*Rumored Lamar to FBS discussion*

[Guest NorthoftheBorder]

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2012/jun/07/liberty-and-importance-national-scope-ar-1973819/

 

We are getting a lot of chatter because of this article. It sounds bogus to me though. I think it is just a bunch of flame for liberty people being desperate to join FBS.

 

The one thing this article is good for is its emphasis on the fact media markets are driving the movement into the 2nd tier conferences- not quality of athletic program. The BCS conferences look at money- this is why I think the B1G, Big XII, and SEC are about to devour the ACC and Big East.

 

The next tier of conferences (the other FBS conferences that are grabbing for crumbs and table scraps) are trying to get the money by getting their conference into media markets (c'mon, how else does UT-Arlingon, a school w/o a football team, get invited to move up before almost everyone else?).

 

By the way, can we stick a moratorium on Liberty University mentions? They're over 1000 miles away, likely not to be invited to the same conference as us, and has a different blue-print (private, religiously-affiliated, regional vs. state-affiliated and national).

 

As we move ever closer to a 4 or 5 conference super tier that will get about 90+% of all the college sports money and exposure, the second tier will get most of what's left, and the third tier (current FCS) will get about as much exposure and money as Juco's currently enjoy! LU should at least try to get in the second tier. JMHO!!!!

[jdcurran235]

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2012/jun/07/liberty-and-importance-national-scope-ar-1973819/

 

We are getting a lot of chatter because of this article. It sounds bogus to me though. I think it is just a bunch of flame for liberty people being desperate to join FBS.

 

The one thing this article is good for is its emphasis on the fact media markets are driving the movement into the 2nd tier conferences- not quality of athletic program. The BCS conferences look at money- this is why I think the B1G, Big XII, and SEC are about to devour the ACC and Big East.

 

The next tier of conferences (the other FBS conferences that are grabbing for crumbs and table scraps) are trying to get the money by getting their conference into media markets (c'mon, how else does UT-Arlingon, a school w/o a football team, get invited to move up before almost everyone else?).

 

By the way, can we stick a moratorium on Liberty University mentions? They're over 1000 miles away, likely not to be invited to the same conference as us, and has a different blue-print (private, religiously-affiliated, regional vs. state-affiliated and national).

 

As we move ever closer to a 4 or 5 conference super tier that will get about 90+% of all the college sports money and exposure, the second tier will get most of what's left, and the third tier (current FCS) will get about as much exposure and money as Juco's currently enjoy! LU should at least try to get in the second tier. JMHO!!!!

 

I don't know if we should try or not. But I don't believe it is SBC or bust either. If the economics are good, we might just jump. Maybe a booster is willing to put money up cause he doesn't want to see LU left behind. I just think it is unpredictable and not out of the question that we could be in a WAC with AppSt if the opportunity was offered (which I really doubt happens). The other think I am not real sure about is it better to just stay in the FCS where we will not get exposure / money or be in the second tier where we don't get exposure / money. 2nd tier just sounds more expensive and you don't get to play for a national title. The only thing I see good about being in the second tier is that we might in 20 yrs be able to become first tier. We might just be better off trying to make the SLC into a power basketball conference that plays FCS ball. I don't know the answer now that realignment is going as CRAZY as it is going. If someone else has more insight, I am game to hear it.

[Guest NorthoftheBorder]

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2012/jun/07/liberty-and-importance-national-scope-ar-1973819/

 

We are getting a lot of chatter because of this article. It sounds bogus to me though. I think it is just a bunch of flame for liberty people being desperate to join FBS.

 

The one thing this article is good for is its emphasis on the fact media markets are driving the movement into the 2nd tier conferences- not quality of athletic program. The BCS conferences look at money- this is why I think the B1G, Big XII, and SEC are about to devour the ACC and Big East.

 

The next tier of conferences (the other FBS conferences that are grabbing for crumbs and table scraps) are trying to get the money by getting their conference into media markets (c'mon, how else does UT-Arlingon, a school w/o a football team, get invited to move up before almost everyone else?).

 

By the way, can we stick a moratorium on Liberty University mentions? They're over 1000 miles away, likely not to be invited to the same conference as us, and has a different blue-print (private, religiously-affiliated, regional vs. state-affiliated and national).

 

As we move ever closer to a 4 or 5 conference super tier that will get about 90+% of all the college sports money and exposure, the second tier will get most of what's left, and the third tier (current FCS) will get about as much exposure and money as Juco's currently enjoy! LU should at least try to get in the second tier. JMHO!!!!

 

I don't know if we should try or not. But I don't believe it is SBC or bust either. If the economics are good, we might just jump. Maybe a booster is willing to put money up cause he doesn't want to see LU left behind. I just think it is unpredictable and not out of the question that we could be in a WAC with AppSt if the opportunity was offered (which I really doubt happens). The other think I am not real sure about is it better to just stay in the FCS where we will not get exposure / money or be in the second tier where we don't get exposure / money. 2nd tier just sounds more expensive and you don't get to play for a national title. The only thing I see good about being in the second tier is that we might in 20 yrs be able to become first tier. We might just be better off trying to make the SLC into a power basketball conference that plays FCS ball. I don't know the answer now that realignment is going as CRAZY as it is going. If someone else has more insight, I am game to hear it.

 

After the power conferences get the football championship figured out and limited to 64-80 teams, then they will move quickly to limit the March Madness basketball tournament and any other sports championship that produces revenue. The second tier probably will be able to participate in the basketball and baseball tournaments, but the the 3rd tier (FCS football) will probably be left out in the cold. If you don't believe that the Texas's, Ohio States', Alabama's, USC's won't try to limit who can have access to the money, then you are fooling yourselves. They will try to keep it in a small group of participants for selfish reasons. They don't like to be upset by "lesser" schools and they want to keep he money among their "elite" fraternity. Isn't that how all rich poeple work? Ask yourself? Either LU gets on the inside or they will find themselve on the outside with no power to change their "social" class"! So you think that UT or A&M will lobby for LU to be apart of the fraternity? They will stick to UH or SMU in a heartbeat (much more LU), as they did already and to TCU as well but they let them back in out of necessity.

[Sly Fox]

As the board's sole Liberty poster, I apologize if my presence has created some angst toward my alma mater. Liberty & Lamar actually share more in common that our initials. We are both FCS schools tied to conferences heading int he wrong direction. We both aspire to the next level whether that is FBS or some sort of 3-tiered system down the road. We both have been spending a great deal of money in athletics to position ourselves for the future. We both have FBS conferences that we would prefer to join but have little reason to believe an invitation is forthcoming anytime soon. We both are concerned that should a moratorium and/or restructuring of DI football come down the pike, we want to be on the inside and not the outside looking in. As schools with no easy answers to our problems we are being forced into a possible arrangement for our mutual benefit.

 

With that stated, the WAC is holding its annual meeting right now in Denver and not a peep is coming out of it through the media. I suspect we will hear soon whether or not that league is going to have a chance to survive as a FBS conference.

 

For those insisting on a Sun Belt or Bust perspective, be careful in limiting yourself to those two options. Because there has been precious little reason to believe the first is even a remote option. Karl Benson has made no reference to Lamar in expansion and he has mentioned plenty of other FCS schools.

[TBonesLU]

As the board's sole Liberty poster, I apologize if my presence has created some angst toward my alma mater. Liberty & Lamar actually share more in common that our initials. We are both FCS schools tied to conferences heading int he wrong direction. We both aspire to the next level whether that is FBS or some sort of 3-tiered system down the road. We both have been spending a great deal of money in athletics to position ourselves for the future. We both have FBS conferences that we would prefer to join but have little reason to believe an invitation is forthcoming anytime soon. We both are concerned that should a moratorium and/or restructuring of DI football come down the pike, we want to be on the inside and not the outside looking in. As schools with no easy answers to our problems we are being forced into a possible arrangement for our mutual benefit.

 

With that stated, the WAC is holding its annual meeting right now in Denver and not a peep is coming out of it through the media. I suspect we will hear soon whether or not that league is going to have a chance to survive as a FBS conference.

 

For those insisting on a Sun Belt or Bust perspective, be careful in limiting yourself to those two options. Because there has been precious little reason to believe the first is even a remote option. Karl Benson has made no reference to Lamar in expansion and he has mentioned plenty of other FCS schools.

 

Of all the schools to which Lamar fans may have angst, Liberty is not one of them. Nothing you have posted has pressed anyone's buttons really (I don't think).

[LUSportsFan]

I second TBonesLU's comments.

 

I enjoy hearing from fans of other programs. One of the benefits of all the realignment / expansion activity over the last couple of years is that I've learned a lot about programs outside of our historic region. Hearing from other schools' fans helps pique that interest.

[jdcurran235]

There was an article recently where KB mentioned Lamar as a possible expansion candidate. I would look it up but I am lazy. The point is LU has been mentioned and is in contention. There is a link in one of the threads on this board.

[jdcurran235]

I AM REPOSTING THIS FOR THE LIBERTY FAN. There have been other times LU has been mentioned as well. Our administration is not like Liberty's. Any conversations that LU would have had with the SBC would have remained quite. That is just how our administration operates.

 

This stolen from the MWC board. Is Tuesday the day for a Sun Belt announcement?

 

KB "Texas State is a sleeping giant"

 

KB "Several hundred million dollars being spent on facility s at Texas State"

 

KB "When the Texas State Stadium is done it will be the best facility in the Sun Belt"

 

KB 'Texas State has a lot of money and resources"

 

KB "Going to 12 teams and a championship game is no longer a priority" (He was kinda confusing on this answer)

 

KB"FCS schools looking to move up are a possibility" IE Georgia Southern, App State, Liberty, Jacksonville State, Lamar, Sam Houston mentioned by name

 

KB "IF San Diego State and Idaho can play in the Big East then Idaho and New Mexico State can play in the Sun Belt"

 

KB "When all this settles as early as next Tuesday the Presidents will explore all options including adding Idaho and New Mexico State as Football only members" ( He sure did not rule it out but did not sound very optimistic)

 

KB "The Sun Belt will renegotiate its current TV deal" ( Could not give estimate but wants ESPN for exposure, Mentioned what the network did for Boise State as an example)

 

KB "I have not been to App State or Georgia Southern"

 

KB "Too early to speculate on FCS move ups"

 

KB "Feel very good about the 10 members we have moving forward"

 

KB "Trading North Texas and FIU for Georgia State and Texas State is a wash in my book"

 

Did not say much sorry

 

[LUSportsFan]

Here's an ESPN1420 (Lafayette, LA) article outlining the same info JDCurran235 had in the previous post.

 

http://espn1420.com/benson-tempering-talk-of-12-football-schools-in-sun-belt-from-the-birds-nest/

[jdcurran235]

CA will back up what I am saying about Lamar's administration. He was working for Dr Simmons for awhile.

[jdcurran235]

I also don't think our fans make as much noise about FBS move up since last year.

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I'll admit I have not had any direct information fed to me from Dr. Simmons like I had in the past. But yes, our administration is very quiet and also very shrewd. Simmons reasons for not being thrilled about certain conferences and very receptive to others and his reasoning are what I'm going for.

 

Basically what I'm saying I don't think that our schools administration will just jump along for the ride without knowing that they are protected and supported financially with whatever move they have made.

 

Let's think about the situation Simmons took over in 1998. Lamar had just gone through tons of state audits and had lost some control over the institutions bearing . Everything Simmons has done to date has been to improve Lamar while putting the school in a better financial situation. Anything he has proposed has had a financial element to it as well. He will not bet the schools fortunes away.

 

Any discussion of what we might do needs to be seen through that context and that mental framework. Just thought I would throw all that in.

[coachacola]

The Beaumont Enterprise had a big article one Sunday after the 2010 football season had just ended and Dr. Simmons basically said that they would like to be bowl eligible in 2015 but any conference move would have to make sense geographically for LAMAR. That's why I think a move to the WAC now will never happen where the closest school would be over 600 miles away.

 

The future seems to be with larger conferences, and I think eventually we'll see LAMAR in the Sun Belt with 12 or more football schools. The talk is that MTSU and maybe another Sun Belt will join the CUSA, and I don't think Texas State wants to be the only football school from Texas in the Sun Belt. I want to see LAMAR and New Mexico State added in the west along with Georgia Southern and/or App. State.

 

I'm pretty confident LAMAR will be FBS in the future, and if Coach Woodard can get the team in the FCS playoffs a few times before that happens then they should have a nice fan base built up for the transition to FBS.

 

[jdcurran235]

https://twitter.com/LandThieves/status/211549470624727041

 

LandThieves ‏ @ LandThieves

@ CC_Jared @ WACJack I think Lamar will be FBS soon. Hear about the "Eastern WAC rumors? Liberty is going to be at WAC meetings maybe more

[Guest Crawfish]

Unless the WAC is granted some kind of unprecedented NCAA exemption, they are done as a football conference. I think the rule is 5 schools have to be members for (5?) years together and the WAC will be down to 2. The 2 leftovers do not seem to want any part of the "new WAC." We'll see how that goes. I really do not believe that the WAC will go this route, but I could be wrong. One has to remember that these decisions are made by university presidents, and so a majority of the non-football members will be voting. What benefit would the non-football schools get from adding far flung football schools?

 

I cannot see Liberty having the vote of enough SBC presidents to get in under any circumstances. They are out of the conference footprint and do not share the mission of most SBC school (no pun intended.) Furthermore, their media market is not attractive enough to overcome the increase in travel costs involved with adding them. IMHO, Liberty has a better (future) shot at the MAC, if anyone ever leaves. C-USA is all about media markets, so they have 0 chance of that.

 

People have to realize that these conferences are like a Co-Op. Unless they can improve by gaining market or improve the quality of their overall sports, there is no reason to expand. I think Lamar, being a former SBC member who left in good stead, has an edge on some of the other candidates. Lamar is also well within the footprint of the SBC and travel is fairly easy (via IAH) The only caveat to that is Lamar must show a sustainable commitment to playing at this level. This means spending some money and committing to spend more in the future.

 

I personally want to see Lamar in the SBC.. We’ll see how this works out.

 

[jdcurran235]

I completely agree, but it is interesting that our name is out there again.

[Guest BigRed2010]

I think the only way we join the WAC, is if there are some Southland Conference members that join too. Sam Houston, SFA, Oral Roberts, would be a good start. Possibly McNeese,Central Arkansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. With Denver,Seattle, New Mexico State, Idaho and if they could get North Dakota State to join. That wouldn't be a bad start for the WAC. Eight football and four basketball schools. I would prefer not to join a conference without a Southland influence. None of this will probably will ever take place, but as long as we are throwing things out there, that's my take.

[LUSportsFan]

:) HUMOR:

 

Just wondering if BPA is getting closer to being part of the Houston DMA. I saw a "crawler" message this morning on one of the KHOU programs that they were installing a new, more powerful antenna.

 

http://www.khou.com/community/KHOU-11-News-is-installing-a-new-antenna--158970895.html

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

Seriously, the transition from analog to digital signal didn't treat the Beaumont-Port Arthur tv market share very well. For the most part, the BPA signal area shrank while the Houston signal area increased.

 

BPA - Before / After

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report1/Beaumont-Port_Arthur_TX.pdf

 

Houston - Before / After

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report1/Houston_TX.pdf

 

Except for one station, Lake Charles came out smelling like a rose.

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report1/Lake_Charles_LA.pdf

 

Lafayette really came out well, also.

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_report1/Lafayette_LA.pdf

[jdcurran235]

Houston also has control over our air traffic since a couple of years ago. It is tradition for the government to taketh from Beaumont and giveth to Houston.

[jdcurran235]

At some point I would not be surprised if we lose our local TV coverage to Houston. Houston is very good at conquering its neighbors. If you doubt this go look up water rights in Texas. Houston was trying to take our lakes.

[TBonesLU]

At some point I would not be surprised if we lose our local TV coverage to Houston. Houston is very good at conquering its neighbors. If you doubt this go look up water rights in Texas. Houston was trying to take our lakes.

 

Maybe we can find a way to make Beaumont and Houston geographically closer to one another. Everyone pick up a building and move 5 feet.

[jdcurran235]

That is the last thing I want. Part of the reason we don't have a larger airport and just more stuff in general is cause Houston is so close and people would rather just build it in Houston. We also lose loads of money cause people drive to Houston to shop instead of shopping in their own back yard. Don't get me wrong, their are certain conveniences that we have cause of being close to Houston. But, if we where a little more off on our own, the area would be more developed. More money would stay in the area. People would use the local airport for travel giving us a larger airport.

 

Speaking of airport, I have always wondered why Lake Charles and Beaumont airport don't merge and build one large airport in orange or just across the border in Louisiana. Just seems to make sense. Turn the old airports into private airstrips. With both airports combined we could probably fill some plains to get some decent flights out of the area. The airport would be supporting close to 1mill people. Cincinnati's airport is in Kentucky, so I dont think state lines make a difference.

[coachacola]

Here's a more detailed map on the TV stations in the BPA market: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=kfdm+coverage+map+fcc+transition&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fcc.gov%2Fdtv%2Fmarkets%2Fmaps_current%2FBeaumont-Port_Arthur_TX.pdf&ei=agPaT5qQHOby2QWQvN2iBg&usg=AFQjCNHywrF0U0gBT4bl3KXkws2fcRWoIQ&cad=rja

 

A couple of stations have gained coverage while the other have lost some coverage. But on the radio side, KLVI has a great signal in Houston so the football and basketball games can be heard by millions of people.

 

[TBonesLU]

That is the last thing I want. Part of the reason we don't have a larger airport and just more stuff in general is cause Houston is so close and people would rather just build it in Houston. We also lose loads of money cause people drive to Houston to shop instead of shopping in their own back yard. Don't get me wrong, their are certain conveniences that we have cause of being close to Houston. But, if we where a little more off on our own, the area would be more developed. More money would stay in the area. People would use the local airport for travel giving us a larger airport.

 

Speaking of airport, I have always wondered why Lake Charles and Beaumont airport don't merge and build one large airport in orange or just across the border in Louisiana. Just seems to make sense. Turn the old airports into private airstrips. With both airports combined we could probably fill some plains to get some decent flights out of the area. The airport would be supporting close to 1mill people. Cincinnati's airport is in Kentucky, so I dont think state lines make a difference.

 

I don't know, but I fly into Lake Charles from Dallas anytime I decide to fly home instead of drive. It's a difference of $200 between flying American Eagle to KLCH over another airline to KBPT. I wish the airport in Beaumont was more affordable so that more folks could take advantage of it.

[Guest Crawfish]

We live on the left coast and travel to the Golden Traingle and Lafayette pretty often. If I am going to Lafayette first I sometimes fly in to Lafayette Regional. That said, going to Beaumont it is just not a big hassle to fly into IAH (Bush).

 

There are several reasons.

 

* I can take the Beltway and be in Beaumont in an easy 1 1/2 hours

 

* Rental cars tend to be less expensive at bigger airports (definitely more choices)

 

* Flights into IAH as a final destination are much cheaper than adding the hop to Beaumont.

 

* Most of the time I would spend more than 1 1/2 hours waiting for and boarding another light to Beaumont, so why not just drive since I have to have a car anyway?

 

Having said that, this is not a bad deal for selecting Lamar as a conference member. The same advantages I enjoy by flying LAX to IAH would exist for other areas as well. A 1.5 hour bus trip off of a commercial flight is not a big deal. Bottom line: getting into Beaumont is easy via IAH.