The Mountain West is in serious dialogue to add FCS powerhouse North Dakota State as a football-only member starting this coming season

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swede2 said:
This is a great deal for the MWC. NDSU is paying $12.5m to the conference in addition to the $5m to NCAA to reclassify. The MWC media deal stinks, and it has promised legacy members no less than the prior deal ($3.5 million). It has also promised a ransom to UNLV and AFA to stay in the fold (upwards of $20m each) from the contested exit fees now being litigated with the PAC. The current GOR is through 2032. No doubt AFA and UNLV will be gone by then, if not sooner, if MWC is not successful in it's PAC litigation. NDSU ensures the conference will have 8 teams.

This is a wild amount to pay to move to a crappy conference. The financial investment will not be insignificant. Will a fan base that grew bored with games against regional peers and winning national championships stomach jacked up ticket prices and seat license fees to pay not only for increased scholarships and NIL, but also Title IX compliance, to see San Jose and play in a no name bowl against Kennesaw State? Will a board of higher Ed facing enrollment challenges and stingy legislative support agree to JMU like student fees specifically for athletics ($2500/yr)? How much media revenue will NDSU get from MWC? Certainly not $3.5m and likely very much less, if any at all initially. How many P4 teams, already weary of scheduling FCS NDSU, will schedule an FBS NDSU? Where will the money come from to get FBS teams to Fargo for non- conference games.

I have no doubt that NDSU can compete in the MWC but this is a huge gamble and the likelihood of emulating JMU very improbable.
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The goal, for the school and the fans, is not to be a member of the MWC. That conference is just a stepping stone. The goal is to hit the big time. I had the misfortune of living in Fargo for a long time, and I'm confident of this.
 

I don’t know what their endgame is, but I give them credit for pulling off what many/most of their fans wanted them to do. Maybe they see this conference as a steppingstone? Money won’t be a problem for them as they continue through this process. They are the big fish and a small pond and there’s a lot of money in North Dakota.

What I do know is that over the past 40 years they’ve played good enough football to where if we had played them every year an optimistic view of the results would put us at .500. Being able to compete on the field with the knuckleheads in this conference won’t be an issue.
 

everybody knows my name said:
The goal, for the school and the fans, is not to be a member of the MWC. That conference is just a stepping stone. The goal is to hit the big time. I had the misfortune of living in Fargo for a long time, and I'm confident of this.
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Not with a 19k capacity stadium they won't.
 


everybody knows my name said:
The goal, for the school and the fans, is not to be a member of the MWC. That conference is just a stepping stone. The goal is to hit the big time. I had the misfortune of living in Fargo for a long time, and I'm confident of this.
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Fargo's minor league Pat Ruesse, Mike McFeely, while a huge supporter of the move, wonders if the Bison fans aren't chasing the dragon. Contrary to belief, it isn't a huge fan base but they are loud and perhaps as obnoxious as they come. Lots of the sycophants are certain they'll be Big 12 before long, already forgetting they had to pay a king's ransom to buy into a conference that last summer briefly considered paying SDSU, NDSU, Montana and State to join the conference before pivoting to paying a big sum to keep UNLV and AFA in the fold.
 





What is the NIL situation like in the MWC? I am living in Bismarck rn and am shocked by the oil money. Idk what the booster situation is like at NDSU, but maybe they have a few guys willing to get retarded for some MWC Ws.
 



GooningGopher said:
What is the NIL situation like in the MWC? I am living in Bismarck rn and am shocked by the oil money. Idk what the booster situation is like at NDSU, but maybe they have a few guys willing to get retarded for some MWC Ws.
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I'm sure it's not great. Fargo is a long way from the Bakken and one needs to realize most of the oil wealth is owned by people that have nothing to do with NDSU or even the state of ND (except a royalty check).
 

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