Mainly due to the fact that the costs to compete at this level is much too harsh and therefore many are beginning to face up to some very serious measures.

Iam sure many of you have heard about the Tulane situation this past week when it hit these crossroads. the Board of Trustees did decide to continue down the road it is presently on, but not with some very serious provisions that must be adhered to or they will pull the plug and many if not all of the athletic programs will be done away with.

Othe schools are inching their way towards the same fate, Houston, UAB, to name just two.

The fact of the matter, this is a reality now and will become a more prominent and prevelent one in the not too distant future.

The way I see it, in the next 10-15 years many programs will drop down to a more financial friendly Div. II classification and the whole of intercollegiate sports will change forever.

What are your thoughts? ???

You're right. :)

Agreed, also. Larger conference ties are perhaps the only things keeping the programs of Duke, Vandy and others at 1-A now, and I would not be surprised if the future changes to collegiate athletics would allow such institutions move to a better financial level of play without punishing their conference.

Frankly, I'd love to see the end of 1-AA and simply have Division 1. I'm unsure of the operating differences for this, other than the number of scholarships and the ability to pay for more coaches, but it seems to me that all programs should be run for more fiscal responsibility. Plus this may stabilize any concerns over conference affiliation, move up/move down, as well as foster a better playoff-bowl scenario.

IMHO, the best reform along these line is to require all DI FB schools to to meet their operating expenses from FB revenues and/or donations that are earmaked for FB.
All DIA schools would have to fund their Athletic Department's from sports revenues and donations. This would cause a number of schools to drop to lower divisions.

This, in turn would leave a small enough number of schools that a three round (8 team) playoff would be reasonable.

FBfan