G5 Conference Distribution FY 2024

[Turbine]

For CUSA, total payout to individual schools would go up for remaining members with the departure of former members.

Smaller pool higher per team funds to distribute.

Also if departure penalties were dispersed equally it could appear like a CUSA has a better deal.

Conversely without a new contract Sunbelt payouts would drop on a per school basis while adding teams.

The attraction could be promise of a larger future contract.

[MarlinMan3]

Tech bought ocean front property in Ruston so there's that.

The blue roofs caught the eye of the catalogue reader, but unfortunately those were not permanent

[HoustonCajun]

No it is not! Don't be silly.

It is however a life sentence at hard labor.

This very recent development is only true because P6 conferences have circled the wagons and gone to 9 conference games making independant status unfeasible.

What would/could an Independent schedule for UL look like? There are 120 FBS schools with each having 3 or 4 OOC games to fill. That is 360+ scheduling opportunities. Play 4 P4 schools, 7 G6 schools and 1 FCS school. That could easily generate $10M+ in revenue compared to the $2M we are getting now from the SBC. We have a better opportunity to build alliances with other schools, to still make bowl games, to market ourselves separately from the SBC which has a perception problem, to better market ourselves to building a broader fan base, to draw more attention to the university, and ultimately to better position ourselves for a better conference. The only really successful schools as Independents are Notre Dame and BYU. BYU finally parlayed that into a Big 12 invite. We also have a unique marketing brand. Could we do the same?

[ZoomZoom]

It does not require an advanced degree to understand independent doesn’t work.

Case in point, Northeast Louisiana University sold their name just to become a bottom feeder in the SBC and all of the FBC. Even the move ups except for Liberty had a landing spot. Liberty had the money to be independent for a bit. But as we are seeing even within the now P2, water finds its own level. As did Liberty.

[Turbine]

What would/could an Independent schedule for UL look like? There are 120 FBS schools with each having 3 or 4 OOC games to fill. That is 360+ scheduling opportunities. Play 4 P4 schools, 7 G6 schools and 1 FCS school. That could easily generate $10M+ in revenue compared to the $2M we are getting now from the SBC. We have a better opportunity to build alliances with other schools, to still make bowl games, to market ourselves separately from the SBC which has a perception problem, to better market ourselves to building a broader fan base, to draw more attention to the university, and ultimately to better position ourselves for a better conference. The only really successful schools as Independents are Notre Dame and BYU. BYU finally parlayed that into a Big 12 invite. We also have a unique marketing brand. Could we do the same?

Absolutely Louisiana could do the same.

Problem is it they viewed 480 opportunities as too much work they won't even sniff 360.

A.I. could easily pinpoint all the opportunities, but humans will still view finalizing the deal as hard work.

This "take a day off" attitude started in the 1950s when it was decided all school employees should have Thanksgiving off. Even though it was the highest attended game of the year.

[Cajunsmike]

Absolutely Louisiana could do the same.

Problem is it they viewed 480 opportunities as too much work they won't even sniff 360.

A.I. could easily pinpoint all the opportunities, but humans will still view finalizing the deal as hard work.

This "take a day off" attitude started in the 1950s when it was decided all school employees should have Thanksgiving off. Even though it was the highest attended game of the year.

P4 schools going to 9 conference games makes going independent very difficult. Other leagues doing it as well. SBC does not do so for travel expense purposes.

[HoustonCajun]

Absolutely Louisiana could do the same.

Problem is it they viewed 480 opportunities as too much work they won't even sniff 360.

A.I. could easily pinpoint all the opportunities, but humans will still view finalizing the deal as hard work.

This "take a day off" attitude started in the 1950s when it was decided all school employees should have Thanksgiving off. Even though it was the highest attended game of the year.

When we played and beat Texas A&M at home in 1996, I remember talking to our AD at the time, Nelson Schexnayder, and saying how awesome it would be to play this kind of schedule and have attendance like this every week. His response was that would require too much work (of course the athletic dept. was way understaffed back then). I think that attitude has prevailed through the years in the athletic department. We do just enough to keep us viable as an FBS school but not enough to take us to a higher level. That, plus a President who never understood the value of having a major athletic program and its impact on the university alumni and standing.

BTW, our 1996 schedule was:

Florida, Texas A&M, S. Miss, LA Tech, Houston, Ark State, UAB, Memphis, VA Tech, N. Illinois and Texas Tech

Today, that would be 5 P4 schools and 6 G6 schools.

[Turbine]

P4 schools going to 9 conference games makes going independent very difficult. Other leagues doing it as well. SBC does not do so for travel expense purposes.

Absolutely.

Thats why I'm off the Indi bandwagon.

It would have been hard work even when every school had 4 openings but with long term relationships and rivalries it would have gotten easier and easier.

Right now the starting point is almost an insurmountable climb.

I still contend if they had done it 2 decades ago Louisiana would have been on the early invite list for P6 expansion.

[MarlinMan3]

When we played and beat Texas A&M at home in 1996, I remember talking to our AD at the time, Nelson Schexnayder, and saying how awesome it would be to play this kind of schedule and have attendance like this every week. His response was that would require too much work (of course the athletic dept. was way understaffed back then). I think that attitude has prevailed through the years in the athletic department. We do just enough to keep us viable as an FBS school but not enough to take us to a higher level. That, plus a President who never understood the value of having a major athletic program and its impact on the university alumni and standing.

BTW, our 1996 schedule was:

Florida, Texas A&M, S. Miss, LA Tech, Houston, Ark State, UAB, Memphis, VA Tech, N. Illinois and Texas Tech

Today, that would be 5 P4 schools and 6 G6 schools.

And we were just 5-6.... why would we want that all the time, see 6-7thread, lol

[CajunNation]

Absolutely.

Thats why I'm off the Indi bandwagon.

It would have been hard work even when every school had 4 openings but with long term relationships and rivalries it would have gotten easier and easier.

Right now the starting point is almost an insurmountable climb.

I still contend if they had done it 2 decades ago Louisiana would have been on the early invite list for P6 expansion.

I think key in that would have been us developing our own Bowl game in Lafayette. We had a culture to sell to tourists and oil money to back it up.

Welcome to the 1989 Energy Bowl in beautiful Lafayette, LA, brought to you by Exxon, Texaco and Tabasco. Today we have a very exciting matchup featuring the 7-4 USL Ragin Cajuns led by Heisman candidate QB Brian Mitchell. The Cajuns will be facing the 6-5 Black Knights of ARMY. Settle in folks. We are going to have one heck of a battle down on the Bayou for you today.......