Coastal Carolina

Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:26 pm

Now, this is obviously looking down the road quite a bit, but it sounds like, if the fairly substantial rumors are true, the Sun Belt will be offering a spot to Coastal Carolina fairly soon. This could be very interesting for us depending on the timing of the reclassification since we currently have a home-and-home scheduled with them, with CCU coming to Macomb in 2017. There's a possibility that they could be considered a transitional FBS team by that time (like Georgia Southern and App State were this year...competing in the Sun Belt, but not able to claim the conference title or go to bowl games).

CCU could either decide to buy out the return game with us, or go ahead and come here, which could be the closest thing to an FBS team coming to Macomb that we've had in a long long time...or maybe ever (since the I-A/AA split).

Some of the teams who have been here are now FBS (Western Kentucky, Central Florida, Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, UMass, and Northern IL), but were FCS at the time or happened prior to the A/AA split in '78, so they were all classified the same as Western at the time.

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Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:26 am

Quick update, it's almost a certainty that CCU will join the Sun Belt. Supposed announcement this afternoon.
Depending on the timing, they could actually be a full FBS member in 2017, which, if they don't buy out the game, would make them the first FBS/I-A team to visit Macomb.

wiu712 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:38 am

Sounds like we will be needing to find a replacement game for 2017.

Do we really expect a FBS team to play at Hanson Field ???

Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:43 am

wiu712 wrote:Sounds like we will be needing to find a replacement game for 2017.

Do we really expect a FBS team to play at Hanson Field ???

Expect...probably not. Hopefully we got a good game buyout number in the contract (anyone know if there's a place you go can go look up those contracts?). Still, would be pretty cool if they honored it and showed up.

Also, here's a thing I found on one of the CCU twitter feeds...

sealhall74 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:18 am

Chances of getting any team of that caliber (they will be even better by then with the additional scholies) is slim to none. Instead of just grabbing the buyout if it does come to that, I would explore possibility of having the game at a big-time neutral venue (e.g. Soldier Field). CCU gets a nice trip for their kids and we probably can put some people in the seats. Call it the "Train Game" to get the students up there. Does Carper still have any pull at Amtrak? There would be lots of empty seats but still better than bringing in some lackluster DII (or lower) team to Hanson IMO.

Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:36 am

sealhall74 wrote:Chances of getting any team of that caliber (they will be even better by then with the additional scholies) is slim to none. Instead of just grabbing the buyout if it does come to that, I would explore possibility of having the game at a big-time neutral venue (e.g. Soldier Field). CCU gets a nice trip for their kids and we probably can put some people in the seats. Call it the "Train Game" to get the students up there. Does Carper still have any pull at Amtrak? There would be lots of empty seats but still better than bringing in some lackluster DII (or lower) team to Hanson IMO.

Well, Carper is still on the board of directors: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentSe ... 1623383984
So that's a thing.

We're also on the schedule for a game at Northwestern that year though, so, if that remains, I'm not sure if they'll want to do a "neutral site" game in Chicago. I think there's likely still time to work out something with another FCS team...we're still two years away. Might have to work out a home-and-home with someone for something like '17 and '18 or '19, but it's better than having to play a Div. II.

Western_101 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:03 pm

Where is Coastal getting the money to go FBS?

Also, if they are such a big deal why are all of our conference games and the Eastern and Illinois game on T.V. yet we go out to Conway and there is no way to watch the game.

sealhall74 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:30 pm

It appears that the Big South has a one-stop shop for all streaming similar to what the OVC has so our game is on the schedule.

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/live/11284

When is Patty and Tom going to get us that?

Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:18 pm

RedNeck wrote:Where is Coastal getting the money to go FBS?

Apparently they have some "contingency money"...kinda like a rainy day fund, but not just used for rainy days.
Here's some discussion of it: http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthr ... ost2244356

I read somewhere else that they have somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 million in their contingency fund, and ~$130 million of expenses to pay from it over the next year, leaving them with $100+ million (these are very rough numbers, but give you an idea) to work with to start getting them moved up...expanding the stadium, paying out more scholarships. They've said that none of this will come from student fees, the coach won't be paying any of it (he's extremely wealthy himself), and it won't impact the university's operational budget (we'll see about that though).

Plus, they're a growing university, in a very desirable area of the country, located in a metro area of ~500,000 people, with a very strong sports program all around.

Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:19 pm

sealhall74 wrote:It appears that the Big South has a one-stop shop for all streaming similar to what the OVC has so our game is on the schedule.

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/live/11284

When is Patty and Tom going to get us that?

Oh good, I was worried when I couldn't find any streaming solution on CCU's website either.
I don't know though, I think I'd rather have the situation we have now, where (it looks like, at this point) all conference games (and non-conference home games) are being shown on ESPN3. Better exposure overall than just streaming through a conference website.