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I’d be pleased to. I have 7 or 8 NT Basketball cups. I don’t have any football cups as I sit in the Club section and we only use cut crystal up there. Send me an address after the season starts. I’ll buy the drink, drink the drink, and send you the cup. Easy. J

This is actually kind of hilarious. If it happens, you know who would get left out in the cold...again.

Money changing hands happened long before NIL. What makes anyone think that money exceeding an NIL cap won't continue to change hands after a cap is put in place?

The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team will reportedly play non-conference games against North Texas University and the University of Nebraska Omaha this season. College hoops source Made for March said the Gophers will host Omaha on Nov. 9 and North Texas on Nov. 13. Both are buy-in games, with Omaha as a $100,000 guarantee and North Texas an $85,000 guarantee. North Texas went 19-15 overall last season and beat LSU in the first round of the NIT tournament before losing in the next round to Seton Hall, who ended up winning it all. The Mean Green won the 2023 NIT tournament, defeating UAB in the title game. North Texas has also made some March Madness noise in the past, most recently in 2021 when they upset then-No. 4 seeded Purdue as a No. 13 seed in the NCAA tournament. Link: https://athlonsports.com/college/minnesota-golden-gophers/all-gophers/basketball/report-minnesota-gophers-mens-basketball-to-play-non-conference-games-against-north-texas-omaha

One would think our basketball program is at the point where we should be able to get home-and-homes with programs like Minnesota.

This title is WILD! It feels like July offseason talk. We’re putting a lot of resources into putting a competitive product on the field. I can almost guarantee not a single person in the athletic department views UNT as a minor league product. The goal is always to win the conference, win the bowl game…and with this new set up, there’s a chance to be in the final 12. Looking forward to seeing our guys compete this year!

Mac lost interest. I buy tickets to a FBS college football game. I ain't going minor league.

good luck with that, the big guys are not looking for new teams. they want to dump some teams.

I have a different figure in mind. It's less than $1.....but more than -$1.

The AAC is a good conference, it has taken this school decades to get here, and is a very good achievement for a school that does not usually put a lot of emphasis into its athletic program. The school has some very good athletic facilities that as good if not better then some P5 schools. The big thing that I see holding UNT back is the culture, students seem less interested every year in attending games, and as they graduate and become alumni they are less interested in supporting the schools athletics.

https://collegefootballnews.com/news/2024-north-texas-college-football-preview-key-players-game-schedule-season-predictions Give North Texas a little time to figure it all out. The American Athletic Conference is the new Conference USA, but it’s still a decent Group of Five league with enough good teams to make life tough. Under second-year head coach Eric Morris, North Texas will make life hard in the Year Two in the league. The program has been a bit stuck. The promise of the back-to-back nine-win seasons of 2017 and 2018 flew out the window with inconsistencies and a painful lack of defense, but helped by the weirdness of 2020, the six bowl games in seven years - even though it lost all six - kept North Texas relevant enough to pay attention to

I would love for the ponies to be left without a chair when the music stops!!

/fake cries in SMU

Poor negotiating, would be my guess. NT beat Omaha last year 75-64, you would think NT would deserve the bigger guarantee. Notice most of the Minnesota article is about NT with Omaha barely mentioned.

I am just curious why we would get $15K less.

I think we will know after game 5 vs Tulsa what kind of season it will be.

He said we just need to get to 6-6 this season. I could see 6 wins on this schedule: 2024 North Texas Football Schedule Aug 31 at South Alabama Sept 7 Stephen F Austin Sept 14 at Texas Tech Sept 21 Wyoming Sept 28 Tulsa Oct 5 OPEN DATE Oct 12 at Florida Atlantic Oct 19 at Memphis Oct 26 Tulane Nov 2 OPEN DATE Nov 9 Army Nov 15 at UTSA Nov 23 East Carolina Nov 30 at Temple

As great of an opportunity as that would be for G5 schools, it would never happen. And I'm an optimist.

Even though I posted that (it was on X)....I've had my doubts about that $90k figure. The game would be guaranteed to lose money. You'd have to have 3,000 paid customers.....all spending at least $30 each....just to break even. (that's not gonna have on Christmas break) So I can't imagine that $90 k is correct. I shouldn't have posted it.

It's very conceivable that Memphis gets invited to the ACC once Florida State, Clemson, and co. bail. But will it really be a power conference at that point?

I bet you were not around during NT's 1aa days, are you would know that it was a disaster. You think attendance and coverage are bad now, it was almost non-existent than. The benefits of playing D1 go far beyond athletics. It is a relatively exclusive club that provides more exposure to the school than anything else. Students may not ever go to a game, but it is very possible that their introduction to NT begin with coverage of NT's athletic teams. As far as your analogy to high school, playing is better than not playing, but what does that have to do with NT's sports? Are you advocated that NT drop down to give lesser players a chance to play. Invest some of that money saved by dropping D1 sports to build a fantastic intramural program.

Well, I think a developmental team is different from a team in win-now mode. There is no longer any use in us taking “diamond in the rough” prospects because you will lose them as soon as they start to shine. If a player needs to be “developed”. Let them do it in Juco, D3, D2, low majors, etc. I think our program is good enough to always be in win-now mode. Under the current system, our best players will still always leave, but we can replace them with new guys who are ready to win and don’t need to be developed for 2-3 years before they are ready to contribute. Making that kind of investment in a player is dumb now since guys who are ready to play at our level already will be available all the time.

One thing the NFL found out a long time ago was non-parity was not good for the fans, nor the league, nor merchandising, nor media. College sports will soon be the same and dysfunctional unless the business heads find a way to level the field.

he president serves as the CEO of the university, and oversees university administration and operations. The role is appointed by the UNT System board of regents, and the president reports to the UNT System Chancellor. The president also sets the institution’s vision and strategic objectives by enhancing the university’s academic excellence, strengthening its portfolio of research and scholarship, and fostering the university’s student-focused identity, the release states. The search for the university system’s president was completed through the UNT Presidential Search Advisory Committee. The group was led by Laura Wright, chair of the UNT System board of regents, with Chancellor Michael Williams serving as vice chair. Its members included representatives from the board of regents as well as university faculty, staff, students, administrators and alumni. “Dr. Keller is a leader who will build strategic partnerships, recruit world-class talent, and advance UNT’s role in meeting the demands of our region, state and nation,” Wright said in the release. “I am certain he will advance the university while remaining committed to student success, academic excellence and growing our presence as a Tier One research university.” Link: https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/frisco/education/2024/07/10/harrison-keller-named-next-president-of-the-university-of-north-texas/

Somehow this information was missed. The schedule was released three weeks ago: https://meangreensports.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule We open with a Labor Day Weekend invitational in Denton against big-name schools in Colorado, Rutgers, and Miami. Three power conference teams but went just a combined 44-47 last year, though we got swept to Colorado in a preseason tourney in 2023. The following week we've got three games in the DC area against Georgetown, Hampton, and Maryland. It looks like the conference has done away the weekend series against the same team. Instead, games will still be played on Fridays/Sundays but for the most part, they will either be both at home or both on the road against different teams. Our first weekend in conference play will feature a Friday game vs. UTSA and Sunday game at Tulane. The second weekend will be a Friday game at Charlotte and Sunday at ECU. There were six transfers and six freshmen added to the 2024 roster, which included 10 returners in Porter's third season: https://meangreensports.com/news/2024/7/3/womens-volleyball-volleyball-announces-roster-additions Reminder you can purchase an Olympic sports pass for $82, this gives you a GA ticket to all home soccer, volleyball, and softball games. In 2023-24, there were 47 such games. https://meangreensports.evenue.net/event/MIS24/OSP

B12 may be looking to add 6 ACC schools. With those not being AAU institutions the B10 has said they are not interested in adding them. https://glorycolorado.com/posts/fsu-clemson-four-other-acc-schools-join-big-12-stunning-development

Nebraska lost it's AAU status in 2011. They are trying to get it back, but they are currently a Big10 member without that title. A$M won't leave the SEC for the Big10. They have too many other rivals in the SEC. They are a good fit in the SEC by geography and power sports. No mention in this blog about how the Big12 would unlock the ACC media rights jail. I hope the ACC does implode....just to watch the drama for $mut...

They would save $97.5 million and the 6 teams would save a total of $30 million. The PAC would say that all 12 had the opportunity to stay but those who made the decision to leave based upon their inability to meet the minimum athletic budget did so at their own volition. The 6 released teams could add UTEP and New Mexico State and move forward. It's a cut throat world in college football right now.

@greenjoein his club seats.

So there are currently 67 teams in the P4 conferences and 43 bowl games (not including the national championship) At this point the G5 conferences do have some leverage since the p4's need the G5's schools to fill out the college bowls. I know this is really a pipe dream but how incredible would it be if the G5 teams banded together and created a football relegation type structure where the top 4 teams in the G5 would get promoted into a P4 and the lowest team in the P4's would get dropped to the G5 level. I know in our highly litigious environment that it would make it even more unlikely but how fun would it be to have a chance to get into the majors.

DENTON – One of the state's best rebounding prep standouts Baron Smith Jr. has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the UNT men's basketball team. The consensus three-star 6-foot-9 forward led all of Texas high school 6A boys basketball in rebounding in each of the last two seasons. He set the Haltom High School record for career rebounds (855), single season rebounds (353) and single-game rebounds (26). This past year he averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds per game for Haltom who won 21 games and made a seven-win improvement from the year prior behind Smith's growth. He was named first team all-district after this season. The Haltom City native posted 10 or more rebounds in 20 games last year including the program record 26 versus Lake Country Christian (Fort Worth) in a 14-point win on Dec. 12. Smith was an efficient scorer too as he shot nearly 60 percent from the floor as a senior at Haltom and stretched the floor occasionally as he hit 10 3-pointers over the 33-game schedule. He averaged better than a block per game and had four versus A&M Consolidated High School (College Station, Texas) in a 24-point win. A three-year letterwinner at Haltom High School, he averaged 10.0 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game over his three seasons with the Buffalos. Smith, who was rated as a top 30 player in the state of Texas by 247 Sports, chose the Mean Green over American Athletic Conference foe East Carolina, Utah State, San Jose State and others. With the addition of Smith, North Texas will have the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex's leading prep rebounder and scorer from last season on its 2024-25 roster. Smith joins fellow incoming freshman Tyran Mason from Plano High School who led the entire DFW area last year in points per game (25.3) and signed with UNT last November. For more information on UNT men's basketball tickets, contact the Mean Green Ticket Office at 940-565-2527 or at ticketoffice@unt.edu. Fans can visit the UNT Athletics Ticket Office located at Gate 2 of DATCU Stadium between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

It’s an interesting time. I still go back to the weird thinking that you grow a sport by shrinking its passionate fanbase. There is a lot of collective passion in the G5. Schools were already seeing a decline in attendance. Big and small schools. As a fan I now seriously consider how much I want to invest to travel to Tulsa or New Orleans or Memphis or West Point. I don’t see this heading the right direction for the health of the sport. But a saving grace would be to go here: 4 playoff spots for the SEC 4 playoff spots for the Big 2 playoff spots for the 12 2 playoff spots for the ACC 2 playoff spots for the G5 Wouldn’t that keep all levels still interested? GMG

Perhaps, but people forget if things start to get dicey these conferences have the power to dial it back. They will adjust the rules and payouts to keep things going. If revenue does start to lower they will adjust and keep the golden goose going, at least they will if they are smart.

Hopefully once the revenue starts to dry up because far fewer people want to pay premiums to see this years rent-a-team from Northwestern vs Indiana's rent-a-team and TV ratings take a nose-dive the common sense will prevail that entertaining football pays more than...whatever this is...? I know the pockets are deep but it's wild west now and more and more money is just being thrown around. That's not a sustainable product.

It just doesn't make any kind of rational sense. Just think about it, the P4 already have a massive pay out, they are extracting the maximum amount of money they can. Where would this money come from? If it existed wouldn't you think it would already be proposed? The average G5 makes $1-2m a year, the B1G distributes $60m, the SEC $51m, the Big12 and ACC $44m. These teams don't need the G5, they can split off any time they want and take the vast majority of money with them. The G5 have 0 power in getting any ideas or proposals passed, it's why these conferences created autonomy for themselves. It's also why they get 90% of the CFP money, that's right, 90%. The G5 that's nearly half of FBS gets 9% of the payout. UNT will get $2m a year while B1G and SEC get $21m a year per team. I'm trying to say this in the nicest way possible, if you think about this in any critical thinking type of way it's clear that it would not make sense for any P4 team. No team is going to agree to lose that kind of money.

I'd definitely take them over any Non-D1 team. With that type of mindset we'll always be a 1 bid league, playing a tough schedule and being ranked really helps elevate the league as a whole. The MWC got 5 teams in last year based on their performance, so that's 5 extra credits for 5 years that gain interest and net the conference more money. We need to have a goal of getting 3-4 teams in a year, and we are not going to do that by playing the types of teams we do.

If we got MVSU again, I'm surprised we haven't announced a third straight season with an Omaha home game.

McCarney hire was a milestone for NT, the first time they actually spent competitive money to hire a head coach. Unfortunately, McCarney was not well; suffering from vision problems, drinking issues and probably other ailments. A combination of his physical status and NT's lack of resources were too much to overcome.

I would say you offer a pay out so massive to the P4's they'd go for it. Because even in the power conferences they have their whipping boys. All it would take is a majority and with as ton of cash which you'd have I think you could make it happen. Sprinkle in a NIL pot tie in and I think that could make the allure too much to deny. Even now you have the figure growing in the P4 with the collectives, and with this if they pot was so massive enough it would be to much to pass up. I know it's a pipe dream but we can all dream. Cue up John Lennon's Imagine ..

I believe that just what the school was paid to use their logo and stuff like that. I heard athletes were paid $600 and get a copy of the game for free if they agreed to be in the game.

This has been brought up several times and I always ask the same thing. Why would any P4 team agree to this? What team would voluntarily sign up to lose millions of dollars, fans, donors, prestige, recruits, etc.? Schools fight to be in these conferences, but would be willing to just hand it over? Anyone who thinks this could work is only thinking from the G5 benefit side, and not the massive downside to any P4. The G5s have no leverage, that's why they are getting bent over at every turn, and saying thank you.

The Memphis AD has a better chance of getting AD job in P4 than collecting that bonus.

Joining a power conference is about money, BIG money... The fact they they are only offering $250K as a bonus for getting into one shows that they are not ready.

Memphis is a post-apocalyptic wasteland city. No market at all. They add nothing to a conference, unless you think that giant AI data center Elon is about to build will flip the whole city. Invest in slums today.

NT and TCU haven't played in men's basketball or football in over twenty years. TCU is playing the old SWC game, of ignore them and hope they go away. The last thing that SMU and TCU want is a strong NT to compete against in games or recruiting. Both TCU and SMU are substantially overpriced for the value of their degree. They are generally perceived as rich kid's schools that don't come close to generating the educational value of a Stanford, Rice, Tulane, A&M or the University of Texas.

This is the biggest threat to our Athletics program: campus indifference, lack of school spirit and sports support. Cal is having the same issue. The key is to recruit sports fans from the surrounding communities to fill the gap. Eventually as the teams get better, and better quality opponents, the games become an event, even to nerds and wallflowers.

No they aren't conforming with the technicalities. Nobody is watching or holding anyone accountable so it is just the "wild west." The NCAA doesn't have the balls to enforce anything.

I will be there with at least 3 others joining me.

We must be a real pushover for teams to con us into a game on the road with no return game. Toughen up Mean Green. Also, why not get Army or Navy to Denton? A lot more name recognition than some of our home game opponents.