Regarding all those who come on here and complain about the football budget and wishing to drop to D1-AA/FCS status because we spend too much money on the sport, if the 6.8 million figure mentioned above is correct, then according to a total budget for 2010 of approximately 684 million, that represents about 1% of the university's total budget.
I think what a lot of fans are missing is that FCS schools in the CAA, Big Sky, Southern, MVC are in many cases spending the same amount on football as the MAC. Umass outspent MAC schools in football playing at the FCS level last season. They isn't any savings in moving down a level. It will cost a school revenue and potential revenue in the future as the FBS structure evolves. There is a broad range of levels within FCS from non-scholarship conferences to 35 scholarship limits like the Patriot to full 65 ride leagues. Its true the largest 20-25 programs in FCS have comparable budgets and facilities as OHIO but out of the top 20-25 roughly half are looking to move up. UMass and Texas State were in that top level FCS category and now are moving up to FBS. In my opinion FCS is where you play when your school is D1 and you don't have an adequate football stadium or scholarship commitment for FBS football. Its for a school like Rhode Island with a dumpy 5,000 seat football stadium. URI dropped out of 65 scholarship ball to play in 35 scholarship NEC. OHIO from the way its put resources behind its program has a commitment to football. Its not that the MAC is trying to keep pace with the BCS powers and pay HC's 2-3 million a year. The MAC is willing to spend enough to adequately fund an 85 scholarship football conference and maintain facilities capable of hosting TV broadcasts. Twenty years ago Peden didn't have a broadcast booth or the stadium lighting to even make a TV telecast possible and that was the case across much of the MAC at the time.