[RVAparks]

That's where the Sun Belt champs going this year ..... not the most prestigious bowl .... but it's football in January, nationally televised, in HD.

In HD! No Ray Jones! I'm salivating.

[jbock13]

That's where the Sun Belt champs going this year ..... not the most prestigious bowl .... but it's football in January, nationally televised, in HD.

In HD! No Ray Jones! I'm salivating.

I guess a touchdown is worth more than a field goal, right?

[Purple Haize]

SLY. You ALMOST have me thinking this is a good idea. This type of chaos and mayhem will be a long time happening again. So the first thought is let's get what we can. But that does not address all concerns.
1. Can anyone name without looking the teams in conference USA? Sun Belt? mAC or WAC? Now ask that about your average Lynchburg resident.
2. Geographical relevance. Say what you will about a national footprint etc, but at every program but 3 or 4 they draw from their geography. They compete within their geography. It is even evident in the Big East's Manifest Destiny. Now if say some VA schools jumped with us...

[R i]

I wish JMU , ODU, and Liberty were a package.

[BJWilliams]

SLY. You ALMOST have me thinking this is a good idea. This type of chaos and mayhem will be a long time happening again. So the first thought is let's get what we can. But that does not address all concerns.
1. Can anyone name without looking the teams in conference USA? Sun Belt? mAC or WAC? Now ask that about your average Lynchburg resident.
2. Geographical relevance. Say what you will about a national footprint etc, but at every program but 3 or 4 they draw from their geography. They compete within their geography. It is even evident in the Big East's Manifest Destiny. Now if say some VA schools jumped with us...

Without looking it up...(even though I know you said the average Lynchburg resident)

Conference USA
Memphis
Tulane
Houston
East Carolina
Southern Mississippi
Tulsa
Marshall
Central Florida
Alabama-Birmingham
Rice
UTEP
SMU

MAC
Temple
Northern Illinois
Bowling Green
Ohio U
Akron
Kent State
Buffalo
UMass (starting in 2012)
Miami University (Ohio)
Ball State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan

Sun Belt
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Middle Tennessee
Troy
Arkansas State
Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana Lafayette
Western Kentucky
North Texas

WAC
Hawaii
Utah State
Fresno State
Idaho
New Mexico State
Louisiana Tech
San Jose State
Nevada

I would agree that your average Lynchburg resident wouldnt know those though Purple

[R i]

[bradyfan]

Try this without looking it up:

Big Sky:

Portland State Hornets
Montana Grizzlies
Montana State Bobcats
Eastern Washington Eagles
Portland State Vikings
Weber State Wildcats?
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Northern Colorado Grizzlies
Sacramento State Hornets
Idaho State Bengals

Ohio Valley:

Southern Illinois Sallukis
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Austin Peay Governors
Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks
Tennessee State Tigers
Jacksonville St. Gamecocks
Murray St. Racers
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Eastern Illinois Panthers

Great West:

North Dakota Fighting Soux
UC Davis Aggies
Cal Poly Mustangs
Southern Utah Thunderbirds
South Dakota Coyotes

How many average Lynchburg residents can do that? haha.

[ballah09]

why pass up any bowl? I could care less if it's the Emerald Nut Bowl or GoDaddy. Liberty makes bank either way $$$. Good exposer and a chance for out of state alumni to catch a football game.

and a lot people who follow college football will know who the FBS teams are. FCS, probably not and i'm sure lynchburgians and fellow alumni would rather see Memphis at Williams rather than Presbyterian.


oh can't forget about fans like these....

Guidry's daughter will be a freshman next year at Tech. He played football at Liberty University, but his best friend went to Virginia Tech and Guidry found himself visiting Blacksburg on most weekends. "Virginia Tech football gets in your blood and it becomes all that you think about," Guidry says.

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/p ... y-tailgate


a former player none to less

[Liberty4Life]

How many average Lynchburg residents can do that? haha.

None who have an active dating life, that's for sure.

[BJWilliams]

Try this without looking it up:

Big Sky:

Portland State Hornets
Montana Grizzlies
Montana State Bobcats
Eastern Washington Eagles
Portland State Vikings
Weber State Wildcats?
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Northern Colorado Grizzlies
Sacramento State Hornets
Idaho State Bengals

Ohio Valley:

Southern Illinois Sallukis
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Austin Peay Governors
Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks
Tennessee State Tigers
Jacksonville St. Gamecocks
Murray St. Racers
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Eastern Illinois Panthers

Great West:

North Dakota Fighting Soux
UC Davis Aggies
Cal Poly Mustangs
Southern Utah Thunderbirds
South Dakota Coyotes

How many average Lynchburg residents can do that? haha.

The Portland State Hornets do not exist. You combined the Portland State Vikings and the Sacramento State Hornets (who I think are an associate member of the WAC for baseball)

[From the class of 09]

You guys are losers

[BJWilliams]

lol tell that to the girl in my profile pic with me

[flamesfan30]

notice he still didnt call her his girlfriend....

[Purple Haize]

How many average Lynchburg residents can do that? haha.

None who have an active dating life, that's for sure.

Nicely done!

BALLAH. Most teams lose their shirts in bowl game.

[sporter]

Like most, I would love the move to one of the previously mentioned FBS conferences, but I am really curious as to what the difference in athletic expenses would be. Travel costs for all of the sports when they start flying around the country as compared to driving locally has to be very substantial. Add that to other expenses that I know I am not thinking of (maybe increased recruiting budget) and it has to be fairly substantial.

Maybe there would be increased revenue from the conference. Being a numbers guy I would love to see a breakdown one day or have one of the FF experts give some thoughts.

[SuperJon]

Liberty has its own jet. I'm pretty sure we'd invest in another one that's capable of holding 20-25 people. We have our own aviation school. I'm sure our costs for flying teams would be less than most schools.

[Purple Haize]

SPORTER - if you are a numbers guy, save yoursel a lot of stress and NEVER look at the numbers for an athletic department. Most all lose money. BYD hit it right on the head, it's about exposure not revenue. The. Practical question is whether the money you put in is worth the type of exposure you get.

SJ - I don't know if it changed or not but I do know that they had to put Falwell 1 in another company's name, like say Falwell Aviation, because of tax purposes. Also, you would need a plane big enough for a football team. We could use some of our aviation instructors as Pilots for FlameFans 1 tm which should help with the cost. My vote is we use our influence to increase the airport size here so we don't have to bus to Roanoke to charter team planes.

[TH Spangler]

We "the old Piedmont Airline" use to run 737's and an occasional 727 into LYH. I think they have 5800 ft over there?
737-300's and Airbus A319's operate regularly on runways of 1350 meters or a little more than 4300 feet.
Nick Sigmon's Dad, Ronnie would know for sure ....

[SuperJon]

We don't bus to Roanoke for charters now. We fly out of Lynchburg for those.

[TH Spangler]

In HD! No Ray Jones! I'm salivating.

Hey now .... us "old" arm chair quarterbacks love our 50" HDTV!

[Purple Haize]

We don't bus to Roanoke for charters now. We fly out of Lynchburg for those.

Yep. I forgot about that.

[olldflame]

I remember reading when they lengthened the runway that it could now accomodate 747s.

[Purple Haize]

I remember reading when they lengthened the runway that it could now accomodate 747s.

I remembered they lengthened the runway awhile ago. Speaking of which it still weirds me out when that unmarked plane keeps making touch and go landings
Also, how cool would that be to have our own 747. Or better yet Dreamliner!

[logic]

Sporter - Here you go. Entire expenditures for athletic departments in 2010.

http://www.bbstate.com/info/schools-budget


We are ranked 89th out of 326 schools, having spent 26 million in 2010.

Of note -

1. Texas. Wow. Would love to see a breakdown of how they spend 113 million every year.
2. Only 1 ACC school in the top 20. IMHO they will never reach the football greatness of the SEC/Big10/Pac10 until they start spending more money.
3. We want to be Notre Dame..we need to spend a lot more money to get there as the Irish are 16th, spending 75 million.
4. Only one non-BCS school in the top 50....UNLV at 35th
5. We fit in very well with the MAC and CUSA, making me think we can compete in those conferences immediately.
6. We have the 5th highest total FCS budget behind Yale, Delaware, Penn, and JMU
7. We are the highest in the Big South by almost 11 million

My conclusion - We're way ahead of everyone else in the Big South. We've won the Sasser cup 4 years in a row now, and with that budget we should never lose it. I believe AS A SCHOOL we are ready for a bigger challenge. There are some people who complain that we spend too much on athletics. In reality we aren't spending much at all when you consider the big boys and where we eventually want to go.

[bradyfan]

Sporter - Here you go. Entire expenditures for athletic departments in 2010.

http://www.bbstate.com/info/schools-budget


We are ranked 89th out of 326 schools, having spent 26 million in 2010.

Of note -

1. Texas. Wow. Would love to see a breakdown of how they spend 113 million every year.
2. Only 1 ACC school in the top 20. IMHO they will never reach the football greatness of the SEC/Big10/Pac10 until they start spending more money.
3. We want to be Notre Dame..we need to spend a lot more money to get there as the Irish are 16th, spending 75 million.
4. Only one non-BCS school in the top 50....UNLV at 35th
5. We fit in very well with the MAC and CUSA, making me think we can compete in those conferences immediately.
6. We have the 5th highest total FCS budget behind Yale, Delaware, Penn, and JMU
7. We are the highest in the Big South by almost 11 million

My conclusion - We're way ahead of everyone else in the Big South. We've won the Sasser cup 4 years in a row now, and with that budget we should never lose it. I believe AS A SCHOOL we are ready for a bigger challenge. There are some people who complain that we spend too much on athletics. In reality we aren't spending much at all when you consider the big boys and where we eventually want to go.

Agree with everything, except I hope we don't become ND. They've been going downhill for a while.