The exit fee for the Big Sky Conference is $1 million, while the entrance fee for FBS is $5 million. They have also begun some stadium renovations for basic upgrades, such as bathrooms and concessions, nothing fancy, which cost around $5 million. Additionally, I estimate that they’ve invested about $2-3 million into NIL. This totals approximately $15 million. That’s a significant amount, so they will NEED to generate a lot of revenue to justify these expenses.

I just don’t see the revenue source as an independent, but maybe I’m missing something. Trying to get football specific income numbers from UMASS or UCONN is difficult (other than ticket revenue) since their overall media money is due to other sports (especially UCINN’s Big East cash).

I interpret Sailorgabe to mean he could make money by wagering on Sac.

To your list of costs, note that they are adding a substantial number of scholarships, i don’t see how they are at 63 as the conference rules call for, probably adding at least 20 scholarships in football and an equal amount in women's sports.

That is great info. No wonder they are swinging for the fences.

Exactly. I mean national media is not going to be looking at SACST at all. If you put major money on the first 3 games, you should be able to easily double or triple your money if things play right. I mean if they go undefeated that is a weekly paycheck.

I’m not a betting man, but I think you might have something here!

Are wagers taken on Sac State FB?

I’m not sure what the line is in Vegas but I heard at Folsom State Pen people are putting 3 soups on the Hornets.

Yes, there are many outlets. I bet on UC Davis last year and did very well.

Wow. That is wild, especially considering how they have been talking recently. Even more wild considering schools like Missouri state, kennesaw state, Sam Houston all going fbs recently.

Those teams didn’t need a waiver, because they had a conference invite.

very true. Sac fans will not be happy anyways

Might be good for Sac to make a national impression in the playoffs. Assuming they don’t have too many scholarships for the Big Sky.

Good for the committee to impose some basic minimal standards here. Of course it's a horrible idea for Sac to go FBS independent with no money, no history of success, inadequate facilities, no apparent prospects for conference affiliation, and no similar peers in the west to help with scheduling.

The committee needs to have stricter requirements. I said elsewhere that Liberty, like them or not actually had a case. Sac State is not subject to collusion, they just arent desirable.

This is actually very funny after all of the big talk from Dr Woods and co.

How does this work with the Big Sky's 63 equivalency limit for the 2025 season? I had assume that Sac had been moving forward a larger number.

Any Luke Wood comment on this yet? Can't see recent posts without being logged in

my thoughts exactly. This is a major clusterf*ck in a lot of ways

Going to be interesting to see how many of their new recruits are still on board with normal FCS Big Sky football

Nope, no comment form him yet. At least on twitter that is.

:joke:

lol. Elite 8. They'd be lucky to win 8 games.

More from Sam Herder.

https://share.google/hUHSCe0kZf0k2vb79

You can divide the NIL guess by 10 and would still be high on the amount they have to “invest.” The amount they have promised is something different.

Not the news I was expecting. I would have thought Wood and Co had made their calls and catered their steak dinners with the relevant decision makers before putting it all on the line. Though I suppose there are still plenty of politics to play out the rest of June. Assuming things stay as is, the Hornets have the potential to still be very good FCS contenders. But if a sense of bait and switch takes root in the locker room this could get messy. Who knows what’s actually been said to these guys. If conditions on the ground deteriorate, I could see Marion finding a way to deuce out. The way he’s scrapping on the career ladder, no way would he want to preside over a stuck-in-FCS team if the stock starts slipping.

Maybe they opted to serve the airline chicken or tri-tip instead?

Sac State could've done a scaled-down version of this program-wide plan and still come up with a decent-sized win. Build the new bball arena in the Well. Upgrade the bathrooms, and replace the stands at Hornet Stadium with something a Big Bad Wolf with pneumonia could not blow down. Table FBS for when things were more stable.

They could've even just approached Sac City College about renting Hughes Stadium and saved millions. It has a 20,000+ capacity with large, clean restrooms.

There's just something about Sac State and small, antiquated (or temporary) restrooms. When I visited St. Mary's for sporting events (a significantly older campus) I saw at least 4-5 clean-looking restrooms just on the way from the front parking lot to the bookstore. Old is not a good excuse for small and dirty facilities.

The concession stands at Hughes are minimal, but they could have food trucks. And Sac City plays during the day, so no schedule conflict.

Sac State got greedy though, and clearly this commitee saw the plan as a house of cards.