A new and better FBS thread

[BigHorns]

Reality is life as an Independent is not glamorous or easy unless your name is Notre Dame and you have a scheduling alliance with the ACC.

Going forward, there are really only 3 true independents left: Army, UMass, UConn.
At least 2 of those 3 desperately want to join a conference.

Here is what Army experienced recently
https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ble-9-2-season

[Professorbum]

Reality is life as an Independent is not glamorous or easy unless your name is Notre Dame and you have a scheduling alliance with the ACC.

Going forward, there are really only 3 true independents left: Army, UMass, UConn.
At least 2 of those 3 desperately want to join a conference.

Here is what Army experienced recently
https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ble-9-2-season

Independence is not the best choice. But remaining in FCS is the worst choice, and it is not a close call.

[El_Chapo]

Independence is not the best choice. But remaining in FCS is the worst choice, and it is not a close call.

that YSU game was a perfect example. 1500 empty seats, people.actually would rather drink at a bar or go rake leaves after tailgate
after halftime what 7500 fans there?

[ByeSonBusiness]

that YSU game was a perfect example. 1500 empty seats, people.actually would rather drink at a bar or go rake leaves after tailgate
after halftime what 7500 fans there?

After halftime there were about 15000 fans there. Why do you feel the need to say such absurd things?

[El_Chapo]

After halftime there were about 15000 fans there. Why do you feel the need to say such absurd things?

everyone left. plus it was 1 of the worst environments i've been at for a ndsu game in 15 years.

[abc123]

I didn’t say we needed $5M day one. What I said was that we’d be looking at that on day one. NDSU’s first year in the MW our revenue would be up $5M compared to where it is today. The majority of it coming from conference revenue which you so helpfully calculated for us.

Seems like semantics, especially when you stated "We're talking something of the order of $5M increase on Day 1". You're literally saying it would be up by $5M but $2M of that seems to still be missing from the equation.
You were the one who stated that increased conference revenue would cover all of it (no additional fundraising needed) but have changed that to say the majority would com from that. I guess that is true since your math agrees its more than 50% but it still appears to be less than 60% leaving a fairly sizable increase that is required.

[NDSU92]

Seems like semantics, especially when you stated "We're talking something of the order of $5M increase on Day 1". You're literally saying it would be up by $5M but $2M of that seems to still be missing from the equation.
You were the one who stated that increased conference revenue would cover all of it (no additional fundraising needed) but have changed that to say the majority would com from that. I guess that is true since your math agrees its more than 50% but it still appears to be less than 60% leaving a fairly sizable increase that is required.

Idk man, figure it out. Conference distributions and private fundraising are not the only two revenue sources for an athletic department.

Like I said, I have my opinion and you have your opinion and there are various factors behind each that probably aren't going to allow us to agree on this. I will say I'd be more than glad to be proven wrong if it means NDSU is in the Mountain West in 3 years and maybe then we'll have our answer.

[abc123]

TIL that conference revenue and private fundraising are the only two sources of income for an athletic department

I don't think anyone said it was, but those are the only 2 that you've mentioned when discussing the increase in costs. Again, you specifically stated all $5M was going to come from an increase in conference revenue and that no additional fundraising is needed. The math shows the former isn't true and while you apparently know better than the outgoing President, he doesn't think the latter has a ton of room for a significant increase.
The question I asked from the start was since those aren't the only 2 ways to generate income, where is the remaining $2M+ that needs to be generated annually going to come from? That was a big part of DB's comments and no one seems to actually be able to acknowledge that beyond "it will work itself out". Maybe its as easy as the athletic department putting together a competent presentation and getting the student body to support the move? There's plenty of possible options but nothing that would actually just work itself out.

[NDSU92]

Reality is life as an Independent is not glamorous or easy unless your name is Notre Dame and you have a scheduling alliance with the ACC.

Going forward, there are really only 3 true independents left: Army, UMass, UConn.
At least 2 of those 3 desperately want to join a conference.

Here is what Army experienced recently
https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ble-9-2-season

Yeah NDSU isn't Notre Dame or BYU but it also isn't UConn or UMass either.

Going Indy and doing it right would require a ridiculous amount of money that we don't have. It would also require an alumni base similar to BYU that lives and dies with the program and doesn't really care about conference affiliation. IMO very hard to do outside of the private schools.

That being said, I don't know if staying FCS is any better. Either we continue winning and the fan base continues to wane, or we start losing and the fan base...grows? Idk

[Hammerhead]

that YSU game was a perfect example. 1500 empty seats, people.actually would rather drink at a bar or go rake leaves after tailgate
after halftime what 7500 fans there?

How many fans would be in the Fargodome to watch some bottom-feeder G5 team willing to travel to Fargo for one of the three home games we might be lucky to get as an independent?