes to work their asses off for three months, go 9-2, and then be told by some fat-cats that they won't even have the chance to play for what they worked so hard for

Like 2009?

[rufus]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

Yes, I would rather go 13-0 to be rewarded with a game in a soccer stadium located in the outer suburbs of Dallas.

[HIU 93]

Good luck JMU.

[bluehenbillk]

Not counting the Big East which will likely not be a BCS league in the very near future as 93Hen said.

What other BCS schools are travelling to MAC schools? Honest question - I've never heard of that.

Akron - hosted Syracuse this year (I'm exempting Syracuse from your Big East clause since it looks like they're moving to the ACC) and hosted Indiana in 2010,

Bowling Green - hosted Minnesota in 2008

Buffalo - hosted Pittsburgh in 2008 (exempted from your Big East clause since it appears they're moving to the ACC)

Miami (OH) - hosted Northwestern, Syracuse, and Vanderbilt in past few years

Ohio University - hosted Pittsburgh

Ball State - hosted Indiana

Central Michigan - hosted Indiana

Toledo - hosted Arizona, Kansas, (Purdue and Iowa State in same year), Colorado

Western Michigan - hosted Indiana


So, looks like we've got some Pac-12, Big 10, SEC, (future) ACC, and Big XII representation.

You were saying?

Temple just hosted Penn State & does so about every third year or so. Also, they have a home & home scheduled with Notre Dame.

[urmite]

Do we really have any idea what the postseason will look like for Non-BCS FBS in a year or two? If the 64 teams or so of the "New" BCS, have an 8 team playoff without the Non-BCS, will the bowl system outside of that continue?

[UD1Hens]

13,027 attendance for Delaware - EWU

vs.

32,431 attendance for FIU - Toledo

That's more than twice the fans that find Detroit more appealing than Frisco.

Considering Frisco TX is about 24 hours away by car from both EWU and Delaware...

Or considering that Toledo is 1 HOUR from Detroit I'm not surprised their upper 20k fanbase made the short drive.

Driving one hour, turning around after the game and heading home is a heck of a lot cheaper than roundtrip flights from Philly/Spokane to Dallas. Plus the cost of hotels, food, flight tickets for each person.

[urmite]

Akron - hosted Syracuse this year (I'm exempting Syracuse from your Big East clause since it looks like they're moving to the ACC) and hosted Indiana in 2010,

Bowling Green - hosted Minnesota in 2008

Buffalo - hosted Pittsburgh in 2008 (exempted from your Big East clause since it appears they're moving to the ACC)

Miami (OH) - hosted Northwestern, Syracuse, and Vanderbilt in past few years

Ohio University - hosted Pittsburgh

Ball State - hosted Indiana

Central Michigan - hosted Indiana

Toledo - hosted Arizona, Kansas, (Purdue and Iowa State in same year), Colorado

Western Michigan - hosted Indiana


So, looks like we've got some Pac-12, Big 10, SEC, (future) ACC, and Big XII representation.

You were saying?

Temple just hosted Penn State & does so about every third year or so. Also, they have a home & home scheduled with Notre Dame.

Even if they haven't won in 70 years....

But I didn't know they regularly hosted PSU.

[mcveyrl]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

13,027 attendance for Delaware - EWU

vs.

32,431 attendance for FIU - Toledo

That's more than twice the fans that find Detroit more appealing than Frisco.

2010 Detroit Population - 713,777

2010 Frisco Population - 116,989

Not sure we're talking about fans from teams that are attending the game. In fact, if we assume that the same percentage of Detroit's population attended the game as the percentage of Frisco's population attended, less fans chose Detroit.

[mcveyrl]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

Yes, I would rather go 13-0 to be rewarded with a game in a soccer stadium located in the outer suburbs of Dallas.

I'm not saying there aren't drawbacks with our current situation, but I'm not sure the grass is necessarily greener over there. At least the game in the soccer stadium would mean something other than $300 gift bags to our players.

[UD1Hens]

Not sure we're talking about fans from teams that are attending the game. In fact, if we assume that the same percentage of Detroit's population attended the game as the percentage of Frisco's population attended, less fans chose Detroit.

Toledo is one hour from Detroit...them being a participant in the game has much to do with the attendance number.

[Silenoz]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

13,027 attendance for Delaware - EWU

vs.

32,431 attendance for FIU - Toledo

That's more than twice the fans that find Detroit more appealing than Frisco.

Just proves how retarded most people are

[Skjellyfetti]

Toledo is one hour from Detroit...them being a participant in the game has much to do with the attendance number.

Yup. And moving the game from Chattanooga has been one of my biggest gripes with FCS. Moving the game to a region with a very low chance of having a participating team within driving distance was DUMB. I think 1 team out of the field was within a decent drive. Though, Chattanooga wouldn't have helped much... I mean, Delaware could only muster 3,000 tickets for a game less than 12 hours away in 2007.

Last year's game was also the second worst attended "TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com" bowls. So, don't act like it's an aberration because Toledo was in the game. And I MAC team participated every one of these years:

2010 32,431
2009 30,331
2008 41,399
2007 60,624
2006 54,113
2005 45,801
2004 52,553
2003 51,286
2002 45,761
2001 44,164
2000 44,911
1999 44,449
1998 38,016
1997 43,340

FCS championship games would kill for those numbers.

[mcveyrl]

Not sure we're talking about fans from teams that are attending the game. In fact, if we assume that the same percentage of Detroit's population attended the game as the percentage of Frisco's population attended, less fans chose Detroit.

Toledo is one hour from Detroit...them being a participant in the game has much to do with the attendance number.

I agree with that too, I was just too lazy to look up traveling distance. Thankfully you had me covered.

That, combined with the general population, MORE than explains the attendance difference.

[∞∞∞]

Have you ever been to the TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com bowl? I hear Detroit is lovely in mid-December...the normal "bleak" look is often described as "super-bleak" right before Christmas. I can't wait.

Yes, I would rather go 13-0 to be rewarded with a game in a soccer stadium located in the outer suburbs of Dallas.

I would 'cause an FCS National Championship actually represents the spirit of collegiate competition.

[Skjellyfetti]

I would 'cause an FCS National Championship actually represents the spirit of collegiate competition.

Is playing for a meaningless championship really more competitive than playing for a meaningless bowl game. Yeah, you can call yourself "national champions" but, everyone knows Auburn, not Eastern Washington were the national champions last year.

If you just want to win championships - move to Division II. ODU's facilities and athletic department would win a whole lot. Why bother with the increased challenge of competing in Division I?

[bluehenbillk]

Last year's game was also the second worst attended "TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com" bowls. So, don't act like it's an aberration because Toledo was in the game. And I MAC team participated every one of these years:

2010 32,431
2009 30,331
2008 41,399
2007 60,624
2006 54,113
2005 45,801
2004 52,553
2003 51,286
2002 45,761
2001 44,164
2000 44,911
1999 44,449
1998 38,016
1997 43,340

FCS championship games would kill for those numbers.

Yep. Bingo. There goes the FCS argument flushed down the toilet. I'd sign up for that. Could you imagine the SMALLEST number for a crap-ass FBS bowl being at a FCS NC game?? That folks is the difference, open your mind.

[dbackjon]

Toledo is one hour from Detroit...them being a participant in the game has much to do with the attendance number.

Yup. And moving the game from Chattanooga has been one of my biggest gripes with FCS. Moving the game to a region with a very low chance of having a participating team within driving distance was DUMB. I think 1 team out of the field was within a decent drive. Though, Chattanooga wouldn't have helped much... I mean, Delaware could only muster 3,000 tickets for a game less than 12 hours away in 2007.

Last year's game was also the second worst attended "TiresAreMadeFromRubber.com" bowls. So, don't act like it's an aberration because Toledo was in the game. And I MAC team participated every one of these years:

2010 32,431
2009 30,331
2008 41,399
2007 60,624
2006 54,113
2005 45,801
2004 52,553
2003 51,286
2002 45,761
2001 44,164
2000 44,911
1999 44,449
1998 38,016
1997 43,340

FCS championship games would kill for those numbers.

Notice that downward trend? Motor City Bowl used to be MAC vs Big 10. And highest attendance was when there was a Big 10 team and a "local" team (CMU - 30 minutes away, Toledo - hour away, and Bowling Green).


And FCS game "attendance" would be higher in the chipper REQUIRED the participating teams to buy 10K tickets each, regardless if they were actually used or not, like the bowl game does.

I lived in Nashville the year MTSU went to it's first ever bowl - in Detroit. MTSU had to beg local businesses to buy tickets to donate to kids groups in Detroit.

[Skjellyfetti]

Notice that downward trend?

And the FCS championship game attendance trend is what exactly?