Oh yeah right. There was a report of a $10 million donation, I thought that was it.

Yeah, any move will require a opening in a FBS conference, unless the Lamar goes back to the Sunbelt.

Dude. Two of my best friends work in advertising and both have been buyers. I spoke to one this morning who confirmed adverstising is sold by DMA.

Yes, you are right that there can be overlapping. Someone in Houston might get a Beaumont station and someone in Beaumont will almost definitely get the houston stations, but where will advertisers generally advertise? You gotta follow the money trail.

FBS conferences are not lining up to add a school who might draw 20K and might not provide a significant media market.

MSA's can be important in terms of attendence, but are near irrelevant in terms of TV signifigance.

You've listed startup costs. Now your operational costs. Another poster was pretty much dead on when he talked athletic budget. Lamar's athletic budget is going to be in the 12 M range IMO at the FCS level as they will be pushing for FBS and would need to hit 15 at minimum for FBS. That money is going to come from somewhere. I think that is what makes $30M a reasonable number in their scenario.




I think this is the sensible path and we see eye to eye on this. I think this is where most of the cooler heads at Lamar are going with this. I think Tubbs might push at a faster pace, but I think if it really doesn't look viable (no conference home) my gut feeling is that he will pull back. As much as he wants this, the guy loves Lamar and wouldn't risk the fallout of an ill-conceived jump to FBS Indy.




Well, UTSA is in the best shape IMO, even though they share basketball with the Rockets. UTSA should in essence become San Antonio's pro team. I would not be suprised to see them filling the Alamodome with SA residents, not UTSA students within 5 years of jumping to FBS. In terms of Football, they have many of the same attribs as UT.

Additionally, If SA ever gets a pro team, UTSA could build a 35K on campus stadium and fill it with their student body and they would still have a very attractive native TV market. They are golden, even though basketball will struggle. A MWC/CUSA level invite is not out of the question with a few years of FBS under their belt.

On campus housing and student body size is a big part of attendance which then over time translates to fan support and TV viewership. Smaller privates like Rice and SMU can get away with lower viewership numbers because their alumni have huge buying power and as such are at a premium to advertisers.

None of the publics we are talking about have that advantage, so they have to be able to generate numbers. In that, smaller schools will be at a disadvantage and schools with heavy commuter populations (ie. people not likely to regularly attend games and become rabid fans) will also suffer.

If DMA was the driving factor, LA would have 4-5 NFL teams.
DMA are not as important as they use to be thanks to the internet and streaming tv.

wrong, just the opposite when talking about sports. The net has erased all DMA
lines. A ULL fan in Seattle can watch ULL play in Louisiana. Therefore MSA becomes more important. Lafayette is not a small market.

Not necessary, Southland schools budgets playing FCS are averaging about 5-6 million. La Tech budget playing FBS is 12 million. ULL is around 9 million. La-monroe is smaller.

I think Lamar could play FBS with an Athletic budget around 10 million.

Lamar is down playing football goals. However look at the peices to see the big picture.

1. Jimmy Johnson as consultant
2. RC Slocum playing Golf in Beaumont
3. $30 million for football. This number will go much higher after TSUS approve football
Currently a stadium used in I-A and I-AA football in the past. Now being used for high school.
The stadium does not need $30 million to upgrade for FCS. Lamar does not need $30 million
to start up FCS...period. Unless they plan to build a new stadium. I think Lamar and UTSA has partnered up to go FBS.