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FOOTBALL CFP revenue by conference and average per school

I wonder with hindsight being 20/20 I doubt we would have made the move to C-USA in the way we did. I still see that we will somehow team up with the higher end C-USA teams and maybe one or two high end SBC teams and form something new. The others will fall by the wayside.
 
BRaiderDave said:
I wonder with hindsight being 20/20 I doubt we would have made the move to C-USA in the way we did. I still see that we will somehow team up with the higher end C-USA teams and maybe one or two high end SBC teams and form something new. The others will fall by the wayside.
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Not sure of the number of programs that have to be together or the period of time (5 years?) to be a conference and have the automatic NCAA bids, but most of the east division has been together for four years now? The same for the west division. After the G5 conferences all have been hit hard in loss of television revenues, we may see some realignment on geographic lines that make sense on the evolving landscape for non power programs.
 
I'm not extremely hung up on the geography aspect. I'm more concerned in associating with other schools who properly fund athletics and place emphasis on being a well rounded athletic program. Forget schools like FIU and others which are only half-a$$ing it. I want to be associated with the USMs, La Techs, WKUs, ODUs and the like than I am with the rest.
 
Just throwing this out there but it does seem that when access to the "championship" is limited to the select few, interest will fall.

The best you can do is upset a name team. When that becomes the definition of success, I don't blame people for not following. What's the point? Cannon fodder?
 
Let me preface my next point by stating a few things. I love football. I proudly wear my MT blue on Saturdays. I have season tickets, and I am BRAA member. I even refuse to drink orange Gatorade strictly because of that color.

However, I have been thinking since March, why not focus on becoming a basketball school? What is stopping us from being the next Wichita St or VCU? We can compete on a national stage in men's and women's basketball. While the chances are very slim, there is still a chance we could make a Final Four. Coaching issues aside, our baseball team has the facilities to host a regional. Also, consider the local talent in basketball and baseball. It is literally in our backyard.

With football, it just seems we are trying to keep up with the Jones's, when we will never be able to keep up. We have been 1-A (FBS, G5, whatever) for almost two decades now. How much has our brand improved, seriously? What makes us think it will improve in the next 2-3 years? We have the best QB/WR duo EVER at this school, and we sell what, 6k season tickets?

Just imagine, dream scenario, we go 12-0 this year with wins of Vandy, Syracuse, and Minnesota. We host the C-USA championship game. How many fans do you HONESTLY expect would come to that game? 25k, at most? Let's say we win that game, 13-0. What does that get us? What is best case scenario? The Liberty Bowl because a conference didn't have enough qualifiers? The Heart of Dallas Bowl? Either way, a perfect season for us will always end the same the way, in a bowl game that 90% of the country doesn't give a $hit about against a .500 team from a power conference.

The CFB system is not designed for us to succeed at a national level. It is not designed for the rich to help small schools like us. It is the exact opposite. The rich just keep getting richer. So why keep fighting it? Why not find our own niche in college athletics?

Sorry for the long post, but JohnDavidBlue read my mind. What's the point? That being said, let's go whip Vandy.
 
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We are hurt by the tv package. I blame that on the admin. It was obvious after Louisville and Cincy left the conference would not sustain that level.
As for FB. We have a coach that brought us back from the APR dregs and restored some organization. Problem is that coach does not have the ability to take us to the next level. 1 and 5 in bowls is proof enough.
As for donors, thanks to the old timers but they need to understand their giving level from 20 years ago does not cut it. I wish I had an answer on how to get the youngins more involved but I dont. They are our future and admin should be catering to them.
We are broke and need body bag games to survive.
 
I am afraid we have already passed the "tipping point" in our efforts to play "big-time" FB.

We can argue if the issue was self-imposed [Timing of the move to D-1 in FB, Stock's contract, inability to build momentum (except for men's BkB) or build upon success (Men's Golf, Volleyball, etc.) or the failure to receive ROI (the $$$s spent on the BB stadium)] or it could be some of the events completely out of our control: The ESPNing of sports, the arrival of major league sports in the area, the increasing financial divide between the haves and the have nots, Nashville and the surrounding suburbs becoming an "it" area where anything not "Big-Time" doesn't matter, etc.

Regardless, the move to D-1 caused some excitement which was short-lived. But, there has been no long-term growth in student and alumni involvement, media coverage has diminished, business support has remained appalling, and as I travel throughout the mid-state I see no evidence that support has increased. It seems as if I see fewer wearing MT gear, fewer yard signs, and fewer vehicles showing MT support than 20 years ago.

I'll remain a MT fan as long as MT BkB plays at the highest level by my donations, ticket purchases, and attendance at games. But, I have no hope that we can become successful in FB at the D-1 level or even if our usually outstanding minor sports can maintain, much less become nationally relevant.

The experiment may be over - It was fun while we appeared to be on an upper trajectory.
 
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BRaiderDave said:
I agree 100%, bro. If we don't do something different we would be in the fall by the wayside category.
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Well change is going to come. Good or bad. Things do not stay the same. It seems like our guys in charge at all levels don't recognize it or if they do, they only react. They seem incapable of doing anything but reacting. There's not much steering or directing going on.

Middle is nothing more than a government bureaucracy and it certainly resembles that. In many ways, rigid and unresponsive, unable to adapt. I think the word for it is 'sclerotic.' Not sure if its because of the leadership at different levels had been in place for lengths of time you don't find normally at other comparable institutions.
 
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SpaceRaider said:
Well change is going to come. Good or bad. Things do not stay the same. It seems like our guys in charge at all levels don't recognize it or if they do, they only react. They seem incapable of doing anything but reacting. Middle is nothing more than a government bureaucracy and it certainly resembles that. Rigid and unresponsive, unable to adapt. I think the word for it is 'sclerotic.' Not sure if its because of the leadership at different levels had been in place for lengths of time you don't find normally at other comparable institutions.
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I think you nailed it...at a lot of levels they are only worried about "their" jobs...therefore, no risk taking. It truly is a bureaucracy.
 
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