Originally Posted by
inudesu
Actually, what I think he should have done is lay out some cold hard facts.
But you'd think someone who was looking could have found those facts.
I just don't understand why people can't get the simple economics here. EVERY SCHOOL IS LOOKING OUT FOR THEIR OWN POCKETBOOK!
Of course they are. And of course they should be. You know why Northwestern's AD would love a renewed State Fair game despite the divisional difference? It would mean more money for his school. You know why Tech isn't interested? Less money for our school. It isn't just a matter of thinking we're "too good to play them." It simply doesn't make sense to play a FCS school at a neutral site.
Even the whole "perception" idea is really about money. If we don't play your school home-and-home because we think we can do better, it's because we're protecting our brand. If we can't do better - then we'll take what we can get.
For all their big talk, either one of the ULX schools would rather have a home-and-home with MSU, USM, or Houston than us. Just like they'd rather play a home-and-home with Notre Dame than Rutgers. Or with Texas than Iowa State. Or BYU instead of New Mexico (if any of those were options). Every team works this way. You take the best deals you can get. You join the best conference that will take you.
It's business - the guy getting the short end of the stick is always going to try to make it personal (because sometimes that works) but it isn't necessarily so. When LSU won't play in Ruston, we all know it's because they make a fortune from their home games - but we all love to scream about how scared they are. When we don't want to give up better games for ULX games, it's about $, but they always make it into some weird backroom conspiracy theory.
Tech in the Belt (or some new Southland) would be good for ULX. So they are (and should be) trying to push buttons to get public opinion to go in that direction. They'd save money on travel and get bigger home gates. But Tech would suffer from lower conference payouts.
This isn't rocket science.