https://collegefootballnews.com/2022/07/...onferences
Saw this article about G5 expansion candidates and wondered why UL is not included. I wouldn't mind posting that UL should be added as a 12th school, commenting on each of the criteria. I imagine several other schools might want to claim that as well.
Here are the key categories …
Enrollment: At least 20,000. The school has to be big – no SMU.
Alumni Base: Where are the national eyeballs? In a streaming world, this is a big deal.
Media Market: This matters more than anything else.
US News & World Report Latest Ranking: How good is your school? This matters more than you might think.
AAU Member: Are you part of the Association of American Universities? This is a big deal to the Big Ten. To cut to the chase, no one on this list is.
Tier 1 Research: Are you an elite research school with all the stuff that comes with that? This one can be bent a little bit – Notre Dame isn’t, and Nebraska was, but isn’t now.
Stadium Size: Not a deal breaker, but having a big house is nice.
Why is UL not in consideration? Would anyone argue for/against UL?
4 of the schools are not Tier 1, yet still considered, i.e. Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, E. Carolina.
The major category UL is not meeting is enrollment. We have over 19,000 enrolled, but I'm not sure if that includes "on-line" students, which it should. We need to start showing 20,000 as a round figure, not just for this but for overall perception.
We seat over 41,000, so we have an on-campus stadium size than is right there with the top schools, the only larger one being E. Carolina. Only larger stadiums are pro stadiums.
Attendance is not a listed criteria.
I don't know what our alumni base and media market size are. Can someone post?
We are Tier 1, but not ranked as high under USN&WR, something that can be argued as not nearly a significant ranking.
Our location is a huge advantage.
Likely P5 conference - Big 12.