Author Topic: 2012-2020: Future of SBU Football - Conference Affiliation, FBS Football, etc  (Read 25737 times)

jaghatai

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #15 on: February 06, 2012, 06:28:44 pm »
I know that the "multiple stadium" idea has been floated around.  For example, UMass plays a few games at Foxboro, LSU plays a few games in the Superdome, etc.  We could do the same with the Meadowlands.

Not ideal, but if the big push is to make us THE NY college football team (kinda like how St Johns is the NYC college basketball team), then that might work wonders.
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ry1nik

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #16 on: February 06, 2012, 08:12:23 pm »
Sorry Sbufan, I didn't make myself clear. I meant "business decision" in a negative sense. I don't want to see games moved off-campus in order to move to the FBS level. That is not what the college experience is or should be about. I'd prefer to see SBU stay FCS forever (even in the BS Conference) than move games off-campus.

Seawolf97

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #17 on: February 06, 2012, 10:10:07 pm »
While moving up to the FBS  level is probably in our distant  future going to the CAA first is probably what is going to happen.   We would be a perfect fit with lax and strong baseball and soccer programs.  Basketball is improving in leaps and bounds.  VCU and  George Mason are in the CAA and would destroy us right now in hoops.  Alot has to be done first with infrastructure to expand our stadium, continue to build our fan base and of course funding.   CAA football  would bring in top caliber home games and still give us at least one BCS game a season.  I dont think  we are built as a Univerrsity to be  a Penn St. or Uconn. Stranger things have happened in sports but joining the CAA would be a giant step for us with little downside.  We are  really on a fast track with new facilities, top quality student athlets coming in and our coaching staffs. We see that with winning programs and AEChampionships and NCAA  appearances. We will  get there I'm sure but just not yet. Baby steps first.

sbufan

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #18 on: February 06, 2012, 10:48:26 pm »
Sorry Sbufan, I didn't make myself clear. I meant "business decision" in a negative sense. I don't want to see games moved off-campus in order to move to the FBS level. That is not what the college experience is or should be about. I'd prefer to see SBU stay FCS forever (even in the BS Conference) than move games off-campus.

Yeah I got you, and I agree that it's unfortunate that college athletics are big business now, but that's just the way it is. Stony Brook is already guilty of treating its sports programs businesslike with it's move to the Big South and full scholarship football. We cut off a big time rivalry with Albany and left a conference with logical opponents to join a southern based conference so that we could offer full scholarships and take the first step towards major college football. Breaking those ties were business decisions.

Personally I just want to see Stony Brook field teams that students and the community want to go to. It doesn't matter if Stony Brook is playing their games on campus if the students aren't even showing up. I want to see students at the games. If Stony Brook has to play games off campus in order to bring in competition students want to see, then I want them playing off campus. Obviously on campus is preferable, but if on campus means we have to keep scheduling St. Anselm's, then I'm open to other options.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2012, 10:50:07 pm by sbufan »

ecasadoSBU

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #19 on: February 07, 2012, 12:26:12 am »
I disagree with the assesment that the MAC East is not more actractive than CAA. Any conference where you can get ESPN games regularly is automatically more attractive. We would be playing Massachusetts, Buffalo (natural rivalry), Temple, Akron which are more popular than the Maine, New Hampshire of the CAA. Also MAC football would be a conference which would be more of a right fit in terms of competition. Its not a highly ranked FBS conference meaning that a successful FCS team can probably make a smooth transition into the conference, this is assuming that Stony Brook will enjoy more success at the FCS in the upcoming seasons.

As I said, the main thing that can hold us back is Infrastructure improvements (expansions of facilities, roads). Those things cost a lot of money and we all know how hard is to get cash from the State of New York...

The future is bright, its going to be interesting to see Stony Brook athletics in 7-15 years. I'll repeat, No one thought football was going to be at this position back in 1995. Transitioning from Division III to Division I FCS full scholarship is arguably harder than going from FCS to FBS....
« Last Edit: February 07, 2012, 02:23:44 am by ecasadoSBU »
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Redwyn

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #20 on: February 08, 2012, 04:46:59 pm »
Your assumption that facilities can be simply willed into existence is tough. Even if we had the stadium, our turnout is PALTRY.

If we were members of the CAA, we would be ahead of ONE team in football turnout (Towson). Even URI would attract more than us. Fact of the matter is, we need to learn how to attract/handle 8500 per game before we can bring in the 20-30K we'd need for FBS.

Baby steps gents. If we end up in the CAA or A-10/CAA Football, we'll be fine. Our primary goal should be to escape the black hole that is the AEC, no matter what it takes.

ecasadoSBU

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #21 on: February 08, 2012, 04:54:53 pm »
Attendance is a BIG issue especially in NY where College Football doesn't attract many fans. The only CF team that draws more than 40k is Syracuse, and Army is behind but after that is Buffalo which struggles to meet FBS minimum attendance requirements (15k)
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sbufan

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2012, 06:23:35 pm »
Your assumption that facilities can be simply willed into existence is tough. Even if we had the stadium, our turnout is PALTRY.

If we were members of the CAA, we would be ahead of ONE team in football turnout (Towson). Even URI would attract more than us. Fact of the matter is, we need to learn how to attract/handle 8500 per game before we can bring in the 20-30K we'd need for FBS.

Baby steps gents. If we end up in the CAA or A-10/CAA Football, we'll be fine. Our primary goal should be to escape the black hole that is the AEC, no matter what it takes.

I suppose what I'm really trying to say is that I think the ratings of something like a hypothetical Stony Brook FCS national championship game would be impressive enough that no one would care what our facilities or attendance numbers were like or impressive enough to make investments in those areas seem reasonable. Stony Brook was a trending topic on twitter during our AEC game against BU last year. I have no idea what the ratings were like for that game nor do I know much about twitter, but I would assume Stony Brook being one of the most used phrases during that game speaks volumes about Stony Brook's market potential.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 06:32:13 pm by sbufan »

jaghatai

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2012, 07:10:18 pm »
College football in NY hasn't really thrived, but in fairness, we never really had a team to get behind.  Just look at the support Rutgers got during the Ray Rice days, just because they were close to NYC.

I would like to see us sell out Lavalle every game this year.  That would be a very strong start.
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ecasadoSBU

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #24 on: February 08, 2012, 08:15:12 pm »
we wont sell out every game partly because people don't know the visitor team. As long as we face bad competition we wont sell out either. So while some say we need to get more support from the fans before we move up, we also need to move up and play more relevant competitors (whether moving up means CAA or MAC...). people already know who Liberty is and they enjoy coming out for the rivalry game. But Gardner-Webb? VMI? Charleston Southern? Who cares about them... the local crowd may not care much about CF, but they surely know who's good and who isn't. We will face three bad Big South teams at home, I don't doubt that we probably will get the highest attendance for CCSU or Colgate and of course Homecoming. Something needs to be done to attract those alumnis to come out for games other than homecoming.

If we have continuous success in the near future, that would be enough to warrant talks of expansion. Also at some point you need to take the risk and say "if you build it, more people will come" (we did that with LaValle Stadium back in 2000).  I'm sure that if LaValle gets expanded and more relevant competitors come out to Stony Brook, more fans would come in to watch the games...
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ecasadoSBU

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #25 on: February 08, 2012, 08:25:05 pm »
Also, the idea of playing in a location other than home I greatly dislike. I would hate if Stony Brook plays in a "home away from home" and it would really disappoint me if that decision ever gets floated around. Even though I live in NYC and anywhere west of Long Island would be closer to me I would still dislike the idea. Stony Brook football is supposed to be about improving the student experience, it shouldn't be treated as a business even though I would like it to be profitable. It can stay on campus and still be profitable.

I went to the University of Connecticut a few months ago, and I ended up watching a football game over there with my gf. I greatly disliked the fact that we had to be "bused" 30 miles west to East Hartford all the way from Storrs. The game + bus rides take away more than half of your day. Left the campus at 1:30pm and ended up getting back like at 8:30pm. Terrible experience overall and I'm sure it would alienate a lot of students who don't have a lot of spare time.

One of the great things of LaValle stadium is that I can head out of H-Quad five minutes (Hell, make it two minutes!) before game time and  be on time for kickoff. Its awesome, and it would be sad if the administration makes the decision to play somewhere other than home. Also, I'm sure that alumni prefer returning to their campus than going to a Meadowlands Stadium thats doesn't mean anything for them.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 08:31:37 pm by ecasadoSBU »
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Seawolf97

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #26 on: February 08, 2012, 08:27:10 pm »
 I have no doubt we are a rising star in the D-1  ranks.   We are getting more and more TV exposure,  high profile  schedules and better student athletes than we ever had across all sports.   Look at our Ladies Softball Team hosting   Big 12 Texas Tech for a season opener, football  with  two legendary programs on their schedule Syracuse and Army and both NY teams.   Our community support seems to be growing  and Newsday loves us.  I am very optimistic about the  direction we are going.  It wasnt so long ago football played on a tiny dirt field in front of maybe 300-500 fans on a sunny day.  Believe me I was there, haftime under a tree, one tiny refreshment stand  and wooden bleachers circa 1995-97.    It takes time  but we are  getting there and rather quickly I may add. We have folks like Dr. Kenney and our present AD  to thank for what we see now.

ry1nik

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2012, 07:23:01 am »
ecasado, I could not have put it better myself. Thanks for saving me the time!

sbufan

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #28 on: February 09, 2012, 09:46:01 am »
I expect attendance to be way up this year. I think the playoff run last year made the community aware of Stony Brook's football program and really impressed some people; I bet there will be a record number of season tickets sold this summer. I really think theres a great chance (better than 50%) that Stony Brook gets their first FBS win and either of those wins would create a ton of buzz for the program; if we win either of those games I think we'll have near sell outs the rest of the way. I think Coker will also help draw a pretty big crowd; like what ecasado said, students and the community want to recognizable teams, and while we can't bring Big Ten teams into Lavalle, we will have one of the best players from the Big Ten playing in every home game at Lavalle and I think that's what the students and community want to see.

sbufan

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Re: 2012-2020: Future of Stony Brook Football
« Reply #29 on: February 24, 2012, 10:24:55 am »
I want to note that the goal for this university should be to get into the Big Ten or whatever it's being called in the future. Imo, if the running project 50 going forward aren't saying "in 50 years we want to be in an athletic conference with schools like Rutgers, UConn, Penn State, Ohio State. What steps can we take to try and make that possible?" they're wasting Stony Brook's potential. I don't know if it will ever happen, but that should be part of the conversation.