division IAA schools?

[DzynKingRTR]

why doesn't more of these schools move up to division IA? uab and south florida did it and did it quickly. florida altantic and florida international are doing it quickly as well. (next year i believe). but georgia southern and schools like them stay where they are. i was just wondering why this is?

 

[TommyMac]

Probably attendance is the biggest hurdle. Most of them can't maintain the minimum required attendance to qualify as a Div.-1A school. I think it's about 25,000 per home game.

Scheduling also becomes a problem. Most of your schedule has to be Div-1A and most of them aren't willing to schedule home and homes against schools with small stadiums and low attendance. So in the end, like most everything else, it boils down to money.

 

[Probius]

the real problem is all the div. 2 schools jumping to 1A. there should be a different qualification than just attendance. the qualification for making the jump should be more on how good a team is rather than just how many students attend their school. school like uab and troy state have no business in div. 1A.

 

[Redwood Forrest]

If 'how good' a team is a factor, then Vanderbilt, for one, should not be 1A.

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Texas A&M's excuse for 2004: "we would have had a winning season, but we ran out of bail money."

 

[JessN]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by exbama21:
why doesn't more of these schools move up to division IA? uab and south florida did it and did it quickly. florida altantic and florida international are doing it quickly as well. (next year i believe). but georgia southern and schools like them stay where they are. i was just wondering why this is? </font>

Well, that's a bit deceiving. The next time UAB doesn't lose millions during a season will be the first.

South Florida and Central Florida have been able to drum up fan support rather quickly. They're also big schools from an enrollment standpoint.

The biggest considerations are: Alumni giving, size of stadium, season ticket sales, luxury box sales, memorabilia sales, television revenue. Unless all of the above are clicking, you won't make money. For that matter, many good Div-I schools don't actually turn a profit.

Football is far and away the most expensive sport to operate on a college campus. If you're close on your athletic budget as it is, don't start football unless you can really hit a home run. Also, you have to have enough of a recruiting base to draw from to be successful. A lot of teams in smaller towns in smaller areas can't handle that.



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Jess Nicholas
Editor-In-Chief
TideFans.com

 

[HighTide333]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Forever Crimson 1221:
school like uab and troy state have no business in div. 1A. </font>

GO TROJANS!!!
CASH THOSE CHECKS!!!

there will come a day when Troy is no longer capable of talking the "big boys" into playing them.
And please try not to put UAB and Troy into the same football basket.
Troy has football history albeit in lesser divisions.
UAB has no tradition or history in football except eternal suckation.
Thanks.

RTR

 

[BAMMAR]

Gawga Southern dosent want to move because they win in Div 2. They played Gawga though a few years ago before they had earthwind moreland or AP. And they stayed in the game until gawga broke a long one on them. Do fix what ain't broke. Erk ain't coming back!
RDT

 

[ApexTider]

Another factor that plays into this is the proximity of a major airport for the opponents teams/fans to have access to your campus. I attended Appalachain State Univ. (I-AA football team in the Southern Conf.), and I know for a fact this is one of the reasons we would have trouble moving up to I-A. Honestly though, I hope we stay I-AA for various reasons, but mainly because I don't like the idea of getting lost in the crowd of all the other I-A schools. We still have our rivalries, still have great fan support, and every now and then get to play a semi-big time program (we own Wake Forest by the way

). Plus we don't have to worry about the BCS deciding our fate.

Now don't confuse my loyalty to my I-AA school with some delusional idea that I think we're "big time". Maybe in our own little world we are close, but nowhere near Bama obviously.

ROLL TIDE AND GIVE'M HELL APP!!

 

[tidedog67]

I live outside of Newark, Delaware--home of the NCAA 1AA champion Blue Hens. Delaware is the only AA team to average 25K fans a game. The problem is the U of D administration--they would rather be a big-fish in a little pond. Many Div.1 transfers suit up for the Hens and it's safe to say they are the cream of the crop these days. Being an Alabam alum, I can't get gigged for a Delaware v. New Hampshire game, etc. Congrats to the Hens though.