No MACtion
- Thread starter MunyonMustGo
- Start date
Doesn't surprise me. All of those programs have basically lost their bought games and therefore can't afford the season. We are about to see an upheaval in the upper football ranks...
Im sure Western Michigan is thrilled they lost their game with ND which was a major payday and a national TV game. This is a horrible decision the revenue is going to be bad either way but they just made the league irrelevant which is even worse.
not saying you're wrong, but "they" have been saying this since the late 80's if not earlier.
Bishop Mac has also been a year or two away from closing since the late 90s according to him.
Hate to tell you it goes way beyond NIU as far as in state schools in big trouble.
You can put WIU on the endangered list Edgy. Directional Illinois schools are starving while Missouri and Iowa are harvesting the rest. Students are bailing at record numbers for out of state offers with our in state retention just slightly above 50% of high school seniors. Last one out of Illinois please turn off the lights.
This is funny. By saying “Don’t have to worry about MAC commits enrolling early” he is referring to the MAC conference and not Bishop MAC.
From what I’ve heard - MAC commits are still enrolling early however. I just don’t get that thinking.
To be fair only Illinois and Illinois State have either maintained overall enrollment numbers of have increased those numbers.
As an ISU grad I’m very impressed how the school has risen athletically and academically. Go Redbirds!
Maybe the MAC powers saw the loss of the bought games and realized that, after talking with ESPN, that since their MACtion weeknight games greatly outdraw viewers than college basketball does, that maybe they are making up some cash from those lost bought games with additional revenue from TV possibilities...
Meanwhile, the Valley lets non-con games be played in the fall, thereby letting them pick up whatever pieces might still be available...could you picture ISU replacing a game at Illinois with a trip to Notre Dame?
And what happens in D2 & D3 will be quite relevant...Again, how many schools are going to join MacMurray in the history books in the spring, leaving the directional state schools with space to attract those kids...
Meanwhile, the Valley lets non-con games be played in the fall, thereby letting them pick up whatever pieces might still be available...could you picture ISU replacing a game at Illinois with a trip to Notre Dame?
And what happens in D2 & D3 will be quite relevant...Again, how many schools are going to join MacMurray in the history books in the spring, leaving the directional state schools with space to attract those kids...
EIU has made a little bounce back the last 2 years, have done a good job of promoting their programs.. But yes, UICU, UIC and ISU are the only ones not currently sinking, not to the point of closing, but to the point of being a shadow of their past..
Hasn't their enrollment declined about 50% the last 10 years? That seems to be an issue
Also this needs to be considered....EIU and WIU have had very little if any on campus renovations done over at least what 30 years? EIU in particular hasn't done much at all with athletic facilities. SIU/ISU/UIC have added recent upgrades...again not an overwhelming reason to not close them but it's a factor I feel.
Actually, I believe the gentleman who made the comment regarding Western Michigan being unhappy was correct.
The ACC (Notre Dame's league for this season) had announced that each team would play 10 league games and one nonconference game, and it appeared as if the Irish nonleague game was going to be a home game in September against Western Michigan.
Obviously, that game is now gone, and based on many reports, it's now feeling as if no college football might be played this fall.
Agreed. but i think you see the impact outside of P5 first. MAC and AAC I can see shrinking male non-revenue sports very quickly.
I would also expect to see paid football staffs shrinking quickly as well and some schools not using full limit of scholarships
Football staffs will be the last thing to get cut. Scholarships do no cost nearly as much as the sticker price for schools.
I agree that EIU has done very little with facilities. I spent a week there for Boys State in 1985. Took the kid to a SIU at EIU game in 2014 - after taking him to football & hoops camp at SIU. We wandered into a prospective student event at Lantz prior to the game. I was rather stunned to see that the Panthers had done basically nothing to Lantz since I was there for Boys State...Same with O'Brien Stadium. Then I took him to hoops camp at Eastern in '16, and got to go through the bowels of Lantz...which haven't significantly changed either...maybe painted...
Sports is the front door for many universities. Eastern's seeming neglect of those facilities, which are also used by the general student population, does not bode well for their athletics or school future. Illinois' massive investment into general student athletic facilities, including the renovation of IMPE into the ARC, CIRCE, & converting grass football parking lots on either side of Stadium Drive into turfed intramural fields is direct support to student growth...to go with the ridiculous amount of money invested into Illini athletic facilities.
UI has welcomed its largest incoming freshman class incrementally each of the last three years while ISU has had the largest percentage increase in enrollment of all in-state schools during that period.
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