While I agree that the MAC is among the worst FBC conferences, an argument can be made that we likely aren't going to fall too much further behind by sitting tight right now. 

Specifically, I really don't believe the BCS will continue to exist in 5-10 years time.  There is too much political, legal, and financial pressure to switch to a playoff system.  The BCS schools are basically leaving millions on the table by not adopting a playoff.  The current system is just too illogical to continue for much longer. 

Once the move to a playoff system occurs, then a lot of the recent manuverings by the non-BCS conferences will be for naught.  Every FBS conference will likely get an automatic bid to the playoff, so much of the effort spent striving for BCS status in the interim will have been wasted.  

That having been said, in a perfect world I would still ultimately like to see Ohio move up from the MAC, but that is simply to improve the visibility and competitiveness of our programs, not a desperate attempt to join the ranks of the BCS. 

Well said, Flomo.  I find myself increasingly in agreement with your posts in recent months.  Is it that you are becoming more reasonable in your opinions, or has your superior logic finally penetrated my dense skull?    Seriously, I agree that the BCS is likely to be history within the next decade and our goal should not be a BCS Conference, per se, but improved visibility recognition for your athletic endeavors.   

Very good points about the BCS. Personally I would like to see the winner of each conference (11 teams) along with the five highest ranking schools that didnt win their confernce fill a 16 team field and play it out for a championship.

I have to agree with the earlier post that it is time for Ohio to face reality and stop trying to compete with the BCS super powers in football and focus on basketball instead.  The only issue I am uncertain about is how much (more) money would the program lose if it were to drop down to the FCS?

Exactly my point. And basically each year the conference is analyzed and you are awarded your seeding in the tournament based on conference performance. After you take the first 11 from each conference you then just look at the top 5 ranked schools that didnt win their conference (regardless of conference affiliation) and you put them in to fill out the top 16 and then play it on the field (BCS Playoff) Any teams outside the top 16 could still have some post season play by participating in any of the remaining bowl games.

A move down to FCS would result in the program losing some money but also saving some money. The ability to host playoff games would add to the local OU-Athens economy and that is rarely looked at. I feel like with basketball there is no reason that Ohio can't pay in the 1 million+ range for a HC in this day and age. That I really see is Independent of whether the football program is FBS or FCS. My personal opinon on FBS, BCS in particular is that there is a broad based arms race across all-sports for greater than ever spending. I wouldn't mind seeing Ohio try to move down and get into the CAA which plays at the top level of FCS over trying to force ourselves into a major FBS conference. Its not really football and basketball I'm worried about by moving up as much as the expected increases in expenditures for minor sports and administration. The CAA would be a solid home for basketball, lately better than the MAC.

You are in no way getting 20,000 more seats from simply closing the North end, and not sure you get that with added seats on the hill.  We would get a 10,000+ expansion with that though, which in reality is all we need and then some.  Now where is the $$$$  We've been trying to find donors for an IPF for how long? 

My father, God rest his soul, was a tenured Ohio University professor, thank you very much.  If I sound like him I take it as a grand compliment.

I think that the previous posting proves my point.  Ohio's football program cannot compete financially with the big boys.  A&M charges what they charge because they CAN charge what they charge and their faithful (if delusional) fans are happy to pony up (or take it up the you know what if you prefer). 

Ohio could never get away with that and there's no point in even trying.  I read somewhere that there are only a handful of BCS programs that make any money and those few are the Ohio States, Texases and Alabamas of the world.  Everyone else is losing money.  There has to come a point where priorities and common sense have to prevail and you cut your losses.  If moving down to the FCS means at least breaking even then I think that it would be the right move to make.

A word on expanding Peden Stadium.  I get the sense that the argument for expansion is "If you build it, they will come".  That's great for a movie plot, but I think it's bad fiscal policy to spend all of that money on the if-come.  Looking over the attendance figures for the past couple of seasons, I note that Peden sold out exactly one time, when UCONN came to visit.  All the rest of the time the crowds were in the 15,000 to 20,000 range. That was the ANNOUNCED attendance.  I don't know how many actually showed up.  But I do know that such crowds are far too small to maintain a  BCS caliber program.  This would not seem likely to change much unless Ohio left the MAC, but where would we go and how much would THAT move cost?

I also took the time to look over stadium capacities at the FCS schools.  With the exception of the Ivy League and a couple of schools who play in pro facilities, most of the stadiums had capacities in the 10,000 to 15,000 range.  As a FCS school, Ohio would have one of the larger stadiums in the division.  Given the strength of the program, I think it safe to say that Peden would host at least a couple of playoff games, perhaps even host a championship game, thus bringing additional revenue into the program (and much needed economic activity to the region).

To me, anyway, if the finances work out, moving down to the FCS would make a lot of sense.  Let the BCS schools spend themselves into oblivion.  We need to make the smart choice.

In 2008, Ohio football made a profit of $100,000.

And if you believe that accounting, I have some Florida real estate you might be interested in...

That is a pure shell game!  One of the reasons we carry the debt we do is because of the shell games that have been played.

Nobody used the word "fraud", it is simply a shell game of where the money actually comes from as far as which accounts, move the deficit to where you want so as to make another area look just a little bit better.


Just a quick check of simple math, if we averaged 15k for a home football game at $20 a piece average that would be ticket revenues of 1.5 Million.  However if we are averaging 15k for a game, at most only 11k are purchased seats and the rest are either students or NCAA allowable free tickets to families and friends, and 11K paid is probably a little high, that makes the ticket revenue 1.1 Million.  I believe a poster above had our football budget at 5.8 Million, well that means that our parking and concessions revenue had to triple our gate revenue even after adding in our large payday from UT.

In 2008, FB played at tOSU, at Wyoming and at Northwestern.  Pretty sure FB got paid for two of those, which would beg for a 5H-7A weighted sched, plus not losing money in a bowl game. (assuming you want a sport to cash flow)