BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

No, in a perfect world this is not a feasible option for Idaho. But the WAC is football dead, the MWC wants no part of them and the rest of the conferences are too far away (and they're not attractive enough an option to accept the long road trips for, say, CUSA or the MAC). To them, clearly moving to FCS is a massive show of massive defeat, even if they're a much better fit playing Montana, Montana State, Idaho State and Eastern Washington in the Big Sky than a home schedule of Northern Arizona, South Dakota, New Mexico State and Wyoming with eight pay for loss opportunities at actual FBS programs.

The Big Sky doesn't especially need Idaho for the other sports if they're not going to bring football along. They should put up an all-or-nothing ultimatum. Come along for football or stay on the sinking WAC canoe.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/16/vandals-opt-football-independence-big-sky-other-sp/

As a Vandal fan, I don't like the move, but not sure they can take a seven-figure hit. Then again, how much do/would shorter trips against true regional opponents generate?

 

It does sound like Idaho might be better off dropping to FCS due to the reasons y'all listed, not the least of which is it's relative geographical isolation outside of the WAC and MWC. However, dropping down would be the huge ego and money hit, too. I'm a Middle Tennessee alumnus and when we went FBS back in the late 90's, I wasn't a big fan of it, but we were fortunate enough to be able to get in the Sun Belt. Idaho's not so lucky.

 

What about the scholarships they could ditch by going FCS? That seems like it would account for a significant chunk of the $1.5 million.

 

You'd only be cutting 22 scholarships. I'm not sure how much tuition, room & board costs at Idaho but I'm guessing it's not $68,000 a year.

 

Math was off on my part. But it's got to be close to $30,000 per. Plus much lower travel costs to factor in.

 

As little geographical sense as it made, Idaho was in the Sun Belt for a moment. You may remember this doozy.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2001-10-06-middle-tennessee-state.html

 

I remember this as well. They were in there for a couple of minutes, as they're in the Sun Belt on my son's NCAA Football 2004 game for the GameCube.

 

How much of a revenue hit are they going to take by staying in the WAC?

It seems schools like Idaho are what caused the WAC to pretty much die in the first place. What TV network wants to show that mess every week? If they were in a legit conference, they could get away with being who they are. But if they have to be a main draw, it's tough.

It's like one coach I heard said once, "If so-and-so is the best your league can do, your league is in trouble."

 

How much does a scholarship "cost"? I know it has a value, but what are the net cash flows associated with that scholarship? Here's my guess: Way the hell less than the stated value of the scholarship. Let's put it this way. Unless a given athlete is taking the spot of another, tuition-paying student, then said athlete's scholarship costs very little.

 

Idaho does have a problem. Once the get into October - the Pac-12 won't be an option, the Mountain West will have 10 teams so they won't have an odd team out in a given week, same with the Big 12, the SEC and the Big 10. The Big "East" will have 13 so there might be some room there for a team with an open date and the Big Sky will have 11. Sun Belt, 9.

And if you are playing three or four FCS schools a year you can write off ever playing in another bowl game.

 

From an accounting standpoint the athletic department is billed the full cost of the scholarship by the university. It's moving money from one pocket to another but it still counts on the department's balance sheet. They aren't getting a discount.