Arkstfan

Funny thing is that for decades in the intercollegiate universe it was generally thought that "city" schools were hoops schools and farm town schools were football schools. Sure there were notable exceptions like USC and UCLA, Until 1992, Utah (in Salt Lake) had been to two bowl games ever and three Final Fours in basketball. Houston had four Sweet 16 appearances before making a final AP top 20 in football. Memphis, UAB, Tulsa, USF, Cincinnati, Louisville all made their names in hoops. People don't pause over the idea driving two hours (and more) six times a year to go to a football game. Basketball has fewer seats to fill but a much smaller geographic region to draw from, especially weeknight games. I know a dozen or so AState season ticket holders in football in the Little Rock area, come basketball they'll go to no more than three games a year if any.

The SEC was offered fat money from Comcast to start an SEC network. The presidents declined because they felt the early window over the air syndicated deal was too important, giving fans another game they could watch without a pay tv subscription. A few years later ESPN arrived with tractor trailer loads of money and that concern about exposure went out the window. I still think there is a window of opportunity for the G5 to get a decent 11am Central syndicated deal. ASN sort of fills that but in many markets games are on subchannels. Here in Little Rock unless you have Comcast you can't get ASN without an antenna. I think it would take some really hard work but if schools are going to have to pay production costs I believe it is feasible to establish a quasi-network of independent stations for a 7pm Eastern 6pm Central "game of the week" format for the schools now in CUSA and Sun Belt. Get the stations onboard and let them pick their games. Tech v. UNT in Dallas, Shreveport and Monroe, AState vs. USA in Jonesboro, Little Rock and Mobile but if the next Saturday UNT has an open date and AState is playing a weeknight game, Dallas might carry UTEP-USM, Little Rock and Jonesboro might pick up ULM-Troy, Use the ESPN3 content to build an ad hoc network that is showing the content but doesn't scare off a Little Rock or Dallas station by telling them they might get stuck with Charlotte-FIU or GaSo vs. GaSt. As to the point on fans. Years ago former Arkansas AD Frank Broyles (who was Satan personified but absolutely brilliant in many ways, tried to break up the CFA deal by forming a league with select SWC, Big 8 and SEC teams to cut their own TV deal, went into the facilities race when everyone else was playing the coach salary game) said the key to building a conference a rivaries was proximity so losing to the other team hurt. With a two year deal, you have to wonder how strong the marriage is. Just going short cost money and there are only two justifications for doing that. One, crossing fingers hoping for something better in the next deal, or playing the CUSA bylaws which apparently tie departure fees at least in part to TV value. Really wondering what happens to UAB. With the mandate that athletic assistance is capped at the current level, losing that much revenue means either cutting the budget or raising enough to replace it year after year. The Bama board would apparently enjoy the chance to use this as an excuse.

Years ago ECU's AD made no secret that he felt the best interest of CUSA was to go to 16 and eventually split into two 8 team leagues that would add some other regional schools. He argued that ECU fans didn't care when a Texas team came in and the fans in Texas didn't care when ECU came in to play. That was in CUSA 2.x

There is a saying all of us as sports fans should take to heart. Oh to be able to see ourselves as others see us. Today, television sees Sun Belt and CUSA as the same thing. The reality is the leadership of CUSA like generals oft do prepared to fight the last war not the one coming. Markets was an out-moded model. The MAC demonstrated that you take colleges in the middle of cornfields and get a good media deal by having success and meeting the needs of tv even if few people are in the stands. Of late some of the best CUSA audiences have come from games involving Marshall, WKU, and Tech. One of the best Thursday's ESPNU has had came with rural AState at rural App St despite competition from the NFL, Big XII and SEC that night. The problem in G5 land is worrying about status. Go read the Twitter feeds of recruits. They don't give a crap about any school that hasn't offered them unless it's a P5 but most of their football chatter is NFL. They aren't wanting to be like the staring corner for UT or Bama, they are looking at the starting corner for the Cowboys or Seahawks. They rarely comment on college games unless they are taking a visit or have committed. This is a business. You can sweat designer labels but it in G5 it's the race to be 6th best. It's all well and good to send a volleyball team to Miami or a softball team to West Virginia when affiliation with those schools has spendable value that covers or nearly covers the cost. When TV money doesn't cover the cost of paying the defensive coordinator or won't cover the cost of two football charters it's a different beast. The marketplace is changing viewership is going to be the buzzword for future TV deals, keeping costs down, selling tickets, and getting donations the key to survival. Maybe UNT can do those things in CUSA 3.x but I suspect it's easier done if CUSA west becomes the core of a new conference that includes TXST, ULL, AState and maybe South Alabama. A group that is positioned to align with the Heart of Dallas, New Orleans, GoDaddy, New Mexico, and Montgomery with no money pit Hawaii no passports required Bahamas. A league overlapping the old Fox SW footprint almost perfectly. As for the suggestion of "butt-hurt" I absolutely LOVE seeing someone throw that in a response it means they have no adult answer to my argument, it's a flip of the bird before the cops pull the trigger on the taser and the fight ends. When we hired Terry Mohajir as AD the goal was to get the budget to $20 million by 2017, it hit that in 2014 and last year was just shy of $30 million, new indoor practice facility, new video board, new lights, new press box, new premium seating with waiting lists for each premium seating area, and rumor mill says the new ops center with more premium seating breaks ground after the season. Home and homes with SEC, ACC, Big XII several AAC and MWC. Not sure why some people would rather affiliate with FIU or FAU (two schools posters here complained regularly about when they wore Sun Belt patches) or yet another start from scratch in Charlotte but if those are seen as superior I think I've identified a focus problem for UNT that may be a factor in the troubles.

Rutgers is the most heavily subsidized P5 and their tickets plus contributions are $24 million, Arizona State is the next most subsidized and they make $25 million in tickets and contributions. UNT is listed at $4 million in tickets and contributions, AState at $6.5 million. That's a far piece from P5 dollars. UConn is at $17.5 million and I believe that leads the G5.

Seriously? Graduate? Into what? A group of schools that were mediocre in the Sun Belt "got promoted" shelled out $2 million to land in a conference that will almost certainly will make fewer dollars per school in 2016-17 than the Sun Belt. When AState and ULL made bowl games, you didn't see us lose season ticket holders. AState and ULL are increasing budgets, MTSU, WKU, ODU are all cutting budgets. Twerking like a banty rooster isn't a good look. I was in Biloxi a few years ago, many of the grand old homes I remembered as a kid are nothing but overgrown lots with some steps that lead to nowhere. I asked a local host from their convention and visitors bureau about it and she said many of the people had inherited those homes but couldn't afford flood insurance but they held on rather than sell and admit the old money was gone money. Katrina took those houses into the gulf and they can't afford a construction loan much less the flood insurance that would be required to have the construction loan. If USM fans want to complain about Sun Belt move-overs so be it, but you guys doing it is like having a big plug of redman and spitting face into the wind out the window of your beat up old truck.

Maybe This year the UTEP equipment trailer has to make a 27 hour drive (assuming no stops for fuel, food, bathroom or changing drivers who cannot drive more than 11 hours without a 10 hour break). A couple years ago UTEP could shrug and say it was a cost needed to get $1 million in TV money. Post realignment, the cost of whatever the real figure was after the payment dropped. Now it is the cost of getting $200,000 in TV money. UTEP can get that same TV money in a conference that goes no further than Mobile or Birmingham or maybe not even that far and can produce more money for UTEP with the CFP money split only 10 or 12 ways instead of 14. Rice cares about baseball, swapping Sun Belt west schools for CUSA east schools is at worst a push for the baseball RPI and generally an upgrade into a better league that eliminates flying to Norfolk, Huntington and Charlotte. The Rice, UTEP, USM leadership can do the math, they know the numbers or are looking at them and the only thing holding them back is fear of the fans. Before CUSA blew up, UAB had extended talks with the Sun Belt. The football coach and AD both endorsed the move to deal with the travel pressure, the president balked fearing the fans, shortly thereafter they got a new president who addressed the Board imposed financial concerns by dropping football.

I have a theory about why Texas has been so adamant blockading expansion. If they expand, to truly make it worthwhile they need to renegotiate TV, if they renegotiate TV then they will look to extend the grant of rights. I believe Texas is anti-expansion because they want to get closer to the end of the grant of rights and explore membership in the Big 10, Pac-12, and ACC. Not to say they will look at the situation and choose to leave but they don't want to lock in to Big XII any longer than they have to before taking that look.

BINGO! And if you don't hire those people to make sure you meet health, safety, employment, environmental, legal requirements it can cost much more than not hiring them. I expect in a year or two juries will be hearing how Baylor was told to hire a Title IX compliance director and failed to do so for years or maybe Baylor will weigh the situation and conclude they don't want a jury hearing that and will start writing checks.

I'll give Ken Starr credit. He knew or should have understood the Federal perjury law well enough to know there was absolutely no chance of Clinton being convicted in a court of law and took his case to a place where laws don't really matter, the US Congress. Parlayed that into presidency of one of the most conservative colleges in California (seriously who moves from Malibu to Waco?). In public relations you learn that if there is bad news you have to assume it is going to be public and it is up to you whether it becomes an expose by an investigative reporter or you announce it and get to shape the message. In theology you should understand the power of confession (unsurprising the Baylor Alumni Association understands that). Baylor needs to get the full report out because someone is going to sue. There will be a subpoena for the report and it will end up being public. Why wait for the report to be released under court order in a year or two shining the ugly spotlight back on Baylor. Get it out there and get it over with.

This is a really crazy idea but has any consideration been given to calling his office and asking for an appointment?

The expectation is that over the next decade college enrollment will be flat or decline on a national basis. Competition for each kid is going to increase. Politically, the "greatest generation" when they held power as much as they felt government could support it, lavished money on higher ed. The "boomers" have held political control since around 1998 (ie. they are the ones elected) and they have figured out that 88% of the voters do not have a college degree and aren't that likely to run you out of office if you freeze or cut higher ed spending and you get weird situations like Louisiana where much of the budget is protected from cuts by the constitution but higher ed isn't so bears the brunt of cuts every time they cut taxes or the oil and gas market tanks. Politically it is "more fun" to appropriate money for scholarships (example Arkansas and Georgia dedicate lottery revenue to scholarships) so it helps the kids pay but the school if revenue is flat or declining raises tuition and fees to offset shortfalls eating up the scholarship. Pell grants have long ago lost much of their value with appropriations not keeping pace. So we have created the borrowing system which works great when college grads find good jobs. Now schools like Alabama and Arkansas have concluded that it is in their best interest to get bigger by enrolling more students, they really like those students to be out-of-state so they will pay more in tuition. Fall 2015 both schools had more out-of-state freshman enrollments than in-state freshmen. While those schools add students, the pool of potential students is finite. That means other schools enroll fewer students. We are already seeing small liberal arts colleges close. Chicago State is barely hanging on and there is some talk of closing it and using some of the buildings as an extension of Northeastern Illinois. In Arkansas the state passed a law that allows colleges to merge on approval of the two school's governing boards without the state having to get involved. There wasn't a lot of action (AState picked up two technical schools that were quasi-jucos with limited offerings and merged them into one of our jucos and one other juco that stands alone with its own chancellor, UArk picked up five). Now the impact of the economy and 0% state funding growth for the past five years or so two more have joined UA and another joined AState. Rumor mill indicates that at least one four year school (with an affiliated juco) is putting together the numbers and looking at joining AState or UArk because they need to consolidate to survive. It's a rough environment out there in higher ed right now.

For all the talk of the importance of athletics, I think that is true only in specific cases. Eastern Michigan has been dreadful at football and not that hot of late in basketball but their enrollment has grown. I'm not sure you can rationally defend heavy fees when athletics doesn't seem core to the school identity, being non-football Division I or once again being a really good Division II would seem to produce similar return at lower cost. FIU according to the USA Today numbers, didn't bring in a million bucks in ticket sales and donations combined. Huge market, huge student body but if no one voluntarily puts money into the program, is it accomplishing its purpose? Just up the road FAU with football only a year longer and same time in FBS pulled in $2.9 million. South Al is newer in football than FIU and pulled in $1.8 million. Some of these schools really need to get out of the "me too" mindset and figure out if they are being good stewards of the money from students and the school budget.

If you don't sell tickets you have to pay for the athletic program somehow. I'm not confident that fees and institutional support can be relied upon. Look at WKU the state has cut funding and enrollment dipped resulting in budget cuts.

Toledo and BGSU are 24 miles apart. Akron and Kent 14 miles apart. Now let's look at MAC schools who reported attendance under 15k last year. Eastern Michigan located 7 miles or so from the University of Michigan. Ball State 165 miles from nearest divisional opponent UMass 385 from nearest opponent. Kent mentioned above. NIU 206 miles from nearest opponent. With the exception of EMU and Kent, the worst attendance tends to belong to the schools furthest from their conference opponents. The key to geographically compact is "close but not too close" If you are fighting for sports report coverage on your local TV station with the school, you are too close. If you are worried about a school that only gets regular local coverage when they play a road game in the market (ie. not a rerun of an AP story or press release) you got problems too big to solve with your athletic department.

Seriously? ESPN handles all our E3 football and a very very limited select number of E3 hoops games. Having ESPN standards production isn't a concern except for extra hoops games, baseball and volleyball. We get real ESPN employees who pop up SECN and ESPN college tournament broadcasts unless we do them ourself then we have to hire announcers.

It's a two year deal so half of it was basically off the table. Boise played six Friday night games in 2015. They are scheduled for four Fridays and one Thursday this year. Compare that to 2014 when Boise played one Thursday and two Fridays, AState has a Friday home game and you'd think the school had suggested Baylor players gang rape the pope for halftime entertainment because of the interference with high school football. Friday's are great for me because my interest in high school football begins and ends with who is signing with AState but I'd rather play a Thursday or Tuesday as play Friday because the guys we are recruiting are playing Friday.

Well with TV taking hit down to what the Sun Belt is paying, CUSA 3.x and Sun Belt earning the same number of basketball units, and the CFP money being better for the Sun Belt members other than changing patches what has really changed? There are now three ain't AAC or MWC conferences with very similar success and money and of the three, only one makes a lick of sense geographically.

Not getting a deal done until after schedules had been made for the season pretty much precluded doing much of anything in the midweek arena.

New owners of WGN ditched the Cubs last season so I didn't have much choice but subscribe.

With CFP revenue sharing making the optimal number for a conference 10 why would MWC go from 12 to 14?

Boston College, Cal, Colorado, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oregon State, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Syracuse, TCU, Utah, Vandy and Virginia aren't putting 50k in the stands with their pretty patches and playing big names at home. Boston College, Cal, Colorado, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oregon State, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Syracuse, TCU, Utah, Vandy and Virginia aren't putting 50k in the stands with their pretty patches and playing big names at home.

New update to MLB app is supposed to disable push alerts while you are watching. Streams just lag too far behind real time.

I have a hard time believing that since every other device, phone, tablet, laptop, apple TV has lag. If I buy one and have lag you offer a money back guarantee? :)

Other than BYU what potential candidate can consistently put 50k plus in the stands? I thought ECU could do it but they've faded a bit. If the people in your area won't buy a lot of tickets how many choose to watch you on TV when the choice is your team or the local P5?