THIS!!
The portal is the killer. If we only had to compete against other schools having bigger NIL, we'd still be ok because our players would have to honor their commitment here or lose a year when they would transfer away. Instead, the portal allows those NIL deals at P$s to buy off anyone looking for a payday and to play at their dream school. When we see our teams almost turn over by 75% or more, the few fans that do care look at their donations and think that they can be able to use their few thousand dollars they donate in better fashion. For me, I stopped going to games back after 2022. It just became very clear that this sport is one that I cannot support with my butt in a seat anymore. Its intrinsically unfair and completely tilted to hurt places like ours, which was already at a GIGANTIC disadvantage because of our self-inflicted stupidity of the past. Going down to FCS in 1983 and staying there for 12 freaking years while the SWC and Big 8 were at their heights was about as dumb a decision as a school could've made in this region. We nuked the program's fans and alumni support from decades before and decades ahead.
But today, with the portal and NIL being what they are, the strong majority of G5 schools shouldn't be in FBS and acting like they're equals to anyone in a Power conference. Yes, you can name a few exceptions, from performance, to tradition, to budget...but this is where we need a level of play that is more like traditional college amateur football. Don't go down to FCS and lose a ton of scholarships, rather create a level of play that allows for you to have 85 or more scholarships, but they aren't playing for anything more than their scholarship and a stipend. Make college coaching staffs have a salary cap. Hell, play your games in the spring semester--do something to get coverage for the sport that America loves more than anything else. Play 10 games in a regional conference setup, then play an 8-team playoff. I would be a season ticket holder again in a heartbeat with a setup like this. Otherwise, Ill watch from afar, like I've done for two years now and haven't regretted one time.
Texas State hired their football coach the same time we did. He just got a new contract worth $2 million per year with a record not that much better that Morris.
A friend of mine was on the LSU Tiger Club Board, who raises money for athletics and parcels it out based upon the departments request. When the Tigers hired Baylor's WBB coach his response was" great, now we can lose even more money ." UNT loses money on every sport it has so great, let's add baseball so we can lose even more money. Every dollar they pore into athletics is money that is lost to all other departments. I care about football and basketball but a real revenue sport is when money in is greater that money out.
We are missing money from our alumni base and participation from our students. Yet we continue to pore money into our football program hoping something will change but it hasn't.
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