Arkstfan

The school financial aid office calculates based on Federal guidelines but they aren't super explicit. The risk for schools going to the high end is the NCAA determines that they were overly generous and gave impermissible aid in doing so. Quick way to rack up 200+ violations per semester. AState backed its number down to $4k. The highest permissible per our financial aid office was $5300 but the school opted for the lower number so the amount paid would be uniform between in-state and out-of-state students.

You already drug four other Sun Belt schools with you and only one (WKU) had much success against AState. Little late to close the barn door now. I get the whole you get to play local schools: UTSA (a school UNT blocked from joining the Sun Belt), Rice, UTEP and Tulsa that's all good for you. But the meme of how dreadful the Sun Belt is/was ought to be beneath UNT fans.

​Yes it was effin hell on you guys getting four bowl berths, being on ESPN, winning auto bids to NCAA post-season, probably couldn't have ever afforded a new stadium in the Sun Belt either. The Sun Belt defectors have averaged one more conference win per year since leaving the lesser competition of the Sun Belt. We never forced you to shoot yourself in the foot. Gets pretty disgusting seeing the Belt blamed for your ills.

We were in the one winning season in a decade situation. We had one winning season 1992-2004 and went 42-104-1 UNT is on a 35-85 streak, three years shorter than AState with a slightly better win percentage than AState had. But what is being glossed over is we were winning fans over BEFORE we went on this run. Season ticket sales up six consecutive seasons, started when we were losing. Merchandise revenue up four consecutive seasons (expect it to be five when the current fiscal year ends) started while we were losing. You had no Texas opponents, we had no one in Arkansas as an opponent in football and unlike UNT, we can't schedule an in-state FBS in non-conference. AState and UNT each were about as far from the nearest conference football opponent at just over 300 miles. Losing makes it harder, not impossible.

​So four straight years of winning had the coffers overflowing at UNT resulting in a new stadium? Season ticket sales I'm sure went well up also. That's why UNT season ticket sales increased last year. AState has increased season ticket sales six straight years, that includes increases after consecutive 4-8 seasons. It's easy to make an assumption that winning cures all but the data doesn't prove that it all but guarantees it. I'm a realist that's why I say winning is a tool, not the goal.

4) SMU's AD returns calls when called by FBS AD's seeking games. AState's AD was recently quoted as saying a number of former Sun Belt schools wouldn't extend the courtesy of returning calls when he was trying to get games.

Winning doesn't guarantee you will sell tickets or raise money and there are plenty of P5 schools who are terrible but sell a lot of tickets and make a lot in donations.

​Winning is a gimmick to make money. It's important to you so they try to field a team that wins, but this about dollars more accurately tens of millions of dollars, winning is a hook. Follow the money.

Contract terms. AState receives $0 for going to Dallas, SMU receives $0 for going to Jonesboro. If one of the schools wants to buyout that requires a check for $700,000. I'm not sure that scheduling AState home and home indicates a program is on the rocks. The two-time defending SEC East champs play in Jonesboro this year. Miami (FL) comes in 2017, Big XII member Iowa State in 2025 along with home/home deals with Tulsa, Utah State, Toledo and UNLV.

You know the best tool ever made for getting donations? Shoe leather. Some years back I allowed my alumni association membership to lapse ($48) one day one of the ladies from the association called and asked if she could stop by the visit. Dropped in talked various AState stuff and walked out with a $48 check. Former director of the booster club calls, he is going to be in town can he stop and visit at the office. We talk athletics for a time, when it is over I've signed a pledge card doubling my donation (since increased two more times). Current booster club director calls, he is going to be in town and wants to show me the plans for the renovation, I beg off because I'd already thought about it and wasn't going to spend $4k for four tickets (I have 8 that cost me $3100 as it is), but I wasn't going to risk getting talked into.

Few thoughts. Army. I've not done it in a year or two but last time I checked they had fewer southern players than Navy or Air Force. They don't seem to recruit the south well, they also don't play much in the South. Scheduling names. It's fun and all but what is the core business for intercollegiate athletics? Promote the school to potential students, keep alums connected, sell tickets, win donations (and if you are making a profit, who cares if you do the first two if you aren't dependent on the school's money?) To truly further the goals you have to develop a base that comes to see your team, not the visiting team. Winning isn't everything, it isn't even the only thing but it does help further the goals and makes marketing easier, otherwise you are left with school pride and minor league baseball gimmicks to sell tickets.

Kentucky was calling everyone just about because the dates were so close they were under pressure. We weren't able to accommodate the dates. Tried to do one further down the road but without the time pressure they wanted us to play our home game in Memphis or Nashville. USM had to shift a game, I think BYU to make it work.

I would submit that $1 million isn't that much money and it really isn't $1 million to UNT because part of that has to be used for league operating expense.

When we fired our prior AD a couple of reporters who sort of almost cover us were on Twitter asking why AState fired the guy who hired Gus Malzahn. I just tweeted them the link to an earlier story I had done on reporting booster club fund-raising over his decade at AState. A friend shared a text exchange with our ticket sales guy. Friend wanted him to send material to his brother-in-law. Near immediate reply that he would take care of it. Within an hour a second text saying packet was in the mail. Friend says "He is a Hog ticket holder who complains about the drive and cost". Reply. "Thanks, I'll pay extra attention because I LOVE a challenge. I'm going to do my best to get him." And yes it is common for a fan to have the cell number of at least one athletic staffer. You have an issue, they will give it to you and tell you to call any time you have a problem. I bitched out our AD because the bathrooms were locked immediately following a game. I sent the text in the stadium and within 30 minutes had a call from him wanting details.

Well played.

Losing sucks. USM lost 25% of their season ticket base by going 0-12, 1-11. Build it and they will come is not a proven success story. Nearly every school that has moved to I-A/FBS the same year as UAB or later is below the "established" G5 level in budget subsidy and attendance with the schools starting from scratch generally faring worse. http://arkansasstate.scout.com/story/1545609-it-s-not-easy-being-new?s=334 New facilities are fun for fans but there is a limited time when they can be new. You have to seize the interest to sell something else.

Season ticket sales is a 246 day process. If you aren't working on it five days a week for 48 weeks (plus six home football Saturdays) you aren't going to be good at it. 2005 and 2006 AState goes 6-6 and season tickets jump 2,200 in 2007. Dipped 150 in 2008 after a 5-7 campaign but they went back to work, went up about 360 after another 6-6 campaign. Go UP 340 after a 4-7 campaign. Go UP 860 after another 4-7, go up 1,050 after 10-3, up 320 after 10-2, go up after 8-5. It starts with the basics. Working to get every local employer you can to do corporate tailgates and creating a super-friendly environment for the individuals tailgating. They are your host committee. Get potential fans on the grounds having a nice day whether or not you lay an egg on the field. Convincing businesses in the area to put up signs of support. Drive down Red Wolf Boulevard or Caraway in Jonesboro and the majority of businesses have signs up supporting AState. TODAY. I'm in Jonesboro tonight and the business community is all in. It started as a football campaign, it is now 365 days a year. When we have recruits come in you think they make it out of town without the coaches mentioning all the signs and telling them to look at the other places they visit? Our chancellor told me Thursday it has helped recruiting faculty because they are amazed at the local show of support for the university. It WAS NOT THAT WAY when I was in college and it wasn't that way 15 years ago. It was a long-term relationship building thing. THEN we could worry about selling season tickets. You've got to build buzz and brand identity first. We sold AState as an affordable DAY with the family, not three hours, a day. Sure most people arrive around kickoff but our philosophy was you can have fun all day long for the price of a ticket. Winning guarantees you nothing. I remember when Tim Floyd was at UNO, they'd start the year struggling to get 1000 people in Lakefront Arena, then they would rack up win after win and the place would be near full in late February. Then next season attendance was right back at around 1000 people. They sold basketball games in a city that isn't that hoops crazy, they needed to sell something else. That's the first step for UNT. Figure out what your "it" is that people will pay for and there is a football game as part of it. You cannot play name teams six times a year at home, you can't get six Texas teams on your home slate unless you form some sort of new conference. If those are your "it" then you are doing as well as you can. The "it" is not conference affiliation (12 of 14 CUSA schools saw season ticket sales decline). The thing is, you have to construct your "it". MP3 players and smartphones were geek devices until Apple figured out how to make them "it" for the average consumer. People never knew they "needed" those devices until Apple explained why they needed them. Worst thing you can do is ask people not coming what they want, you have to create your "it" and show them why they want "it". Until you get that figured out you don't have the foundation to sell season tickets.

Gonzaga earned four units, BYU earned one. Year before Gonzaga earned two units, BYU earned one. Gonzaga is carrying the weight in the conference.

WOW, 12 of 14 sold fewer season tickets in 2014. Man I was complaining we had such a modest increase in 2014.

Those "high school" gyms host the 9th best basketball league in the country. BYU's former home MWC was rated 11, CUSA 17. They earned five units in this year's tournament to divided between 10 schools. WCC is a big deal in hoops and it is a league that fits BYU's academic profile.

BYU receives $800,000 to $1.2 million from ESPN for every home game ESPN telecasts depending on the date and network. Last year they had five telecasts so assuming they got the minimum they made $4 million on television. NIU receives $833,000 in TV money and $1 million at least from CFP in the MAC. CUSA under the current deal would offer $1 million in TV and $857,000 in CFP money. It would cost them $1.833 million to leave the MAC and if CUSA waived the entry fee it would only take NIU 77 years to recover the cost of moving to CUSA from the enhanced payout CUSA would offer and that's before factoring any difference in travel expenses. So what if UAB has to play 2016 as an FCS, starts transition in 2017, completes transition in 2018 and is full FBS in 2019? CUSA took Charlotte and played without football the past two seasons, play this year as a transition and won't be full FBS until 2016. UAB would play as many years without playing the league schedule in football as Charlotte did and UAB at least earned the league two units last year. They made $1.5 million for the league by winning their tournament game that the league wouldn't have had and it is $1.5 million more than Charlotte produced.

Hosting two in-state schools to start the year helped tremendously. 27k for Troy 29k for Alabama A&M 16k for FIU 20k for UNT 9k for LaTech then rumor breaks about dropping football, 28k for then #18 Marshall.

MTSU has always had a little more swagger than they've earned. They get under my skin.

I wouldn't think UAB would want to move up any faster than that. They've got to rebuild their roster, most of the kids still there did not have an FBS willing to take them.

Bring it on Rick. AState usually signs as many or more Alabama players as Texas players. We took kids who were committed to UAB before UAB dropped football.