45otseoj wrote:panther-state wrote:Excuse me for being less than skeptical about Missouri St. and Illinois St. making any jumps to the FBS whether its just in football or all sports. I just don't see how they are attractive options at this time. In 5-10 years and they've vastly improved and are filling the stands then I could...but not before then
Bingo.
Agreed too. I think I mentioned in the basketball thread of a similar topic that in my opinion we are at least 3 years out from anything like that. Heck, it might take us 3 years to get the stadium to where we want it alone. The first step is getting this stadium done while building up some success. I don't necessarily think success will be defined as having to win the FCS championship a couple times to make that move. I think winning the conference and making some good playoff runs will suffice. I think it is more about getting butts in the seats and increasing season ticket purchases. The most important thing to the school is a commitment from the fans. They need a reason to upgrade the stadium and move to FBS. Right now the reason for upgrading the stadium is simply because it is outdated, an eyesore and a potential safety hazard in many cases. What you said about driving by the stadium hits the nail on the head. The school views our stadium as a gateway to the University and it just doesn't make for a good presentation currently.
There are many different factors why a FBS conference would look at an FCS school. Look at the WAC for example. They are reloading their conference with FCS schools simply to survive. Anyways, for ISU I know the future plan for the school has always been to expand. ISU ownes a ton of land around the campus that is just sitting there, which is a future investment. Compare that to a FBS conference wanting a school like ISU. Yes we may not be good from the get go (usually no converted team is), however, it can be looked at as an investment. Both ISU and MSU are state schools that have the potential to become much bigger than what they are. At some point your enrollment mightbecome so large that it would be embarrassing not to have an FBS football team. The next thing to look at is cost. I believe I mentioned this before, but geographically ISU would be a good fit for the MAC. It would provide a good rivalry for Northern Illinois and a short drive for a road game (which they admittedly want us for). Sometimes it is as simple as FBS is the direction that our school president wants to take our program. The president of our school has in fact said it was a goal of his to take our football program to FBS. In fact, every hire that has been made points in that direction. So it is not really a matter of if at this point, it is a matter of when.
It is our hope that the stadium will sort of get the ball rolling in that respect. We already have the right people in place to make the move. We need the right stadium that will start attracting fans and the type of recruits that will allow us to make a move. Of course if another shift happens, we may have to do this faster than we want to otherwise we could miss our chance for a long time (if the NCAA holds off again).
Posted: August 1st, 2011, 11:29 pm
