FBS talk is like the Red River in Fargo... You try to keep it contained to its own area, but fairly regularly it gets out and makes a mess out of everything.
The weather in Fargo keeps the undesirables out.....
...Which is why I live near the Twin Cities.
Weird name for a conference.
I think the part that is really upsetting to the PRO-FBS people is that there hasn't even been a study that actually would tell how much money would need to be raised to do this.
Take the AAC for example. It's a good football conference and would allow for a football only option. Many like to talk about how much money it would take.... but does anyone actually know?
How much money would come to NDSU via conference affiliation (bowl affiliation, tv contracts, etc)? How much money in non-conference games could NDSU make? How many more scholarships (and how much) are necessary? How much do we spend in football travel now vs. with the AAC.... These are all things that may or may not be barriers but no one know because the sanctioned study isn't done.
AAC would be sweet- aint happening though unless there is some kind of massive shakeup.
As it stands now- there is no way the Athletic department is considering any kind of move up for Football unless there is either 1. a MASSIVE shakeup in conferences where we would have some regionally logical conference mates. 2. get some massive donor where going independent doesnt seem crazy, or 3. either scenario #1 encourages others to move up with us (SDSU, maybe UNI, yes maybe even UND etc), or a new FBS conference is created (still unlikely) that makes much greater sense geographically.
I think it would be awesome, and would like it to happen. But none of the above scenarios seem particularly logical, much less likely.
1. The FCS was the Best option for NDSU for a very long time.
2. As a general rule- the FCS sucks at football and has proven that is not committed to football at all.
3. It's time to go FBS
To answer a couple of your questions: 85 scholies compared to 63, all full. FBS doesn't allow partials as they do in FCS. Somehow a mid December bowl game doesn't excite me. Sorry. Also, in terms of plane travel and expenses, Larsen needs only to look north and get figures for what it costs to be in the Big Sty Conference from UN_.
That would all be great info to have. Anyone who is better with the numbers than me have this ability to give a rough guesstimate?
Run the damn ball!! PRO FBS