Sun Belt Raises Academic & Athletic Expectations

[MeanGreen61]

Dr. Gretchen Bataille – President, North Texas

I served on the Wyatt Committee and am very pleased by the cooperative spirit that led to these recommendations to strengthen all the athletic programs at Sun Belt schools. The members reviewed the practices in other conferences, looked at our own numbers, and determined to find goals that would emphasize the importance of both academic and athletic successes. I believe that the Wyatt Report sets out realistic goals for our institutions to improve our athletic programs.

Football

1. Schools will play a minimum of 11 home games over a two-year period.

2. Schools may schedule not more than two games annually that do not include a return game provision at the institutions home field.

3. Schools may not play more than one I-AA opponent each year and that must be at home.

4. Schools must increase “average home attendance” annually until the school reaches 75% of the stadium capacity.

5. Schools must increase “season ticket” sales annually until the school reaches 25% of the stadium capacity.

6. The Conference Office will produce a weekly “Game of The Week” beginning in mid-September 2007.

7. The Conference Office shall secure a minimum of two guaranteed berths in post season bowl games.

FULL ARTICLE/RELEASE

http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.d...;ATCLID=1151032

[NT80]

1. Schools will play a minimum of 11 home games over a two-year period.

2. Schools may schedule not more than two games annually that do not include a return game provision at the institutions home field.

3. Schools may not play more than one I-AA opponent each year and that must be at home.

4. Schools must increase “average home attendance” annually until the school reaches 75% of the stadium capacity.

5. Schools must increase “season ticket” sales annually until the school reaches 25% of the stadium capacity.

6. The Conference Office will produce a weekly “Game of The Week” beginning in mid-September 2007.

7. The Conference Office shall secure a minimum of two guaranteed berths in post season bowl games.

I agree with all those. One of the better decisions by the 'Belt. Should have included:

8. Will offer invite to Notre Dame football on annual basis until they agree to join.

[Green Means Go!]

I like those standards. I guess, if implemented....that means we'd have to sell 7500 season tickets.

Also, one of the proposals for men's and women's basketball, is that the SBC schools would ONLY play Division I opponents. That would be a great move.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---All are enforcable except #4 and #5. Those two are a bit wacky anyway... We could play our games at Sanger HS and immediately satisfy those requirements. More reasonable would be to that every member attempt to raise attendence and season ticket holders. Obviously the team or two that are near the bottom of the standings will have trouble doing that since they will be winning few games.. (unless they move to a local small high school stadium, then no problem). It would easier to meet those for the places with tiny stadiums and would actually be more difficult for those who are trying to enlarge stadiums.

Edited August 15, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[UNTflyer]

I don't think playing in a HS stadium would meet Div-I requirements.

Regardless, I think these are good and reasonable goals. It will force the schools to market themselves better.

[NTPhiKap99]

It all sounds great to me I'm on board with anything that will help bring respectability to the conference.

[GreenBlooded1]

It all sounds great to me I'm on board with anything that will help bring respectability to the conference.

Absolutely!!!

[El Paso Eagle]

---All are enforcable except #4 and #5. Those two are a bit wacky anyway... We could play our games at Sanger HS and immediately satisfy those requirements. More reasonable would be to that every member attempt to raise attendence and season ticket holders. Obviously the team or two that are near the bottom of the standings will have trouble doing that since they will be winning few games.. (unless they move to a local small high school stadium, then no problem).

I am guessing here that they want to make sure that schools do not just sit back and take no steps towards improving. They will probably push the schools with attendance problems to be more aggressive with promotions and community involvement. Another thing I think you will see because of this is schools putting a lot more pressure on their Coaches to become “Fan Friendly”.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I don't think playing in a HS stadium would meet Div-I requirements.

Regardless, I think these are good and reasonable goals. It will force the schools to market themselves better.

---I am not suggesting that... I am just pointing out universities that build or play in large stadiums will have much more trouble meeting that percent "requirement". I understand the real purpose it trys to accomplish... to improve attendence.... I just think the 75% part of it is silly.....even if gets to 75% ...keep going... try to get the attendence to 90% or beyond.

Edited August 15, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

I agree that the season tickets and attendance are not enforcable as written but ALL conference teams should strive toward those goals. The rest are doable and necessary to move the conference forward. I do wonder if that will rule out games on neutral sites.

Another thing that could have been done that could be enforcable is that every conference member must have a minimum of 15,000 attendance average each year. However, until the moratorium on advancement is lifted we couldn't be too strict. But, once that's lifted, schools like Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, to name a couple. might be possible replacements for violators.

Another requirement that I'd like to see soon would be that every member have a stadium of no less than 30,000 as it was in years past. That way, with no stadium smaller than 30,000 and no average attendance smaller than 20,000, a revision with Conference USA on a more geographical basis could be accomplished and everyone wins.

I applaud the conference for taking this major step to move up the ladder.

[meangreenfreak]

I like #1. That means we are guaranteed 6 home games next year. We have only 5 home games this year, so in order to meet this requirement, we need 6 next year.