Future Football Schedules

[Western_101]

We played Minnesota and UNLV in 2013 (eleven game season).

[ST_Lawson]

We played Minnesota and UNLV in 2013 (eleven game season).

Nope...12 games. MN and UNLV as FBS games, Hampton and Quincy at home. Finished 4-8 overall in the regular season.
2014 was also a 12 game season, Northwestern and Wisconsin away, and Valpo and Drake at home.

[Western_101]

We played Minnesota and UNLV in 2013 (eleven game season).

Nope...12 games. MN and UNLV as FBS games, Hampton and Quincy at home. Finished 4-8 overall in the regular season.
2014 was also a 12 game season, Northwestern and Wisconsin away, and Valpo and Drake at home.

Damn, I thought this was my chance to be right about something Scott! I keep telling my wife "you just wait one of these days I'll be right".

I guess I don't have a strong opinion either way about playing two FBS opponents in a year with 12 games. We need the wins. We need the money. I guess for me a payday P-5 opponent and a beatable G-5 makes for a good two FBS balance. I mean we will get money for both USA and MINN. What kind of money I wonder? 250-300k from USA and 600-650k from the Gophers?

I'd be curious to know the FBS payouts WIU has received over the years.

[Western_101]

We played Minnesota and UNLV in 2013 (eleven game season).

Nope...12 games. MN and UNLV as FBS games, Hampton and Quincy at home. Finished 4-8 overall in the regular season.
2014 was also a 12 game season, Northwestern and Wisconsin away, and Valpo and Drake at home.

Damn, I thought this was my chance to be right about something Scott! I keep telling my wife "you just wait one of these days I'll be right".

I guess I don't have a strong opinion either way about playing two FBS opponents in a year with 12 games. We need the wins. We need the money. I guess for me a payday P-5 opponent and a beatable G-5 makes for a good two FBS balance. I mean we will get money for both USA and MINN. What kind of money I wonder? 250-300k from USA and 600-650k from the Gophers?

I wonder what Colorado State paid ISU last year, surely we would get something very comparable.

[ST_Lawson]

Nope...12 games. MN and UNLV as FBS games, Hampton and Quincy at home. Finished 4-8 overall in the regular season.
2014 was also a 12 game season, Northwestern and Wisconsin away, and Valpo and Drake at home.

Damn, I thought this was my chance to be right about something Scott! I keep telling my wife "you just wait one of these days I'll be right".

I guess I don't have a strong opinion either way about playing two FBS opponents in a year with 12 games. We need the wins. We need the money. I guess for me a payday P-5 opponent and a beatable G-5 makes for a good two FBS balance. I mean we will get money for both USA and MINN. What kind of money I wonder? 250-300k from USA and 600-650k from the Gophers?

I'd be curious to know the FBS payouts WIU has received over the years.

I think that price range is generally in line with what you see. I know we got $300k for heading down to Coastal Carolina a couple of years ago (when we laid something like a 50-point beatdown on them) and Illinois State got $375 from Colorado State last year. Like you mentioned, I think the P5 teams pay a bit more. There's a better chance that we lose, but also the schools are making more money because they'll have 50k people at the game rather than, say Eastern Michigan where you might break 10k on a good day.

I'm all for playing 2 FBS teams in 12-game seasons. 2 FBS games and 2 home "easy" games (don't have to be lower division, just teams we should beat pretty handily). Go into the conference season at 2-2 or maybe 3-1 if we're lucky and pull off an FBS upset. The issue for me is going with 2 FBS games in 11-game seasons. Barring an upset, we're likely 1-2 (maybe even 0-3 if SUU is having a good year...they're a Big Sky team...we're not talking about Valpo or Butler here), which means we're looking at having to go 6-2 or 7-1 through the conference season to have a decent shot at the playoffs. That's a tough thing to do when you're playing NDSU, SDSU, Illinois State, UNI, etc.

I do understand the need for money to keep things going though, so if it's a choice between taking an extra FBS sometimes or having to do something drastic (like cut sports or drop to DII), then I'm ok with another FBS game.

[Western_101]

Scott I always appreciate your very dialed in perspectives on the goings on. Spot on.

Perhaps we may have to take a look at how many sports we sponsor moving forward. I know D-I has a minimum limit. I know the Summit has a minimum limit with a mandate that members sponsor both men/women Basketball.

I used to halfheartedly suggest that Western Step away from Mens Basketball (obviously keep the women). We can't compete at or bring teams in to play us at he D-I level. Obviously, there were mis-steps in who was in charge of basketball after Molinari.

[ST_Lawson]

2018 broadcast schedule (minus a couple of early games):

[leatherneckcountry]

2018 broadcast schedule (minus a couple of early games):

2019

[ST_Lawson]

2018 broadcast schedule (minus a couple of early games):

2019

You expect me to remember the year? Come on...it's only August. I'll get it figured out by February.

[ST_Lawson]

Full TV schedule for the season: https://goleathernecks.com/news/2019/8/ ... watch.aspx
Lots of ESPN+ on the schedule this year.