Those concerned about budgets, MAC/Sun Belt/CUSA schools get virtually all of their budget from three sources:
1. Pay games
2. Bowl allocations
3. Network TV money
If ISU made the jump, our athletic budget would be similarly funded and look comparable to the Ball State’s and directional...
The MVFC is already pretty comparable to the MAC anyway per Sagarin and other ratings systems. We would compete just fine (assuming we get back to pre-Covid Spack ball).
It was time for ISU to leave for an FBS conference at least around the time WKU went all in on the Sun Belt, if not earlier.
Also, there’s really no need to worry about the 15k attendance benchmark. The rule isn’t enforced by the NCAA, and everyone in FBS fabricates attendance anyway.
ISU athletics has four paths forward if it ever wants to be relevant in the future. At this point, the status quo basically means the administration doesn’t really care, which is probably the case.
1) Beg to join CUSA
2) Beg to join the Sun Belt
3) See if the NCAA will allow a move up to FBS...