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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 10:03:08 GMT -6
Post by wildcats0075 on Jan 15, 2021 10:03:08 GMT -6
And for those who want to know why the departing schools were unhappy with the Southland, UCA Athletic Director spells it out. Here are the highlights from a Tweet by Katfans.com What led to change with Southland? * COVID decisions * Not everyone on same page with league decisions in general * Membership additions of HBU, UNO & UIW * Lack of commitment to ESPN quality broadcasting across league * Growing disparities in budgets, facilities * Desire for some to move FBS * Hope to improve basketball seeding, chance for winning * Did we say decision making by league? Saying again for reiteration thanks to @bradteague * Heightened branding I always find it funny that ACU does not get mentioned in the same breath at UIW and HBU in speaking about conference additions. Are we really that different from those schools? I fully agree our football stadium is in a whole different class and that is what others in the conference see in large part. But beyond that, what is the difference. It can't be Moody, which I just can't believe is an upper tier basketball arena in a D1 conference (we will see after the current upgrades). I usually see that UIW and HBU have bigger expenditures than ACU (I believe that includes the cost of scholarships and private schools are certainly more expensive) but they are usually up on the list. UIW made it to the playoffs and if I remember correctly won a playoff game. HBU has beat ACU a couple times recently. Recently ACU has had better basketball teams but is one conference tournament win that big of a deal. Is there really that big of a difference that I am just not seeing, but nobody seemed upset at adding ACU but everybody hates the addition of UIW and HBU?
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 10:07:28 GMT -6
Post by mavsman53 on Jan 15, 2021 10:07:28 GMT -6
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 10:09:18 GMT -6
Post by mavsman53 on Jan 15, 2021 10:09:18 GMT -6
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Post by mavsman53 on Jan 15, 2021 10:15:16 GMT -6
Moody is way better than either of these arenas and the new Moody will only enhance the difference. The big difference with ACU and UIW/HBU is ACU has shown a continued willingness to enhance/upgrade things. UIW and HBU have shown little desire to do so.
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Post by wildcats0075 on Jan 15, 2021 10:28:17 GMT -6
Moody is way better than either of these arenas and the new Moody will only enhance the difference. The big difference with ACU and UIW/HBU is ACU has shown a continued willingness to enhance/upgrade things. UIW and HBU have shown little desire to do so. I had seen their football stadiums, but man are their Basket ball gyms hurting. HBU's look something like my middle school gym class 20 years ago. outside of stadiums, didn't they do everything else to compete. Didn't they fully fund their scholarships? I guess I would not of thought that the opponents stadium was that big of a deal for other conference rivals considering that 99.5% of the opponents fan base will never travel to an away game. I guess ACU did "travel" well to HBU and UIW but it helps they are in huge cities with ACU fans living there so the travel was across town, not across the state. I appreciated that HBU was in conference as I could watch the cats with a nice short drive. I agree that CVS field at HBU is not great, but I was there to watch my team so I really did not care.
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Post by EastTexasWildcat on Jan 15, 2021 12:59:18 GMT -6
I don’t believe they have shown a commitment to ESPN quality broadcasting, that was apparently a big deal...as I think it should.
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Post by WildCatToothDoc on Jan 15, 2021 13:49:48 GMT -6
It's also about parity. ACU doing everything to update their facilities. UIW and HBU not doing so. From what I gather the SLC was ok with it. ESPN is a class act as ET Wildcat said, and others just not putting forth an effort and SLC just let's it slide. Happy to be in the WAC. GO CATS!
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 14:08:23 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by buckeyecat on Jan 15, 2021 14:08:23 GMT -6
My question regarding the move to the WAC, which by the way I think is a better long term fit for us than the Southland conference, concerns future FBS transition. Would we and other universities in the WAC be able to meet the attendance requirements for FBS membership, especially in light of the decreased popularity of football with students and alumni in all schools lately, not just us?
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 14:21:30 GMT -6
Post by Outsider on Jan 15, 2021 14:21:30 GMT -6
My question regarding the move to the WAC, which by the way I think is a better long term fit for us than the Southland conference, concerns future FBS transition. Would we and other universities in the WAC be able to meet the attendance requirements for FBS membership, especially in light of the decreased popularity of football with students and alumni in all schools lately, not just us? For football especially that's a two part question: 1) Can Wildcat Stadium be added onto for higher capacity? The most obvious would be adding a second level to the visitor side. Our Stadium only has a capacity of 12,000. You need to avergae 15,00 over a 2 year rolling period for FBS. 2) Then you can get to will we actually fuflill that requirement with a WAC FBS schedule. If ACU were to play Baylor, TCU, SMU, etc... we might get 15+K in the crowd. If that FBS game meant it is Tarleton, I don't think so becasue they aren't any bigger name than we are; even if we are both FBS.
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 14:56:25 GMT -6
via mobile
Outsider likes this
Post by bogeyman on Jan 15, 2021 14:56:25 GMT -6
When my wife and I were given a tour of the "almost completed" Wildcat Stadium 6 weeks before the initial season started, we were told that the stadium had been built to add more levels if needed. As for "could we average 15K" in attendance-- not sure about that at all.
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Post by WildCatToothDoc on Jan 15, 2021 15:31:10 GMT -6
Being that attendance is down everywhere including the BIG schools, I just don't see it happening. What has the attendance been for someone like Texas State over the few years they have been FBS? I would be surprised if they average 15k. Are there no attendance requirements for basketball? I don't think HBU could get 500 in their gym. Just wondering.
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Post by WildCatToothDoc on Jan 15, 2021 15:32:11 GMT -6
When my wife and I were given a tour of the "almost completed" Wildcat Stadium 6 weeks before the initial season started, we were told that the stadium had been built to add more levels if needed. As for "could we average 15K" in attendance-- not sure about that at all. Yes that is what I was told. Adding to the student side.
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 15:42:35 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by jaminthebody on Jan 15, 2021 15:42:35 GMT -6
Theoretically, the Athletic Department could move the bleachers from the Teague center to the South end of Wildcat Stadium temporarily once Moody is available. Just spitballing here. That would put the capacity at 13,000 to 13,500.
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 15:46:24 GMT -6
Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on Jan 15, 2021 15:46:24 GMT -6
Being that attendance is down everywhere including the BIG schools, I just don't see it happening. What has the attendance been for someone like Texas State over the few years they have been FBS? I would be surprised if they average 15k. Are there no attendance requirements for basketball? I don't think HBU could get 500 in their gym. Just wondering. I believe the only minimum attendance requirement is for FBS football. Attendance can be counted as either number of seats sold or number of people in the stands.
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WAC
Jan 15, 2021 15:57:07 GMT -6
Post by wildcats0075 on Jan 15, 2021 15:57:07 GMT -6
Being that attendance is down everywhere including the BIG schools, I just don't see it happening. What has the attendance been for someone like Texas State over the few years they have been FBS? I would be surprised if they average 15k. Are there no attendance requirements for basketball? I don't think HBU could get 500 in their gym. Just wondering. fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2019.pdfAt the FCS level there is just no way. I attached the 2019 numbers per the NCAA and only 10 FCS schools in the county in 2019 had an average attendance on over 15K. And this is most of the very large and successful schools or a few historical black colleges that have a strong tradition of attendance and always show up. For example, the SWAC averaged just over 15K and was far and away the best attended FCS conference (like 56% ahead of the second place conference). For the Texas 4 and Tarleton Tarleton - 8,592 (one of the best D2 numbers in the country) SFA - 8,300 ACU 7,882 Lamar - 7,173 Sam - 4,878 (That is terrible for a big school that has recently had tremendous success) Considering that we are all in the same Southwest division in the WAC and will still be primarily playing each other annually, I don't see anyway that we could all increase our attendance to average 15K. If the WAC has FBS inclinations, it will have to find new schools if the NCAA strictly enforces the 15K requirement. Considering the WAC had no football for like 20 years and could not find schools to do that even during extreme conference realignment, there is just no way these schools are about to show up.
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