LU to Sunbelt??

[Cplatt]

There probally wont be any decsion made bc we are not even in the picture right now. Even if we did move up we would get throttled but it would be nice to get double the money from the big dawgs. Then we upgrade and expand then we recruit. Just putting up a fight in the SLC would help but we cant do that yet. Also let get a proven winner as a coach at this level and pay the man what hes worth. A 7 win Sun Belt Lamar could fill a 50K stadium i believe depending on who we play. Chips gotta fall and upgrades gotta be made, but most of all "Just Win Baby"

[badndn]

A 7 win Sun Belt Lamar could fill a 50K stadium i believe depending on who we play.

Only time you would get 50K at a game in Beaumont is when UT, A&M or LSU came to town. LU could go 12-0 in the SLB and you wont get more than 35K. Be realistic folks.

[coachacola]

A 7 win Sun Belt Lamar could fill a 50K stadium i believe depending on who we play.

Only time you would get 50K at a game in Beaumont is when UT, A&M or LSU came to town. LU could go 12-0 in the SLB and you wont get more than 35K. Be realistic folks.

 

I'd be happy with 25K to 30K at a LU football game.

[puddin tane]

I'd be happy if we filled the 18k we have now

[BigNasty92]

A 7 win Sun Belt Lamar could fill a 50K stadium i believe depending on who we play.

Only time you would get 50K at a game in Beaumont is when UT, A&M or LSU came to town. LU could go 12-0 in the SLB and you wont get more than 35K. Be realistic folks.

 

I believe he said 50k depending on who we play.

 

 

[LUSportsFan]

I'd be happy if we filled the 18k we have now

 

Stadium capacity is 16,000 so 18,000 would be sellout plus, but I get your point. I'd be happy with sellout crowds also...makes the games a lot more fun.

 

(I believe capacity was dropped from 17,500 to 16,000 during the stadium renovations at least in part to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.)

 

I'd like to think that our area could support attendance like Arkansas State with 26,000+ average this year, UL-Monroe with around 25,000 average this year, and UL-Lafayette with around 23,000 average this year. Our 2011 estimated MSA population of 390,535 is much larger than those three. (Joneboro - 122,829 est, Monroe - 177,651, and Lafayette - 277,307)

[Cplatt]

50K was a figure of speach. My point is if you consistanly upgrade your facilities, go to FBS and put together a schedule that doesnt include Langston every year then yes we will get talented Freshman to help build a consistant winner. Beaumont is much bigger than some areas that have double our attendence but they have to start somewhere. Lamar could never get a 50K stadium and never will. I hope the athletic department has an agenda since 2010 and going FBS and another stadium expansion should be in the picture. Keep scheduling the big dawgs once you go FBS bc they earn double what a FCS tune up game is and the money will be there. People will come to Lamar home games because they are passionat in that area. But it all starts with fielding a good team, a consistant winner. Pat Knight is building his team with Freshman and has confident his staff will develop them. Thats the approach Woodard needs.

[LUSportsFan]

50K was a figure of speach. My point is if you consistanly upgrade your facilities, go to FBS and put together a schedule that doesnt include Langston every year then yes we will get talented Freshman to help build a consistant winner. Beaumont is much bigger than some areas that have double our attendence but they have to start somewhere. Lamar could never get a 50K stadium and never will. I hope the athletic department has an agenda since 2010 and going FBS and another stadium expansion should be in the picture. Keep scheduling the big dawgs once you go FBS bc they earn double what a FCS tune up game is and the money will be there. People will come to Lamar home games because they are passionat in that area. But it all starts with fielding a good team, a consistant winner. Pat Knight is building his team with Freshman and has confident his staff will develop them. Thats the approach Woodard needs.

 

Well stated.

[Guest BigRed2010]

SBC weighing it's options for expansion

 

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20130109/SPORTS/301090324/SBC-weighing-its-options-expansion

 

"If it's exactly the same � 10 football, 12 the rest � then it's obvious we need to add two football-playing schools," Benson said last month. "And if we want to maintain the divisions, the balance, it would appear likely the two are gonna have to come from the east. That gets us to kind-of status quo."

 

"But if the decision is made to expand to 12 teams that play football, some combination of one or both of the Southland schools and New Mexico State and/Idaho might have a better shot at a Sun Belt invite."

 

So, if the SBC wants to stay at 10 football teams the invites will likely be Georgia Southern and App State. If they go 12 teams they probably will invite two of the following: NMSU,Idaho, Sam Houston or Lamar. I'm guessing April, May or June before the SBC makes a move because of the other conferences uncertainty.

[Guest Cardinalrule]

50K was a figure of speach. My point is if you consistanly upgrade your facilities, go to FBS and put together a schedule that doesnt include Langston every year then yes we will get talented Freshman to help build a consistant winner. Beaumont is much bigger than some areas that have double our attendence but they have to start somewhere. Lamar could never get a 50K stadium and never will. I hope the athletic department has an agenda since 2010 and going FBS and another stadium expansion should be in the picture. Keep scheduling the big dawgs once you go FBS bc they earn double what a FCS tune up game is and the money will be there. People will come to Lamar home games because they are passionat in that area. But it all starts with fielding a good team, a consistant winner. Pat Knight is building his team with Freshman and has confident his staff will develop them. Thats the approach Woodard needs.

 

Well stated.

 

But poorly spelled. Hopefully not an LU grad.

[ThePrisoner]

SBC weighing it's options for expansion

 

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20130109/SPORTS/301090324/SBC-weighing-its-options-expansion

 

"If it's exactly the same � 10 football, 12 the rest � then it's obvious we need to add two football-playing schools," Benson said last month. "And if we want to maintain the divisions, the balance, it would appear likely the two are gonna have to come from the east. That gets us to kind-of status quo."

 

"But if the decision is made to expand to 12 teams that play football, some combination of one or both of the Southland schools and New Mexico State and/Idaho might have a better shot at a Sun Belt invite."

 

So, if the SBC wants to stay at 10 football teams the invites will likely be Georgia Southern and App State. If they go 12 teams they probably will invite two of the following: NMSU,Idaho, Sam Houston or Lamar. I'm guessing April, May or June before the SBC makes a move because of the other conferences uncertainty.

 

If Lamar improves it's athletic facilities (i.e., expand Provost Umphrey Stadium), there would be no reason for the SBC to look at NMSU or Idaho for a western expansion. You certainly can't use their attendance, market size or on-field performance over Lamar's as an argument. In terms of geography beneficial to the SBC, Lamar is light years ahead. There's the fact that they're already FBS, but that's not a big or longterm advantage. If necessary to help conferences survive the realignment turmoil (i.e., UTSA and the WAC), the NCAA can grant waivers to speed up the process for transitioning schools. The only real problem I see is that since the last SBC defections were eastern schools, expansion plans seem to be looking eastward to replace MT and FAU.

[jdcurran235]

all quit on expansion front

[coachacola]

all quit on expansion front

 

On the Sun Belt forum they latest rumor says SHSU may get a look but the old SLC schools of Ark. State, ULL and ULM will block any SLC schools. Other than crazy rumors nothing new to report yet.

[Guest kakat10]

Sam Houston has planned over $50M in upgrades to Bowers and Athletics.

 

$25 Million for an Athletic Office Complex

 

$12.6 Million for West Bowers upgrades

 

$23 Million for the Events Center at Bowers.

 

This may signal that we are getting serious about making a move. The Bowers improvements are long over due.

[Cplatt]

With the money that Lamar just put into the stadium, i really doubt they are talking upgrades right now. The facility is nice but probally could be a little bigger. 35K + would be the capacity you would need for FBS. Putting a good team on the field could probally bring in that kind of revenue. With money being put into the Softball and Baseball stadium, i just dont see it anytime soon for Lamar.

[coachacola]

With the money that Lamar just put into the stadium, i really doubt they are talking upgrades right now. The facility is nice but probally could be a little bigger. 35K + would be the capacity you would need for FBS. Putting a good team on the field could probally bring in that kind of revenue. With money being put into the Softball and Baseball stadium, i just dont see it anytime soon for Lamar.

 

I think right now Lamar pays around $1.5 million a year just to service the debt on the stadium/athletic complex upgrades. I doubt they can get much more from the students, and unlike Texas State and UTSA, they don't have 30K students. I think any future upgrades will be done gradually and mostly through donations.

[geezer]

Provost Humphrey Stadium already exceeds the minimum FBS seating limit. It is barely over the minimum so the key is to fill it. I am not sure of the minimum attendance standard as far as does a school have to meet the minimum every year. I think there are a lot of FBS schools that don't meet that criteria. Rice is one example.

[JJWooten]

Provost Humphrey Stadium already exceeds the minimum FBS seating limit. It is barely over the minimum so the key is to fill it. I am not sure of the minimum attendance standard as far as does a school have to meet the minimum every year. I think there are a lot of FBS schools that don't meet that criteria. Rice is one example.

 

It's a three (or five) year rolling average

[LUSportsFan]

Rolling average is correct ... two years

 

From NCAA 2012-2013 Division I Manual, Section 20.9.7.3

 

"...Once every two years on a rolling basis, the institution shall average at least 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all home football games. (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/04, 4/28/05 effective 8/1/05)."

 

Here's some more information on home games...

 

20.9.7.2 Football Scheduling Requirement. [FBS] The institution shall schedule and play at least 60 percent of its football games against members of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The institution shall schedule and play at least five regular-season home games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. For purposes of satisfying the scheduling requirement, a contest shall be considered a home contest if it is played in the stadium in which an institution conducts at least 50 percent of its home contests. In addition, an institution may use one home contest against a Football Bowl Subdivision member conducted at a neutral site to satisfy the home-game requirement. (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/04, 1/12/04, 12/15/06)

 

For example, If SHSU and SFA were FBS, the "Battle of the Piney Woods" game at Reliant could be used to help meet the attendance requirement. UL-Monroe and University of Arkansas have frequently played in Little Rock with UL-Monroe designated as the home team for some of those games.

 

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

 

Just for grins below is a list of FBS teams below 15,000 in 2012 plus their 2011 and 2010 official attendance. Red shading indicates a rolling 2 year period out of compliance. It looks like Eastern Michigan should just give it up. They would have ranked in the bottom of the SLC the last two years. It looks like some of these FBS programs need Coach Woodard to give them some pointers on fan support. ;)

 

I also included the SLC universities ranked by 2012 official attendance numbers for comparison purposes.

 

2012 2011 2010

Miami (Oh) 14,733 16,174 15,519

Western Michigan 14,579 19,985 14,255

New Mexico State 14,247 15,138 15,906

FIU 13,634 18,411 16,545

Florida Atlantic 13,459 17,565 18,444

Buffalo 13,242 15,890 12,981

Ball State 12,930 15,064 8,947

Idaho 12,582 11,980 12,730

 

McNeese 12,037 12,226 13,770

Lamar 11,119 14,443 16,079

 

San Jose State 10,789 18,214 14,474

Akron 9,275 15,734 10,185

Sam Houston 8,782* 8,083 6,337***

Northwestern State 8,759 8,413 8,131

Central Arkansas 8,550 10,335 8,620

Stephen F Austin 6,709 8,747** 9,410

Nicholls State 5,516 4,855 4,366

Southeastern La. 5,266 4,806 4,472

 

Eastern Michigan 3,923 4,267 15,885

 

* (Does not include 26,185 from BOPW SHSU home game) 13,132 scheduled with BOPW

** (Does not include 25,083 from BOPW SFA home game) 11,470 with BOPW

*** (Does not include 24,685 from BOPW SHSU home game) 10,006 with BOPW

 

Attendance is not everything in conference realignment.

 

San Jose State finished the season ranked #21 in both polls (average attendance 10,789) and is moving to the Mountain West.

FIU and Florida Atlantic are both moving from the SBC to the CUSA.

New Mexico State and Idaho are looking for FBS football homes or will go independent.

[geezer]

Probably the only thing LU actually has to do if it goes FBS is announce another womens sport (maybe two) to balance the additional Football scholarships. An expansion of 5k in seating would give a little room to maintain the average for bad weather or opponents no one really wants to see.

[jdcurran235]

Apparently Tulsa is going to the Beast

[puddin tane]

my bro-in-law came across this

 

Some blogger filed a freedom of information act request for documents related to conference realignment with Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. He ran across some interesting stuff in the emails that the schools sent back as a result of the request. The bottom line is that apparently Lamar is a candidate for the Sunbelt. I have no idea if they are a leading candidate--but it appears that they are at least being considered.

 

http://www.appstatenation.com/2013/02/01/exclusive-e-mail-obtained-via-foia-request-reveals-sun-belt-expansion-candidates/

[Guest BigRed2010]

The link isn't working for some reason Puddin. Apparently this is the list of schools that supplied their school's football budget, men and women's basketball budgets to the Sun Belt office.

 

Appalachian State

Delaware

Georgia Southern

Idaho

Illinois State

Jacksonville State

James Madison

Lamar

Liberty

Missouri State

New Mexico State

Richmond

Sam Houston State

Towson

UT Chattanooga

[nickels]

I can't imagine the beatings Lamar would take in the SBC. The basketball and football teams cant even beat mediocre FCS teams. Why your fan base wants to move up is baffling to me...

[Guest LU 17]

Nickels, we will take the same beatings your team will. Ask your team the same question...