BullsBEAST Wrote:Being that you follow Umass, what are the chances of you guys moving up to 1a anytime in football? If you do, what kind of attendance would you guys have? What are the chances of you guys upgrading the stadium? Whats the opinion of the students and fans on a move?
We're still awaiting the results of our 3rd FBS study in the last 10 years or so. I'm 99% certain that the conclusion of the new study will be the same as the previous one: we need to move to FBS but there's no conference affiliation that works for us. The Big East will not invite us. We've called Tranghese, it's 100% not happening (unless the conference splits). The CUSA is too far away. The MAC is all smaller budget programs than ours and would destroy our basketball program if we had to join in all sports. Someone who said he spoke to the UMass AD said that the MAC is not an option, though whether that's because we don't want them or they don't want us as a football-only is unknown. Surviving as an Independent doesn't seem feasible. If it was, Temple would be doing it, instead of walking a tightrope with the MAC and praying the day doesn't come when they force them to choose between the MAC in all sports or the A10+FCS. So that's about it, unless a new FBS conference emerges I don't see us making the move.
The stadium situation... that would be a long discussion in itself. Our current stadium seats 17,000. Attendance historically has been underwhelming, but lately trending steadily upward. In 2004 we averaged 8.5k attendance, in 2005 9.5k, 2006 11.5k, and 2007 13k. Over 15k showed up at our opener this season against Albany, a small conference opponent with only 30 scholarship players (UMass has 63, FBS schools have 76 to 85). If we play well against Texas Tech, I think we'll have a sellout against Delaware, and hopefully create a "sellout culture" where people expect to need to buy up UMass tickets early for our remaining games.
17k, while enough to meet FBS minimums, is obviously not enough for the Big East, so UMass would need a new stadium. There are three or four options: build a new stadium on-campus in Amherst, lease Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, or build an off-campus stadium in Springfield or Worcester. Amherst is a small town and Boston is 2 hours away, so there are questions about how many more people we could get to show up. Gillette is likewise 2 hours away, but most UMass alums live in the Boston area, so it's closer to them. Springfield is to UMass in many ways what Hartford is to UConn. They're both about 30 minutes from campus. Springfield is a larger city than Hartford, but Hartford has a larger suburban population than Springfield and is wealthier. Worcester is larger than both, it's the 2nd largest city in New England, and is exactly halfway between Amherst and Boston. Probably the least likely site though.
But I wouldn't expect any serious stadium proposal or study until the conference affiliation roadblock is removed. If UMass was going to play in the MAC or a similar small conference, I think we'd just add endzone seats to our current stadium and bump it up to 23k or so. Nobody in the MAC is averaging over 20k except Temple, and that's mostly from that one home game they had last year against Penn State. Pointless to build a new 40k seat stadium for MAC football. We need a new FBS conference on the east coast for the likes of UMass, Temple, and Delaware to move into. Without one, I don't see us ever moving to FBS.
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Would the basketball schools accept a compromise like this?
