1/10 UPDATE: Karl Benson did a podcast interview (Click HERE to listen) in which he discusses realignment. In it he says the Sun Belt “has a plan” and that the options make sense geographically and are “like” institutions.
1/17 UPDATE: Added NMSU Stadium planned enhancements.
_______________
The Lafayette-Advertiser put up an ARTICLE today on why the Sun Belt is still considering its options. Check it out, it’s got some interesting quotes from Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson.
The candidates named are the usual suspects: Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, New Mexico State, Idaho, Lamar, Liberty, & Jacksonville State. Here is a map of where those schools are located, in comparison to the current membership. The candidates are in Red, try not to laugh at Idaho.
View Sun Belt Conference in a larger map
So how do the schools compare in their readiness for the Sun Belt? Facilities haven’t been the driving force at conference realignment, but it’s a factor nonetheless. In my opinion it might be an eliminating factor for some of the schools:
Appalachian State – Kidd-Brewer Stadium
Official Capacity: 23,150
2011 Avg Attendance: 26,211
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: #1
Notable Extras: Indoor Practice Facility, Fieldturf “Revolution” artificial surface
Planned Enhancements: Released a mockup of permanent endzone seating, a 3rd upper deck, and a new dorm behind the stadium where the current field house is. No timetable, just a mockup.
Bottom line: Would be one of the better stadiums in the Sun Belt right off the bat. I have always hated the track though and I could definitely do without the old field house.
____________________________________
Georgia Southern – Allen E. Paulson Stadium
Official Capacity:
18,000
2011 Avg Attendance: 17,701
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: #11
Notable Extras: Free smelly swamp water.
Planned Enhancements: Planned and funded 6,000 seat upgrade.
Bottom line: I’ve seen games here. It’s no Kidd-Brewer, but despite the fewer number of people it gets LOUD. Plus the weather is better. It really needs to be expanded even more than planned to be a serious FBS stadium though.
____________________________________
Idaho – Kibbie Dome
Official Capacity: 16,000
2011 Avg Attendance: 11,980
Notable Extras: Also used as the basketball stadium; Outdoor practice field
Planned Enhancements: None that I could find.
Bottom line: It’s old, it’s small, it’s crappy. It’s not nearly as nice as it looks in this picture…and it doesn’t look that nice.
____________________________________
Jacksonville State – JSU Stadium
Official Capacity: 24,000
2011 Avg Attendance: 17,226
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: #12
Notable Extras: Prograss
Planned Enhancements: None that I could find.
Bottom line: It’s a very nice venue with a state of the art athletic center. Just need to get attendance up a little. Also wouldn’t hurt to change the school’s name. Schools not in Florida shouldn’t name their schools Jacksonville (or Miami).
____________________________________
Lamar – Provost Umphrey Stadium
*Image removed at the request of the owner*
Official Capacity: 15,367
2011 Avg Attendance: 14,443
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: #17
Notable Extras: One of the largest video boards in FCS.
Planned Enhancements: None that I could find.
Bottom line: It’s small, nothing special, but it is relatively new. Definitely needs a big expansion to compete in the FBS.
____________________________________
Liberty – Williams Stadium
Official Capacity: 19,200
2011 Avg Attendance: 16,419
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: #15
Notable Extras: 18 luxury suites, first FCS stadium with a ribbon board.
Planned Enhancements: They have already implemented Phase 1 of a 3 phase plan. “Phase two will add a mid deck to the student side, while phase three will complete a “horseshoe” around the south end zone, bringing the total capacity to 30,000.”
Bottom line: It’s a very nice stadium, and if they go through with the upgrades, it will be the nicest on this list. They need way more people to start showing up though.
____________________________________
New Mexico State – Aggie Memorial Stadium
Official Capacity: 30,343
2011 Avg Attendance: 15,138
Notable Extras: New video board added in 2007.
Planned Enhancements: “Phase 5 will consist of demolishing the existing press box facility and replacing it with new state-of-the-art press and coaches facilities. New skybox seating, covered club seating and related dining, concession, and restroom facilities will also be provided. This phase will be constructed once funding is available.”
Bottom line: This is the only school on this list that actually needs to make their stadium SMALLER. Although, their attendance is basically in line with most of the schools on this list, not that that’s good. They also won’t get an FBS attendance bump, since they are already FBS.
____________________________________
Sam Houston State – Elliot T. Bowers Stadium
Official Capacity: 14,000
2011 Avg Attendance: 8,083
2011 FCS Attendance Rank: Below the top-30
Notable Extras: Real Grass Pro Artificial Surface installed in 2007
Planned Enhancements: Rumored enhancements planned, couldn’t find anything concrete.
Bottom line: If you’re the FCS runner-up for two straight years, but no one is there to see it, did it happen?
Good run down of stadiums, Liberty is a University to watch, they have tons of money and high ambitions, their only drawback is people’s perception of their ideals, Beyond Liberty ASU and GSU look like the cream of the crop for football programs and future facilities.
Nice break down of stadiums. In regards to Liberty and fan support its tough to get excited about playing Gardner Webb and Presbyterian. The fan support will continue to grow as the student body will increase to around 20,000 over the next 5 years. Just waiting on dorms to be built to house everyone.
Jacksonville state will never change its name. The suggestion is retarded. Perhaps app state should move their university to an inhabited place.
Thanks for the info. Great job.
Lamar just built the Dauphan Athletic Center on the south edge of the stadium. Haven’t seen it in person, but the overhead google map has it now. Looks pretty big.
Thanks again for your efforts. And as an outsider(UT/BigXII)…I hope to see App St. in a major conference soon. …hopefully, not the MAC.
If ya’ll make it to the SunBelt….make sure you make the trip down to SanMarcos. You won’t believe how hot the girls are in that part of Texas. Especially when tubing down the Guadalupe River.
Idaho is planning on expanding the stadium 27k+ and building a new arena. It was approved by the state board earlier in the year.
Jax State’s stadium is extremely nice. It has quite a few boxes in the new tower and a stadium club level that holds 500 people.
Great info and well done. If facilities and fan bases meant what they should, we ( JMU) would likely be joining you in C-USA. It’s frustrating to not be able to sit at the table with the others, especially when others are unworthy- UNCC. In terms of the Sun Belt, do your fans feel any kind of wonderment about joining a conference of programs that don’t really exceed yours? Even at the FCS level, you guys outdraw all of them and would likely finish top 3, despite having 22 less scholarships.
Quick note though. Miami University in Oxford, OH is named for the Miami Indian tribe ( and thus the so named Miami River Valley). The University in Miami, FL name is obviously a reference to the city. BUT the city derives its’ name from the MAYAIMI Indian tribe- unrelated to the Ohio tribe.
Miami (Ohio) keeps the name with 100+ more years of history, a larger student body and a correct spelling of its’ historical name.
That’s the dumbest excuse ever why a school wouldn’t be selected because of their name. How about they call it Jacksonville State because it’s in the city of Jacksonville… may be shocking but city names are used more than once across the country.
Dang…you Jville guys sure are sensitve about your name.
It was never said that you wouldn’t be selected because of your name….It was just inferred that there is a bit of confusion regarding where the university was located and who you are.
How about Jacksonville upgrade, … win a few games, …and establish some recognition first….then let the chips fall where they may afterwards(regarding your name). Eventually, someone will know who Jacksonville State is, …maybe?
Correct me if I am wrong…. There is a Jackson State…a Jacksonville U, and a Jacksonville State U??? How confusing is that???
NMSU- Aggie Memorial Stadium (AMS)- New terf and rebuild of press box with suites other new areas approved by Board of Regents. See NMSU Stadium Master Plan
With SD St. and Boise St. staying in the MWC….there might be some more teams getting pulled out of CUSA. If so, …how many teams should the Sun Belt round up to complete thier infusion of life blood. I say…at least 7. But, no Idaho. Let those fellas find some rivals in the Northwest.
Geogia State (already in)
Texas State (already in)
1. Georgia Southern (great travel partner for G St. And helps reach the conference to an eastern boundry)
2. NMSU (established program, though they suck. Western boundry gives chance for later games in the day, room to grow.)
3. App St. (great support and beautiful site. Middle of nowhere, though. Helps estabish the league northward towards other potential members.)
4. Lamar (Tx recruiting base for other schools. Lot’s of money to support growth. Near Houston market, ties in other Tx and Louisianna schools for future growth.)
5. Sam Houston (similar to Lamar. Great competition to help RPI. Near Houston market, recruiting and more)
6. Liberty (I don’t know jack about Liberty….but, they seem cool, so what the heck. Northward expansion is good. Eastcoast time zone means a chance for earlier gametime slots for TV.)
7. Jacksonville St. (the south loves football. Helps travel for all south and east teams. Helps replace Fla. losses. though not actually in Fla.)
So, if the SB looses one team(Ark St., W Ky, or ULL) …they will have plenty of solid teams between New Mexico and Virginia to pull the league together. That would be a total of 14 teams, between three timezones. Schools would be spread out pretty well…and should be able to find some quality rivalries within the group. Sure…it’s a bunch of up and comers…but, whatelse is there to choose from.
It’s time for the Sun Belt to make a strong move.
[...] to stay in the MWC, I expect some big conference realignment moves soon. I previously compared the football facilities of potential Sun Belt candidates. That article was so popular I thought we’d continue with the [...]
Florida Atlantic and middle Tennessee St are. Negotiateing about leaving next year
Should Delaware and JMU be on this list?
Maybe they are more in line with the MAC?
Its official MTS and Florida Atlantic will be in CUSA fall 13
I question the stats for App St’s attendance. An AVERAGE of 26k in a stadium that only seats 23k??? Is that even possible?
And, the new pic of NMSU stadium….Was that drawn at game time?
Notice the hill at the horseshoe end of the stadium – “Standing (sitting on the hill) Room Only” 5 yr avg 136% capacity #1 in FCS for the last 5 years – so yes, not only is it “possible” it’s a fact
Thanks,
Do they charge for entrance in that area…or is it free to anyone who wants it?
If they charge…they should update the capacity to the newer numbers, in my opinion. Otherwise, it artificially skews the attendance, which makes it appear kind of fudged.
Or, maybe call it seating capacity…rather than total capacity??
How does Geo. Southern account for their grassy seating?
YES , THEY CHRAGE FOR THE ENDZONE…. They have a ” build it and they will come attitude!!!! If they bukd the mock up , to 32,000 they will have 32,000 plus fans.
Was Arkansas State left out of the Sunbelt map using the blue and red dots? Wku also has a “grassy berm” but I don’t think they include it in the stadium capacity count. I believe App State, Ga Southern and Sam Houston St would be the most competitive in the SB the quickest in football. Perhaps their basketball programs would improve. I am not familiar with Liberty but their stadium looks nice and their attendance is better than many SB schools.
Ark St. is slightly misplaced…and is under the UALR marker. Should be an easy fix, as soon as its noticed.
I just wonder what’s taking the SB so long to get this thing moving forward??? Maybe, they just aren’t that interested in moving teams in this year? I wonder if they will wait till next season to finally add someone? The longer it takes….the more I think they will only take one or two teams…which would be bad, in my opinion.
Looks like the Sunbelt will stay put for a while. Might not be a bad idea with the way conferences are shifting. If the Sunbelt were to add 2 more schools guess I would like to see App. State and Ga. Southern added. I would like the geography of the Belt. Some conferences are WAY to spread out. Also, I believe the Sunbelt does not need a Conference championship
game.
I agree and disagree.
I agree that the SB will probably stay put till next year. I don’t agree that it is a good idea.
The smaller conferences need to have established rivalries to keep relevant in current TV markerplace. With more games on TV…the SB can stay on the forefront of the wave. Otherwise, they will slip below the radar and loose ground when compared with ANY major conference team(who gets national press daily).
If the SB moves this slowly…I hope they pull in NMSU first. NMSU has been around for a long time and has established itself as a D1 school. NMSU has main rivals in the MWC and CUSA…two conferences inwhich the SB will have to fight to stay on the national scene. Hopefully, NMSU would be the doorway to playing anyother westcoast teams for the conference(such as UTA, Tx St and Ark St). (btw…I know they have sucked for a while. it would be nice if they could turn that around for this arguements sake.) Lastly, there are no other available or up and coming teams in this region of the country.
Then follow with App St., G South, Liberty, Sam, and the others. Which are much younger teams without the D1 tradition, or major conference rivals.
I just can’t believe that the SB would rather sit at 8 teams…then add all the energy at one time with NMSU, App St, G South, and one other or more….in one bunch. It’s called LIFEBLOOD…you got to have it to stay alive. The SB got theirs yanked from them…and now are in dire need of more…why not make it happen NOW? I just don’t get it, SB???
SBC has to add 2 schools and they will be in all sports. Remember, the SBC will be at 8 all sports members and 2 Oly sports members making a total og 10. They must add 2 members to have Conference tourneys. I am 99% sure that Georgia Southern and Appalachian St. will be added prior to June 1st. Quality of play is what gets the ESPN2 and ESPNU games televised and these schools will be competitive and have great atmospheres at their respective venues. I would personally like to see the Conference go to 12 all sports and 14 Oly sports.
Everyone needs to quit the fantasy about GaSo. It isn’t going to happen for the “stinkhole.”
Lou is 99% sure Georgia Southern will join before June 1. I assume he meant 2013. I do believe Ga Southern would be a natural fit in football… Geographically and competitively. I could be wrong.
Looking like the move to Conference USA may be approaching for the Toppers.