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.