[QUOTE=X-49er;288394]Did you watch the New Orleans Bowl this year? Do you even know who played in it (or any other CUSA bowl game) without looking it up? My answer is no to both questions. I did watch the I-AA title game and have for the last 10 years or so, and I watched several more I-AA playoff games than bowl games over that same time period.
Why? Is there a rule against having corporate sponsors in I-AA?
Not true. Coastal and Elon have constructed nice stadiums on campus, and we could construct a nice expandable one with all the land we have.
Will we need them to fund I-AA football? I should hope not.
If you mean ESPN or the big 3 networks you are correct. 6 of App’s games were on TV this season (SportsSouth, ESPNU, or MASN).
Wrestling would not be attended and would not bring in financial donations. I-AA football would.
Only if you win, and have something to play for.
We could have TV for I-AA, and who in the hell wants to play in the Sun Belt. That would suck.
More if you are successful.
UAB thought the same thing a few years ago. They had 21,000+ for their home opener and 12,621 for the final home game against Central Florida. Central and South Florida are the exceptions, not the rule.[/QUOTE]
Obviously you’ve made up your mind, so good, but I’m going to stick with Mac Everett on this one.
Not every App State fan is happy about their D1-AA status. I know of THREE former YOSEF Club members (and football season ticket holders) that completely dropped their support about 6 or 7 years ago when App announced they would not try to make the jump to D-1. And they had been buying season tickets and contributing to the school since the mid to late 70s.
[QUOTE=Over40NINER;288441]Not every App State fan is happy about their D1-AA status. I know of THREE former YOSEF Club members (and football season ticket holders) that completely dropped their support about 6 or 7 years ago when App announced they would not try to make the jump to D-1. And they had been buying season tickets and contributing to the school since the mid to late 70s.[/QUOTE]
I bet they feel like idiots now. Way to support your school. Maybe the dead weight jumping off got App’s football bandwagon rolling. With fans like those, who needs opponents. :ponder::ohmy:
That's called relationship building with your customer -> It's a skill you MUST have to be successful in business. A round of golf just happens to one venue to do this. Sitting in a suite with your customer at a Panthers game is another, or Bobcats game, etc. It's about getting face time to build relationships with customers, both on a personal and professional level. A round of golf is but one avenue, albeit a popular one.
[QUOTE=X-49er;288374][COLOR=DarkRed][B]UMass[/B][/COLOR] - Great media market, rival UConn already in Big East (could also be hindrance, though)
[COLOR=DarkOrchid][B]East Carolina[/B][/COLOR] - Football program is worthy, but other sports sans baseball are not. Media market and location are also major concerns.
[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][B]Richmond[/B][/COLOR] - Football program has had decent success at I-AA level and they are a good market to have. Doubtful they could afford to have D1 with small private school funding for athletics.
[COLOR=DarkRed][B]Fordham[/B][/COLOR] - Don’t know if they have the funding or desire to be D1 in football, but if they do they could move to 4th in the pecking order because of their media market. Program has not had much success at the I-AA level.
[COLOR=Cyan][B]Rhode Island[/B][/COLOR] - Football program has never been terribly strong, and have not been to I-AA playoffs since 1985 (only 3 winning seasons since that time). Doubt they would/could support D1 football, but they do fit geographically.
[COLOR=Navy][B]Delaware[/B][/COLOR] - A definite longshot, but they fit well geographically and have had consistant I-AA success.[/QUOTE]
A good read. It looks like you’ve given this considerable thought.
I wouldn’t call Delaware a longshot at all. I think they have a better shot than many of the schools on your list, including ECU (sorry Pirates fans)
Considering that they essentially ‘own’ the market for a densely populated state, have the same # of undergrads as us, and are very much a football-crazy school (6 national titles) - I would have to believe they have their eyes on moving up to a power conference some day.
They can move up from IAA whenever they feel like it. They already meet all the requirements (for quite some time now) and draw greater attendance figures than many schools at the IA level - but seem to be waiting for the right moment.