this might have been posted already, but here's a link to ndsu's statement on the matter earlier today: https://www.inforum.com/sports/biso...t-on-mountain-west-conference-football-report
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NDSU to MWC
- Thread starter hm.grwn.grizfan
- Start date
I’m already there. I’m not paying to go to D2 games or Northern colorado anymore. I’ll show up for Idaho, MSU, and any decent OOC they might bring in, but I’m done spending hundreds of dollars to get to games, pay for food and lodging etc to watch games that are meaningless tussles against dog water competition…… the last two seasons I’ve been to just 3 home games. I don’t foresee myself going to many more outside of the couple decent opponents we get each year
….. I can’t be alone in this. It’s been 15 years of diminishing competition year after year, and NDSU leaving is my breaking point. We HAVE to move on.
That’s the thing: We’ve definitely been programmed to believe it simply cannot be done because “Where will the money come from?”, but at the same time, nobody has even been able to determine how much an additional athletic scholarship really costs UM as an institution. We’re just told “Moving up costs fleventy-five rhillion dollars and we can only allocate plifty-nine.” Must be true. Oh well. It’s pie in the sky, so don’t bother.
Different sport, different level, but in some ways it reminds me the MLB Angels. Short story is that the owner won’t spend money to better the team because why would he? They rank high in attendance and revenue no matter what. Why would UM want to try to find money to move up with our peers if people come to games no matter what?
Alexa, play Kid Rock American Badass…on repeat…for 25 years.
One of the first axioms of business (and leave no doubt, college athletics is a business): you gotta spend money to make money.
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Sports Bison Media Zone Men's Sports
NDSU issues statement on Mountain West Conference football report
North Dakota State said it will have no comment at this time on potential move to FBS.
North Dakota State's Cole Payton takes on Arizona's Trydan Stukes at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.
David Samson / The Forum
By Jeff Kolpack
Today at 11:41 AM
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News Reporting
FARGO — The bombshell media report on North Dakota State being in “serious dialogue” about joining the Mountain West Conference for football only hit Friday night. The university on Saturday morning responded with a statement that it is aware of the news.
The school also did not deny the report, issuing a statement on its X social media account as well as an email from the sports information department.
“North Dakota State is regularly involved in conversations about the future of college athletics including conference affiliation," the statement read. “We are aware of the media reports and will have no further comment.
“Our focus remains on supporting our students, faculty and staff, and honoring our commitments as a student-focused, land-grant research university, and communicating directly with our community when there is definitive information to share.”
The Forum on Friday night confirmed the accuracy of a story first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports that the Mountain West is in discussions with NDSU about joining a league that currently has nine football members. It could be as soon as this upcoming season.
Other national outlets, citing unnamed sources, also confirmed the report.
According to Dellenger, Mountain West presidents recently agreed to extend an invite to NDSU, but the entrance fee to join the league has been a subject of negotiation over the last few days. NDSU would also owe $5 million in a separate NCAA entry fee. That's up from $5,000 three years ago when college football leaders decided to hike the fee as a potential hurdle for schools to join FBS, whose membership has swelled to 136 schools.
A statement with athletics on its X account, formerly called Twitter, is a rare move for the university. On Friday, athletic director Matt Larsen and head coach Tim Polasek had no comment on the report.
I want to point something out. We play Oregon State in 2026. I’m not sure how much money we are getting from them, but let’s just say it’s $750k like what Washington paid us in 2021. That’s on the high side for an FBS program paying an FCS program.
If Montana had the FBS label, those “play up” games would be at minimum $1.5 million.
If Montana had the FBS label, those “play up” games would be at minimum $1.5 million.
alabamagrizzly
Well-known member
Probably vliser to 5. OSU is not UDub, but i get your point.
alabamagrizzly
Well-known member
Maybe if the school, fans, and the state are willing to foot the bill. More than likely though it will be an east coast team like Mercer or a Texas team like Tarleton.
Sure, but then you also have to consider that all of the out-of-conference games that Montana schedules at home will also cost more to Griz Athletics. The only way to get out of that is to schedule home and homes. I don't know enough about FBS football to know how that gets handled at that level, but you can't increase one side of the balance sheet without also looking at the additional costs on the other side.
I have no inside knowledge but I would be willing to bet a little bit of money that there are people at UM and MSU who HAVE crunched the numbers. Just because the information isn't public doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
For sure. We just have to trust them. I mean, we have no clue just how far short we fall, or whether that’s on paper or on a cash basis, or how much more is needed, or if there could be any creative thinking applied whatsoever, but we have to trust them. It can’t be done.
mthoopsfan
Well-known member
True. It can’t be done. You can it on napkin to confirm that. It’s not hard.
It’s not a whole lot different than how we currently do things at the FCS level. We pay a bit more to more equal team like NDSU, SDSU, South Dakota, etc and less for teams like Morehead. Montana likely would still schedule FCS games for an OOC game, some lower end FBS games, and then games with moderate FBS programs. I don’t think it’s going to be a money pit like many think it’s going to be.
GriznMN
Well-known member
We weren't waiting for BSU, Nevada, and Idaho to move up. We were improving the program to beat the like of BSU, Nevada, and Idaho so we could beat them, Youngstown State, Georgia Southern, and Marshall.
Remember we beat BSU their last year in the conference. And we didn't just beat them, we laid a beat down on them. The game wasn't even as close as the final score.
I know you're being a bit snarky, or maybe a lot haha, but honestly I would think that the numbers change. So the university couldn't put out any kind of information on what it would actually cost to move up, because next week or next month or next year it's certainly going to be different. So yes we have to have some kind of trust that they are constantly monitoring things and looking at scenarios and they know what the actual costs are and what they would need to balance out the equation.
All that to say, you and others seem to think that every fan deserves some kind of accounting from the university on what it would actually cost to move up and some sort of in-depth explanation of why it's not feasible. Does the University actually owe that information to every Tom Dick and Harry out there? I'm not so sure they do, although it certainly might be possible that the really big donors are privy to some of this info. I have no idea. But I just have to shake my head at all the people who act like it's an easy thing to do and all we have to do is want it bad enough and work hard enough and it'll happen. That's just not always the case in reality.
Never said or inferred that they were.
The 2nd lesser known axiom may or may not be Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat.
I doubt anyone expects full transparency. But in light of so many former peers moving up and our history of messaging, something beyond the classic “Move along; can’t be done. Trust me. Not enough bathrooms for beer in the stadium” would be welcome.
Alas, we are programmed to accept the status quo, and we’re fucking elite at doing so.
Typical response from you
