With respect I disagree. Putting aside for a moment whether such a thing might occur, I think Flagstaff metro is 127K. Prescott Metro is about 212K. I have to think all told the division that you are talking about would not be more than maybe 400k people. That is probably much less than 200K TV households. For the WAC, that is insignifigant in TV terms and would not offset the travel costs to AZ. NAU may never capture the hearts of Pheonix, but being in that enormous DMA makes them potentially very attractive to a conference that is hurting for TV Households to claim.

Looking at a map, NAU is IMO darned lucky to be in the Pheonix DMA, because if they weren't, they would be considered too far west for a Texas based SWC-lite type conference and too far south for a future California leaning WAC. NAU adds a lot of distance to either potential group. They really are a little like NMSU in that regard.

But at least New Mexico State, as a Land Grant, has a statewide purpose. Unless the NAU merges with Northern Arizona Institute of Technology and Arizona State surrenders its Space Grant to the newly merged entity, NAU won't have even that.

Lets step back from the NAU dog pile for a bit. Falgstaff is a cool place to live. So what if they aren't a flagship or a land grant. That doesn't mean they are not a viable FBS candidate or an attractive place to go to school.

Designated Media Market: Phoenix (#12/210) 1.802M TV Households
Undergrad Enrollment: ~19k
US News and World Report Rank: Tier 4
Football Stadium: on campus J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
Stadium capacity: 15,000
Football Attendance: 7978 (ave. 2004-2006)
NFL competition: Phoenix Cardinals
Distance:144 miles away --- negligible
BBall Stadium: on campus J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
BBall Capacity: 8,000
BBall Attendance: 1667 (21%) over the last 5 years
NBA competition: Phoenix suns
Distance:144 miles away --- negligible
Athletic Budget: $9.9M

You plug in a big name BB coach (Jerry Tarkanian anyone?) and that could be viable quickly. Frankly NAU is potentially Idaho level with very little change. Just jumping to FBS will cause attendance to surge upwards.

Their biggest problem may be the fact that they give away tickets to their students. Charge 3 bucks for BB and 5 bucks for football and I think you'd see a lot more support. People value what they pay for. UNT makes the same mistake (IMO).

Although they do have big problems, the glass is not half empty here.

Bumping up for newby david.

Grambling won't go anywhere without a conference, and I question whether sunbelt-up conferences would want to add them. Maybe the sunbelt though.

I agree on C. Ark. I could see them as a montana/app state level FCS power in 10 years and in the Sunbelt in 10-15 years.

I had read that there was some pushbackwithin the UA system preventing UALR from taking up football. I am sure someone will provide you more data.