stebo

From what I have read, Baylor isn't threatening to sue...they just refuse to sign away their ability to sue down the road. There are no damages based on speculation but if they do get left out in the cold, there would be tangible evidence that the SEC caused financial harm to the program. I don't think they would win, but if OJ and Casey Anderson can walk free...you just never know what a jury might think in a civil court.

Thanks for the excellent write-up and responses. FIU is the defending champ and there are several publications that have them picked to win it outright this year. Take away that first quarter and we played right there with the best of the conference. I know that we can't take away a quarter but it is encouraging to know that they kept their starters in the game and we were able to outscore them for 3 out of 4 quarters without a single point from the offense. For a first year coach and a brand spanking new QB, we just need to look for improvement from week one to week two. Should be a great ride watching these men build this program over again.

Just curious... did FIU seem to call the dogs off after the 1st quarter? I know it was a bad one but if you take away the big plays and the first quarter, the men in green paced and even outscored the Panthers for qtrs 2 through 4. I know that doesn't mean much at the end of the day...but we were breaking in a new QB and a new coach. Wonder if Riley would have done any better. When it comes down to it, this game is 80% mental. Just got done watching the Boise / Georgia game and those kids won because they believe in their system. I couldn't tell from my internet broadcast and the radio feed kept cutting in and out from the weather in FL...did they put the 2nd string in after the lead or did we match up well with those guys after the first quarter ended and the team settled down a bit?

I would be willing to bet that those are plants from the athletic department... and that is pretty darn smart.

' Rick and Ed sold the place and the new guy (Scott) ran it into the ground and allegedly burned it down. He covered it up by claiming that the floors had just been refinished and that he was in New Mexico when the fire actually went down. Not sure if he ever got in trouble. Ed went on to open the Curtain Club in Deep Ellum, Rick bought Ed out of the other half of Muthers. Muthers is now The Garage but Rick still owns it. I wouldn't classify either one as bad people, the bad people are down the road a little bit (just my opinion) Btw, Ricks was reopened as 'The Inferno' as a play on its previous demise. That owner was the same guy that used to own Karma Kafe. When that didn't work out, the building sat empty for a long time. It just opened back up a year or so ago but it got a complete facelift and their back patio beer garden is really popular. The guys that bought The Tavern from me also just sold and the new blood is keeping the name and really sprucing the place up. The Tomato was great and is misses but Crooked Crust is pretty darn good pizza. I actually liked TJ's better than The Tomato. Good times.

The Tomato already reopened - but they opened it in Sanger. It is not returning to Fry.

There is a big football magazine coming out from the DRC this week - at least I think it is this week. Vito has been working hard on this and had a photographer out at the stadium open house. I would bet that part of the North Texas piece will come from that, but that is just a guess. I don't remember the exact amount of pages but it will be a big deal and have a ton of print for the Mean Green.

According to Sun Belt Official Website: 2011 Sun Belt Conference Composite TV Schedule Updated: 07/25/2011 11:27:33 (ET) By Sun Belt Conference Share | September 1 * North Texas at FIU - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) (1) Kentucky at Western Kentucky - 8:15 p.m. (ESPNU) September 3 Middle Tennessee at Purdue - 11:00 a.m. (Big Ten Network) Arkansas State at Illinois - 2:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network) Louisiana-Monroe at Florida State - 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU) Troy at Clemson - 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3) Florida Atlantic at Florida - 6 p.m. (ESPNU) September 9 FIU at Louisville - 6 p.m. (ESPN) September 10 Florida Atlantic at Michigan State - 11 a.m. (ESPN/ESPN2) Houston at North Texas - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) Georgia Tech at Middle Tennessee - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) Navy at Western Kentucky - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) September 17 Louisiana-Monroe at TCU - 1 p.m. (The Mtn.) Arkansas State at Virginia Tech - 3 p.m. (Fox Sports Net) Central Florida at FIU - 5 p.m. (ESPN3) North Texas at Alabama - 6:30 p.m. (FSN) Troy at Arkansas 6:30 p.m. (CSS) September 24 Indiana at North Texas - 6 p.m. (ESPN3) Central Arkansas at Arkansas State - 7 p.m. (KATV/ESPN3) * Middle Tennessee at Troy - 3:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) Florida Atlantic at Auburn (Network TBD) October 1 Duke at FIU - 5 p.m. (ESPN3) * Arkansas State at Western Kentucky - 3 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) Memphis at Middle Tennessee - 6 p.m. - (ESPN3) October 6 * Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee - 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU) October 8 * Florida Atlantic at North Texas 6:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) October 15 * Louisiana-Monroe at Troy - TBA (Sun Belt Network) October 18 * FIU at Arkansas State - 7 p.m. (ESPN2) October 22 * Middle Tennessee at Florida Atlantic - 7 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) October 25 * Troy at FIU - 7 p.m. (ESPN2) October 29 * Louisiana-Lafayette at Middle Tennessee - 6:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) November 5 Troy at Navy - 2:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network) * Louisiana-Monroe at Louisiana-Lafayette -2:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network) Middle Tennessee at Tennessee (Network TBD) November 12 - Sun Belt Network Wildcard Week - 12:00 p.m. * Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State Or * North Texas at Troy Or * Florida Atlantic at FIU Or * Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Monroe Western Kentucky at LSU (Network TBD) - 7 p.m. November 19 - Sun Belt Network Wildcard Week - TBA * Florida Atlantic at Troy Or * FIU at Louisiana-Monroe Or * Western Kentucky at North Texas * Arkansas State at Middle Tennessee - TBA (ESPN3) November 26 - Sun Belt Network Wildcard Week - 6:30 p.m. * Troy at Western Kentucky Or * FIU at Middle Tennessee Or UAB at Florida Atlantic December 3 - Sun Belt Network Wildcard Week - 4:30 p.m. * Louisiana-Monroe at Florida Atlantic Or * Troy at Arkansas State Or * Middle Tennessee at North Texas All times Central (CT) and subject to change * denotes Sun Belt Conference game TV carrier in parenthesis - additional TV games to be announced (1) denotes game to be played at LP Field - Nashville, Tenn. For the last four weeks of the 11 game Sun Belt Network schedule a wild card selection will take place to show that week's most compelling game. About the Sun Belt Network The Sun Belt Conference ventured into extraordinary deal with regional sport network partners Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) and Cox Sports Television (CST) in the summer of 2009 to form the Sun Belt Network for regional conference television broadcasts. The 2011 football season will be the third of a four year marketing, promotion and syndication agreement with CSS and CST that goes through the 2012-13 academic year. The agreement between the three parties will results in the broadcasting of football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, volleyball, and softball contests throughout the upcoming year. Through additional distribution agreements the reach of the Sun Belt Network has expanded in the states of Texas (Texas Channel and Charter Denton), Florida (Bright House) and Kentucky (WKYU). These supplementary distributions beyond CSS and CST provide Sun Belt Network broadcasts to over 15 million households during football season throughout the southeast. The Sun Belt Network football game of the week will be available in 13 states across the southeast and is often available on ESPN3.com and ESPN GamePlan outside of the CSS and CST markets.

Love the spirit and agree completely that FIU is on the rise - one small correction - this is not a nationally televised game. It is being shown on the internet (ESPN3.com). There will be another Belt school playing on National TV that same night though... Kentucky is travelling to Western Kentucky and play at 8:15 pm on ESPNU.

I wonder if this is an old stats page. Someone on the Belt board wrote that the stadium had a capacity of 22K or something after a recent renovation. Maybe that is with people standing? They hosted Rutgers last year and the official attendance was like 20K. Those guys have an unfinished stadium, the visiting bleachers are just small area. It was built on an expedited schedule to help them move up to Div IA for the Belt. Also - that 30K capacity rule is long gone. Hasn't existed in a decade. There is no stadium capacity rule anymore - only an attendance rule that you must average 15K "sold" tickets over a rolling period of time. They don't even require those seats to have butts in them anymore. All those old rules have changed which is why you see schools like Texas State moving up to FBS with smaller stadiums.

I would say that any coach finishing in the top 25 consistently is a great coach. The Big 12 was a monster conference during his time there so he did a great job. I only wish NT could have a coach that was that 'bad ' If he really does end up at FAU to replace Capt Kangaroo ...the Belt will have a great coach in the league (not to take away anything from the current Belt coaches)

I think the DEPT was waiting to see how many MGC members there were before assigning parking. At least that is my guess. They probably had to see how many $250 level donors there were before committing to new stadium parking? Just a guess. And the parking passes are printed for each game plus they must be copy proof since they don't get scanned. I think it is better that they waited to get it right rather than field complaints later on.

Will Rudy's be able to show this one? Its on ESPN3 (which is internet, not TV)

Now that I work in Lewisville, I am planning on heading up to Denton to the watch party at the stadium. For those in Denton that commute to Dallas for work - how bad is the traffic from Lewisville to Denton around 6pm?

Hey guys, I love the podcasts. I just noticed something today - my Apple TV has your podcasts in the search! How awesome is that? For some reason the episodes stop at #39 in 2008... any ideas on if you changed something around July/Aug of 2008 that would take the podcoasts out of a national database? Just curious. Thanks for your hard work - I love these.

I am so ready to see Dunbar run. Heck, I am so ready for football!

All of it is on the 20th page of our Apogee Stadium forum - Text of Ammendment Thread: Quote from our Student Leader that helped get the fee More fun research and history: http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/forum/16-apogee-stadium/page__prune_day__100__sort_by__Z-A__sort_key__last_post__topicfilter__all__st__380

You know - this is a little confusing. The student fee was passed as a dedicated athletics fee for the entire department. It will fund all aspects of the program - salaries, equipment, and facilities. Part of the benefit of that fee was the ability to fund 50% of the new stadium (the amount allowed by law for facilities by student fee). The BOR could (theoretically) increase the fee up to 10% per year without student or State approval until it maxes out at $20 bucks a credit hour. The tricky part is that Perry tied this fee to the stadium by making it go into effect when the stadium construction started and expire when the stadium is paid off. So it is really in the department's best interest to finance the bonds as long as possible - or until they can get a true dedicated fee amendment. As it stands, when the bonds retire - the "dedicated" athletic fee also retires (leaving us with no fee at all!) That is the bill that was signed by our Governor - after a last minute negotiation. That is not what the students voted for but that is what Perry signed after Austin got a hold of the request. I hate politicians, the students voted for it and it should have been left alone. As far as baseball goes, the scholarships are the easy part. Baseball uses half scholarships so the Title IX consequences are neglible. It would add 7 or 8 ships and I think that we are already spending more on women than men so there would probably not need to be an additional female sport added... but you have to weigh the cost of the facilities, the coaching staff, and the commitment. If we are not going to do it right - and spend the money needed to put a first class Div I team on the field (with full coaching, trainers, and proper equipment) than I don't think that RV will spend the money. That being said, it could be a fantastic justification for raising the athletic fee after a year or two - to fund it properly.

Just as a FYI - from the Belt: ULM, Troy, and Western Kentucky all won the so-called "National Championship" at the IAA/FCS level. Of those three, only Troy has seen significant success at the IA/FBS level. As for the rest of the Belt (that came from IAA/FCS)... NT made the playoffs but never won a game. FIU and FAU went from start-up to FBS in like 4 years (and FAU had a deep playoff run in their last FCS year). UL has never been FCS. ASU was a doninant force in the IAA/FCS playoffs before moving up. Not sure about the MUTS, I think that they were a lot like UNT, made a few playoffs - maybe won a game or two - but no national championships. But regardless, you can see that FCS success does not correlate to FBS success. In fact, its much the opposite. That is like comparing apples to oranges. My advise - stay off their board. It is really sad over there. You have about 15 fans left, with half of those being loud mouths from UTSA. All the real schools will be gone after this year and their fans are checked out. The WAC will die on its own without copying and asting articles about it dying. They all know what a craphole conference it is now, just let them be.

Here are their higher level donor level seats ($1480 per seat per year)... these are higher up, have a completely different club and go for the middle class donor. http://www.fau.edu/stadium/premseats.html

Huh? Their premium seating is much less than ours. Even their highest level is about a quarter of the cost. You can get a 'priority' season ticket (including access to the lower level club and a bar to buy drinks from) for about 385 bucks a year. That includes the donation. I think that their approach is to go after quantity and concession (i.e. alcohol) sales. Every seat on the press box side between the 20's is some sort of priority, premium, club, or luxury seat. Just a completely different approach. They don't have the history or fan base to draw from so they are offering amenities. No big deal, both approaches will work. They cam grow their fan base and charge more later. They also have staggered prices for different length commitments (3, 4, 5 year) it OS less per year if you commit to a longer license. Here is a link to the lower priced premium seating... http://www.fau.edu/stadium/priorseats.html

I have been really impressed with the decisions made by the FAU administration. They have made some very smart decisions with seating. They have valet parking, like a professional sports team. That will take away from tailgating but some older fans just want to drive up and walk in. They also chose to build the stadium with four levels of "premium" seating - basically the entire home side between the 20's is considered "premium" seating (luxury, premier, loge, and club). They built two different clubs to accomodate these premium season ticket holders. All of the loge boxes have been sold out according to their fans on the Belt Board. And they have made it really easy for fans to "split" the cost of a luxury box. Those premium seats (about 8,000 in total) have access to the two clubs... where the season ticket holder can purchase alcohol. I am going to guess that they will get a higher average of revenue per customer than most football stadiums because of this setup. You can even carry the drinks to your seats. Smart move... for FAU. They have that Boca crowd to entertain and even the Whole Foods has valet parking in Boca. In Denton - this set up would probably not work as well. We like our tailgating. Too much alcohol in Denton would also push the envelope in a much more conservative State. Anyways, I bet that their new stadium generates a lot of income for them, but not in the traditional college football way.

UNT 90 Grad - I love your Avatar - did you make that or is it an official one?

There is a pretty fierce discussion about this topic on the Belt Board. ULM's problem is that they are on such a shoestring budget that they cannot compete in Div I. Yes, they have had football success - but they are in dead last of the Bubas Cup standings. ArkStFan did a nice breakdown of what putting all your eggs into one basket does for a program/school. If ULM is putting all its money into football hoping that they will raise money to fund other sports than that is a gamble. Unfortunately, their other sports have all finished in the bottom third of the Belt over the last few years. There is only so much to cut from other sports before they start to suffer and cannot compete. Their students had the chance to vote on a very modest athletic fee of $10 bucks a credit hour and only 800 people showed up to vote on it. There is a lack of interest that is sad and disturbing. I don't think they are a like minded institution. I think that NLU was a like minded institution but times have changed. Unfortunately their older alumni do not really associate with ULM and the Warhawk image, they think of ULM (unlike NLU) is a losing program and they do not support it. Very unfortunate.

That Natalie Portman picture... makes me feel dirty.