Leatherneck Nation

We added an FBS game for 2024. We'll play at Northern Illinois on August 31 for $350k: https://fbschedules.com/western-illinoi ... s-in-2024/

If this season does actually happen this fall and the BIG12 also cancels their non-conference games, maybe we play NIU the following week (If the MAC/MVFC doesn't cancel theirs as well). Their Sept 26th game at Iowa has been cancelled and that would have been our bye week. We'd then have the 19th open as a bye week.

Not sure about their 2 Big 10 contracts or our Big 12 contract, but maybe we still see some money and have to bought out of the game. We could then play them for a smaller fee, possibly just enough to cover our costs. This would be an ideal situation to get a FBS game close to home on a limited spend.

These games are basically getting cancelled for a fear of losing money and not spread of the virus, so this game could be played by NIU and not cost them a lot, even without fans. I read a great tweet from a Colorado State player, basically laughing in regards to cancelling non conference games saying, "because the corona virus knows the difference between conference and non conference."

Season actually happening is not looking good, but if it does would like to see a full season. I know money is a real problem and understand why major schools and even WIU would limit games to save money, but for the players and fans would like to see as much football as possible.

Player safety and fan safety is important and would be OK if we cancelled for that, just really want to see WIU football.

Oklahoma St is predicted to finish 2nd in the Big 12 this year.

Added a H&H series with UT-Martin (FCS, Ohio Valley). At UT-Martin in 2022 and at WIU in 2024.

350k seems a paltry sum for an FBS payday IMO.

Western_101 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 21, 2020 12:43 am 350k seems a paltry sum for an FBS payday IMO.

That's about right for a G5 team. P5 teams usually pay a bit more though.
We're getting $350k for Ball State in 2021 also.
But we're getting $450k from Minnesota in 2022, $575k from Wisconsin in 2026, and $450k from Purdue in 2028.

ST_Lawson wrote: ↑Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:32 am

Western_101 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 21, 2020 12:43 am 350k seems a paltry sum for an FBS payday IMO.

That's about right for a G5 team. P5 teams usually pay a bit more though.
We're getting $350k for Ball State in 2021 also.
But we're getting $450k from Minnesota in 2022, $575k from Wisconsin in 2026, and $450k from Purdue in 2028.

Good points Scott. Big disparity between the G5s and the P5s. I might also assume NIUs financial resources are somewhat limited.

Western_101 wrote:

ST_Lawson wrote: ↑Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:32 am

Western_101 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 21, 2020 12:43 am 350k seems a paltry sum for an FBS payday IMO.

That's about right for a G5 team. P5 teams usually pay a bit more though.
We're getting $350k for Ball State in 2021 also.
But we're getting $450k from Minnesota in 2022, $575k from Wisconsin in 2026, and $450k from Purdue in 2028.

Good points Scott. Big disparity between the G5s and the P5s. I might also assume NIUs financial resources are somewhat limited.

Yeah, a big part of it has to do with how much money the school plans on making from the game: tickets, concessions, merchandise, etc.

Wisconsin with 60k+ fans are going to be pulling in a lot more than NIU and their 15k.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is revenue split for a "normal" game? Do the visitors get any payout?

GV Dad wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 7:39 pm Is revenue split for a "normal" game? Do the visitors get any payout?

Like when we're playing a fellow FCS team (like the games that were supposed to be against North Alabama and Eastern Washington this fall)?

Usually the way it's negotiated is as a "home and home" series. We'll play two games against them: one home, and one away. Generally in this case, no money changes hands. Each team gets a home game and gets whatever the revenue from tickets, concessions, etc. are. North Alabama this year was supposed to be our "home game" to balance last year's game at UNA. Additionally, this year's game at Eastern Washington is supposed to be balanced out by a game against them in Macomb next season. I do not know what adjustments have been made to those agreements to accommodate this season's situation. Easiest thing is probably to look to reschedule each of them down the road a bit. According to the official games that I have in my list, we have open dates for OOC games in 2023 and 2025 (and further, but those are the next two years we have "open" dates).

The other games you'll usually see at the FCS level are:

• Games at FBS teams (where the FBS team pays the FCS team to show up and usually lose). FBS team gets a win they can count towards bowl eligibility and a home game that will usually bring in a profit for them. FCS team gets a pretty huge paycheck compared to the costs of an FCS-level team, plus some exposure, a chance to play in a "big time" stadium and experience, and a slight chance that they could pull off the upset.
• Games were the FCS team hosts a non-scholarship FCS or lower-division team. Pretty much the same benefits as the FCS@FBS game, but in this case the full-scholarship FCS team is the "big boy".
• You do occasionally see some FCS teams pay other scholarship FCS teams to come and play at their place with no return game. NDSU often does this because they sell out nearly all of their home games and make enough money off of them that they can afford to act like a G5 FBS team. Their fans have also come to expect at least 6 regular season home games every season.