Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

[RandytheHelpfulPineapple]

Pretty interesting email from the Montana AD. He talks about the economics of FBS vs. FCS and how realignment and title nine could kill a lot of small programs (and maybe their playoff). Scroll down a few posts.

The WAC membership committee is looking at Montana, among others.

[T42YS]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

Benson said football-playing schools Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Montana along with non-football-playing schools Seattle and Denver will make presentations to the committee.


FWIW, the WAC is about to put the SEC to shame as the nation's strongest conference.

[RandytheHelpfulPineapple]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

Also, TCU is getting looked at for the Big East.

[RandytheHelpfulPineapple]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

[quote author=T42YS link=topic=1381.msg14820#msg14820 date=1285969898]
Benson said football-playing schools Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Montana along with non-football-playing schools Seattle and Denver will make presentations to the committee.


FWIW, the WAC is about to put the SEC to shame as the nation's strongest conference.
[/quote]

I noticed that too. I thought about point that out for your sake. That WAC is really throwing up some hailmary's here. I think Montana would do well at the next level, but it certainly won't ever be a BCS school.

[T42YS]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

Montana could probably at least be mediocre in the MWC (or very good in the new WAC). Won't matter though because Texas State will win every conference title as long as they're in the WAC.

Ok, switch on the :srsbusiness: just a sec. The WAC does have to throw some Hail Mary passes out there because there's nobody in FBS that would consider going to that conference right now. North Texas does not want to go back to the WAC, especially with the Sun Belt stabilizing their travel costs. ULL and ULM still hate the hell out of Louisiana Tech (LT was snobby to them for years about being in a "better" conference) and are probably laughing their asses off at the Bulldogs' new predicament now. Even if you took out the state politics, they still wouldn't want to go to the WAC because of trips to Honolulu, Moscow, and San Jose. Nobody in the MWC would even consider jumping to the WAC despite Utah getting poached and TCU possibly jumping to the Big East. So, if you're the WAC, what are your options?

-Two Texas FCS programs in UTSA and Texas State absolutely desperate to get into an FBS conference -- one a feeder school with a somewhat mediocre presence in the fan-friendly sports (basketball, baseball), decent non-revenue sports and a startup football program based entirely on pie-in-the-sky dreams and an untapped major media market; the other a historically underachieving yet promising 30,000-enrollment institution with a mediocre but vastly improving tradition in FCS football, two respectable media markets in Austin and San Antonio (despite Austin currently being on UT lockdown), and an overall athletic program--sans basketball--that has usually been Top 3 in the conference for the past 5 years. Texas State and UTSA are already pre-packaged rivals that could make a dent or two in the San Antonio and Austin (to a lesser extent) media markets, plus Louisiana Tech would practically get on their knees and beg to have them as travel partners. Plus, everyone wants a slice of the Texas money pie these days, the WAC is no exception. UTSA and TXST both have significant risks (historic program apathy/mediocrity) for any FBS conference, but they could also bring high reward in terms of revenues.

-Two Division 1 non-football programs that fit well into the WAC's extremely expansive conference footprint--Denver and Seattle. Denver would help the eastern schools (NMSU, LT, potentially the Texas add-ons) with travel, while Seattle would help out Hawaii, which is the other major player now left in the WAC besides Louisiana Tech. These two are the biggest hail marys out of the five programs mentioned because, honestly, these schools aren't even that notable in terms of "name brand" when it comes to basketball or baseball. Let's be honest, the only reason these two schools are being looked at is that they could provide relief in travel for non-revenue sports.

-A FCS football powerhouse in Montana that could compete at a respectable level in FBS if it really wanted to. They and Montana State are the only "games in town" in that state, although Montana State probably isn't ready for the big leagues yet. Montana also has had moments of quasi-respectability in basketball, but their potential Title 9 concerns could be an issue in moving up. However, if Montana told the WAC to jump, their commish Benson would not only ask "how high?," but he would also put on fucking moon shoes and slam his head on a construction crane if UM wanted him to. Montana has not been scheduled by an FBS school since 2006 (Iowa), and for good reason. They're the Appalachian State of the west and could easily beat at least half of the FBS at any given time. UM could realistically compete for a conference title in this new WAC within 3-4 years of moving up, if that.


The overarching story in this whole WAC business is that Benson is in the unenviable position of trying to satisfy both Louisiana Tech and Hawaii. These two schools have completely diverging interests forced by their geographical positions. In order to keep either program from leaving, which would be a death blow to the WAC, Benson has to look at every option west of the Mississippi he has. They may not be the most attractive, especially compared to what they're losing, but the WAC must either take a combination of these schools or dissolve. There are some California FCS schools -- Cal Poly, Sacramento State, etc. -- that will ultimately be looked at, but each school either has little to no media presence and/or just doesn't have a program ready to move up to FBS (I'm looking at you, Sacramento State). Eastern Washington has a good football program, but Spokane is not enough of a media market to justify an FBS invite, especially since it's already divvied up between UW, WSU, and Idaho to a MUCH lesser extent. Northern Arizona could help with travel, and they've had some football success, but that school is in such dire financial straights right now that there have been rumblings of their entire football program being cut. Not good. Plus, there wouldn't be much of a place for them in the Phoenix market.

tl:dr: There really are no realistic options left other than these 5 schools for the WAC.


/srsbusiness FUCK YEAH WE'LL BE IN THE BIG 12 IN 10 YEARS!!!!! :mexican

[Joe Norris]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

TCU in the big east=lol


better change the name to the big amurrica

[RandytheHelpfulPineapple]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

OH SNAP, Texas State looking like a shoe in for the WAC:

per the Houston Chronicle

[ICThawk]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

Ok.... great articles. However, the thing that stood out to me the most is the HOUSTON BAPTIST is getting Div1!! There are WAY to many D1's out there. NCAA just hands em out.

[CStop]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

MWC should offer Utah State and convienence C-USA to take Louisiana Tech. Hawaii is already looking at independent football with their other sports joining some crap small conference. MWC could knock the WAC out for good and be the only conference in that area. With talks of a C-USA/MWC play-in game to the BCS, they should look at killing off the WAC.

[T42YS]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

[quote author=ICThawk link=topic=1381.msg15409#msg15409 date=1286292131]
Ok.... great articles. However, the thing that stood out to me the most is the HOUSTON BAPTIST is getting Div1!! There are WAY to many D1's out there. NCAA just hands em out.
[/quote]

HBU has been D-1 for a while now. They're just in a really, really, really shitty conference (Great West)

[T42YS]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

[quote author=CStop link=topic=1381.msg15415#msg15415 date=1286293118]
MWC should offer Utah State and convienence C-USA to take Louisiana Tech. Hawaii is already looking at independent football with their other sports joining some crap small conference. MWC could knock the WAC out for good and be the only conference in that area. With talks of a C-USA/MWC play-in game to the BCS, they should look at killing off the WAC.
[/quote]

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

[CStop]

Re: Montana AD talks football economics, WAC looking at them

[quote author=T42YS link=topic=1381.msg15513#msg15513 date=1286306162]
[quote author=CStop link=topic=1381.msg15415#msg15415 date=1286293118]
MWC should offer Utah State and convienence C-USA to take Louisiana Tech. Hawaii is already looking at independent football with their other sports joining some crap small conference. MWC could knock the WAC out for good and be the only conference in that area. With talks of a C-USA/MWC play-in game to the BCS, they should look at killing off the WAC.
[/quote]

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH
[/quote]

Sorry to kill the dream, but the WAC might not be for you.