Bison Forum

[Virginia Redbird]

Just for some perspective I guess. After reading the report of the NDSU v UND game yesterday I went to the Bison Fan Forum just out of curiosity. As you might expect quite a bit of hostility and dissatisfaction among the Bison faithful. A few fans posted comments to the effect that everyone should calm down and essentially their Championship run could not possibly last forever but a lot were calling for the head coach to be fired and other as well. The players were being heavily dumped on as well and of course lots of comparisons to the previous teams. The defense in particular was eviscerated by many. I get it, they were not just beaten yesterday, they were destroyed and the Bison fans are not used to that. Maybe the Bison will regain their elite FCS status and maybe this is the end. I don't know. I just thought it was a little bit of perspective. Lots of us, including myself, get on Spack. I am not saying the criticism is not justified just maybe we need to look at it with some perspective. I am not in the camp that Spack is above criticism either. It was just interesting to me with the string of National titles over a decade or so, how can you be so mad at the program? Nothing goes on forever, nothing.

One comment made I found interesting. The poster commented that the Bison will regret not going FBS now the they appear on a downward trajectory. With the increase in the entry fee to the FBS club yeah, I agree that time has passed. FYI, I did not post there or go with any intent to stir up any animosity. I was just truly interested in how the fan base was reacting to a two loss season. My own prediction is it will be a three loss season at the minimum. I don't see this NDSU team beating SDSU in Brookings. They also have games left with UNI and SIU. Either one could pull an upset I think. We Redbird fans would most likely be very happy with a two loss season. It is all perspective! Happy Sunday everyone. I am hoping the Bears can pull out another win today over the Vikings.

 

[fourthandshort]

Some Bison fans on AGS were griping about UND fans storming the field. Just a few, but they are regular posters. So they took a lot of flak.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

NDSU would have an interesting move to FBS. What conference would they play in? They would be better off if the top of the MVFC moved up because is the C-USA really attractive for them? I doubt they would want to go independent, and I’m thinking the MW is more focused on Oregon State and Wazzu. They don’t really fit in anywhere right now.

 

[fourthandshort]

NDSU would have an interesting move to FBS. What conference would they play in? They would be better off if the top of the MVFC moved up because is the C-USA really attractive for them? I doubt they would want to go independent, and I’m thinking the MW is more focused on Oregon State and Wazzu. They don’t really fit in anywhere right now.

You may have missed the news from NCAA .. but effective immediately, the cost of going FBS just got bumped from $5k to $5m .... not a typo. This will deter most programs from seriously considering a move go forward .. unless it were to be lowered. Certainly, 5k was a ridiculously low for entry. But to increase it to $5m effective immediately, seems equally ridiculous.

 

[TBS_20]

I think NDSU and SDSU will end up in the new Mountain West which will be the AAC of the West.

 

[TBS_20]

I know this is a huge IF but just for sake of having a little fun lets imagine the Redbirds run the table all the way to the championship game, which would make them 11-2 going into the championship game. Would 2 championship game appearances in 8 years restart the conversation to move up. I figure thats good enough to get an invite to the Sun Belt. Obviously, it would cost $5-million + a renovation to bring capacity up by 4,000 seats. Total they probably need $15-million to make the transition.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

You may have missed the news from NCAA .. but effective immediately, the cost of going FBS just got bumped from $5k to $5m .... not a typo. This will deter most programs from seriously considering a move go forward .. unless it were to be lowered. Certainly, 5k was a ridiculously low for entry. But to increase it to $5m effective immediately, seems equally ridiculous.

I read about the increased cost here on the forum but did not look any further into it. Does anyone know why the major increase in cost? $5 grand was really cheap but why the huge increase to $5 million? I was curious if it had anything to do with an attempt to discourage programs from moving up. Quite a few programs have made the jump in recent years, maybe too many with the crazy conference re-organizations going on. Maybe it is just greedy opportunist? I don't know, but curious if someone out there knows the reasons behind the increase.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

I suspect there are similar meltdowns happening on the Bama boards this season. It is rare air when a 2-loss season is cause for universal alarm, but I suspect a team that has lost less than 10 games in the last 8 seasons has not built that response yet. It is interesting, too, because we are starting to see some longer term chinks in the armor in Fargo. SDSU is now the powerhouse of FCS and teams like North Dakota are swiftly gaining steam on the Bison. The competition in FCS is about as good as it has ever been, top to bottom, and you are seeing NFL talent nearly every week in the MVFC.

It used to be NDSU would have 2 or 3 NFL players playing, week to week, against guys who would be lucky to make the XFL and now there are scouts at every game and they are not just looking at the players in gold and green.

Interesting time to be an FCS fan.

 

[Bird Friend]

I suspect there are similar meltdowns happening on the Bama boards this season. It is rare air when a 2-loss season is cause for universal alarm, but I suspect a team that has lost less than 10 games in the last 8 seasons has not built that response yet. It is interesting, too, because we are starting to see some longer term chinks in the armor in Fargo. SDSU is now the powerhouse of FCS and teams like North Dakota are swiftly gaining steam on the Bison. The competition in FCS is about as good as it has ever been, top to bottom, and you are seeing NFL talent nearly every week in the MVFC.

It used to be NDSU would have 2 or 3 NFL players playing, week to week, against guys who would be lucky to make the XFL and now there are scouts at every game and they are not just looking at the players in gold and green.

Interesting time to be an FCS fan.

So they’re looking at the cheerleaders, too?

 

[isuquinndog]

I read about the increased cost here on the forum but did not look any further into it. Does anyone know why the major increase in cost? $5 grand was really cheap but why the huge increase to $5 million? I was curious if it had anything to do with an attempt to discourage programs from moving up. Quite a few programs have made the jump in recent years, maybe too many with the crazy conference re-organizations going on. Maybe it is just greedy opportunist? I don't know, but curious if someone out there knows the reasons behind the increase.

I assume this is the reason. To discourage more schools moving up and trying to take away at large bids. But that's the cynical side of me coming out.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I assume this is the reason. To discourage more schools moving up and trying to take away at large bids. But that's the cynical side of me coming out.

Not so cynical...that is what I was thinking.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

You may have missed the news from NCAA .. but effective immediately, the cost of going FBS just got bumped from $5k to $5m .... not a typo. This will deter most programs from seriously considering a move go forward .. unless it were to be lowered. Certainly, 5k was a ridiculously low for entry. But to increase it to $5m effective immediately, seems equally ridiculous.

No, I was fully aware of it. Even if the cost was $1 to move up, what conference are they moving to? Seems like any choice they realistically have does not make sense.

Beyond that, they would then have 3 options to make the scholarships work:

1.) Add women’s sports scholarships. I couldn’t see them having enough to add through their existing sports, so they would likely have to add a women’s team or two.

2.) Cut men’s sports. It would take multiple sports being cut here without dropping men’s basketball.

3.) Not have full FBS scholarship levels. I’m not sure why you would move up and do this.

Perhaps NDSU has donors willing to pony up millions a year to accomplish this. With their limited seating in the Fargo Dome, without booster support, they would be looking at needing to play multiple big-paying buy games a year to generate revenue to cover these costs.

 

[cpacmel]

Part of the new FBS requirements are as follows:

All FBS programs must provide 90% of total number of scholarships over a 2-year rolling period across 16 sports, including football.

FBS schools will also be required to fund 210 scholarships per year, amounting to no less than 6 million dollars a year. (starting august 2027

 

[isuquinndog]

Part of the new FBS requirements are as follows:

All FBS programs must provide 90% of total number of scholarships over a 2-year rolling period across 16 sports, including football.

FBS schools will also be required to fund 210 scholarships per year, amounting to no less than 6 million dollars a year. (starting august 2027

Not that we are moving up but does any one know if we meet those criteria?

 

[ISUBU]

Not that we are moving up but does any one know if we meet those criteria?

I do not know, but I'm guessing we're reasonably close. We do offer enough sports. Our roster sizes are pretty solid, so I assume that we are close to offering the number of scholarships permitted.

I believe our scholarship limits would be 109.3 for men and 113 for women given the sports we sponsor. These numbers are so close that you can see that there has been a lot of thought into the mix of sports we offer. I remember we cut a successful mens soccer program and then quickly added women's soccer. And we dropped wrestling. Those were cuts and additions that brought us closer to an even match.

So the hard problem for us if we added 22 new football scholarships is how do we stay in balance? We'd either need to add 22 women's scholarships, or convert 11 current men's scholarships to women's. So that would be like dropping baseball, or mens running, or both golf and tennis, and then adding another women's sport. I don't really see the desire to do that. So again, it comes down to the costs for the additional scholarships.

The best chance I see for building additional revenue is getting attendance back up in football and men's basketball.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I do not know, but I'm guessing we're reasonably close. We do offer enough sports. Our roster sizes are pretty solid, so I assume that we are close to offering the number of scholarships permitted.

I believe our scholarship limits would be 109.3 for men and 113 for women given the sports we sponsor. These numbers are so close that you can see that there has been a lot of thought into the mix of sports we offer. I remember we cut a successful mens soccer program and then quickly added women's soccer. And we dropped wrestling. Those were cuts and additions that brought us closer to an even match.

So the hard problem for us if we added 22 new football scholarships is how do we stay in balance? We'd either need to add 22 women's scholarships, or convert 11 current men's scholarships to women's. So that would be like dropping baseball, or mens running, or both golf and tennis, and then adding another women's sport. I don't really see the desire to do that. So again, it comes down to the costs for the additional scholarships.

The best chance I see for building additional revenue is getting attendance back up in football and men's basketball.

Fortunately this is just a theoretical exercise...I don't see ISU ponying up $5 million to join the club. No sports have to be cut and all stays the same.

 

[DaveBird10]

Fortunately this is just a theoretical exercise...I don't see ISU ponying up $5 million to join the club.

This! People are upset about ISU and the $ lost for the indoor facility how would non sports people react to ISU to pony up $5 million to join the MAC or AAC.

 

[isuquinndog]

I know I don't think it's a good way to spend $5 million. But I'm just a guy with a message board.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I am a football fan but I hate to see sports programs dropped from universities. I understand the laws and the numbers but I just hate to see sports other young people love to play dropped. I think that is a wonderful part of university culture. But I understand tough choices need to be made.

 

[normalbird]

Part of the new FBS requirements are as follows:

All FBS programs must provide 90% of total number of scholarships over a 2-year rolling period across 16 sports, including football.

FBS schools will also be required to fund 210 scholarships per year, amounting to no less than 6 million dollars a year. (starting august 2027

This is tantamount to saying you need to be in a conference with a fat tv deal to raise the dough to meet those financial requirements.

Maybe a bottom feeder in the Big 10 or SEC gets enough with their relatively small share of post game play (bowls, tournaments) to meet those requirements.
Nuts