Cajuns Agree to Football Home/Home with Rice

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Originally Posted by CajunT

We will be at $30 mil this year. They project possibly between $32mil to $34 mil next year and that is with Learfield, other branding concerns, corporate outreach and accomplished without student fees. We have a ways to go, but that is moving the needle of the compass quickly. With focus on growing revenue streams outside of student fees for our athletics, facilities improvements and our push for Tier I status, we will be close to the top of the G5 in four to five years. Where to from there, we will have a much better view of the landscape at that time.

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That is assuming the top of G5 stays stagnant. They will not. If a UH, SMU, Tulsa or Memphis feels like we are encroaching on their territory they will fight back with the considerable arsenal of donors they have. I fully believe that we will move forward, I just don’t see the universities I mentioned just letting us pass them by. Notice I didn’t even mention SMiss, Rice or Tulane. We are not even at their level yet.

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Originally Posted by HoustonCajun

Finally, the Cajuns come to Houston. We need to be alternating each year with Rice and Houston. We need a major presence in arguably the #1 recruiting city in the country. And, we need to be playing schools we ultimately want to be in a conference with.

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That would be a conference worth talking about. Houston, TCU, Rice, So. Miss, Tulane, LaTech, LA, ..... I would love to see this

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Originally Posted by MetryCajun

That is assuming the top of G5 stays stagnant. They will not. If a UH, SMU, Tulsa or Memphis feels like we are encroaching on their territory they will fight back with the considerable arsenal of donors they have. I fully believe that we will move forward, I just don’t see the universities I mentioned just letting us pass them by. Notice I didn’t even mention SMiss, Rice or Tulane. We are not even at their level yet.

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We won't pass them by... but the big miss when people talk about our budget being X... is that we're growing it despite being saddled in the SBC. If we get in a better conference... or a realignment with a better member group, we will both capture much more revenue through greater Cajun fan/alumni/business interest... we'll get more conference revenue. You make a good point regarding no one else standing still while we grow our budget... but almost everyone that we envy is in a conference that gives them a serious boost in revenue (TV, etc). We would be the recipient of those shared revenues... and that would allow us to invest and move the needle within our reachable fan base. We keep acting like our ceiling is the budget we're only currently able to generate through what we're limited to showcase in the SBC... with the budget we have. A shot in the arm from a good conference affiliation would have a multiplicative effect on UL.

A better slate of regional home and home deals is a fantastic start. Great work Dr. Maggard and staff.

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Originally Posted by MetryCajun

That is assuming the top of G5 stays stagnant. They will not. If a UH, SMU, Tulsa or Memphis feels like we are encroaching on their territory they will fight back with the considerable arsenal of donors they have. I fully believe that we will move forward, I just don’t see the universities I mentioned just letting us pass them by. Notice I didn’t even mention SMiss, Rice or Tulane. We are not even at their level yet.

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You don't always fight a new fighter on your block. You recruit him to join your gang. If he's enough of a threat that he gives you a little worry... bring him into your camp. And never underestimate what kind of punch we'd have if we worked out with a stronger group with better equipment. We wouldn't just be a benefactor in a better arrangement. We'd very quickly become a contributor to the pack.

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Originally Posted by ManAboutTown

Serious question.. Do you really think I'd just be spouting off stupid _____?

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YES

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Originally Posted by MetryCajun

That is assuming the top of G5 stays stagnant. They will not. If a UH, SMU, Tulsa or Memphis feels like we are encroaching on their territory they will fight back with the considerable arsenal of donors they have. I fully believe that we will move forward, I just don’t see the universities I mentioned just letting us pass them by. Notice I didn’t even mention SMiss, Rice or Tulane. We are not even at their level yet.

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All of the programs you mentioned UH, SMU and Memphis will have limited options as well. While they are on the Top of the G5 pecking order, they options are far as a P5 conference are limited to waiting and noting more at this time. Why? Because conference realignment as defined in the recent past is a matter of history. That is not where the P5 is headed, but in a cleansing mode. The P5 is going to cleaned itself eventually of their own bottom dwellers. We are no longer talking about 60 programs but probably 48 and possibly 4 major conferences. The remaining 12 P5 bottom dwellers will join the top programs in the G5 like Houston, Memphis and a few others. That number will likely be around 36 programs maximum. After that group of G5, everyone else will be pretty much in the same boat when it comes to conference opportunities outside of schedule agreements. UL just has to make sure we are in a position at the Top of the G5 to have an opportunity. Houston, SMU, Tulane or any other G5 program will not have much say in our future at that point.

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Originally Posted by CajunT

All of the programs you mentioned UH, SMU and Memphis will have limited options as well. While they are on the Top of the G5 pecking order, they options are far as a P5 conference are limited to waiting and noting more at this time. Why? Because conference realignment as defined in the recent past is a matter of history. That is not where the P5 is headed, but in a cleansing mode. The P5 is going to cleaned itself eventually of their own bottom dwellers. We are no longer talking about 60 programs but probably 48 and possibly 4 major conferences. The remaining 12 P5 bottom dwellers will join the top programs in the G5 like Houston, Memphis and a few others. That number will likely be around 36 programs maximum. After that group of G5, everyone else will be pretty much in the same boat when it comes to conference opportunities outside of schedule agreements. UL just has to make sure we are in a position at the Top of the G5 to have an opportunity. Houston, SMU, Tulane or any other G5 program will not have much say in our future at that point.

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Interesting. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out. I just don't see the SEC or Big 10 agreeing to that. I don't think they would break allegiance with long standing members.

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Originally Posted by CajunT

All of the programs you mentioned UH, SMU and Memphis will have limited options as well. While they are on the Top of the G5 pecking order, they options are far as a P5 conference are limited to waiting and noting more at this time. Why? Because conference realignment as defined in the recent past is a matter of history. That is not where the P5 is headed, but in a cleansing mode. The P5 is going to cleaned itself eventually of their own bottom dwellers. We are no longer talking about 60 programs but probably 48 and possibly 4 major conferences. The remaining 12 P5 bottom dwellers will join the top programs in the G5 like Houston, Memphis and a few others. That number will likely be around 36 programs maximum. After that group of G5, everyone else will be pretty much in the same boat when it comes to conference opportunities outside of schedule agreements. UL just has to make sure we are in a position at the Top of the G5 to have an opportunity. Houston, SMU, Tulane or any other G5 program will not have much say in our future at that point.

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Interesting. I see it playing out similarly except I think very few if any P5 teams will be booted.
I think our close proximity to Tulane will be a negative we are going to have to overcome in the next 5years. If I were a betting man I think we end up with Tech, Rice, SMiss, TXSA , NT, UAB and a few other SBC teams as our ultimate landing spot. Not ideal, but way better than what we have now.

Dirty Lopez for this Cajun boy!

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Originally Posted by Localyokel

Interesting. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out. I just don't see the SEC or Big 10 agreeing to that. I don't think they would break allegiance with long standing members.

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Oklahoma or Texas came looking to join the remaining 4 conference any of them would bend over backwards to get them