I am wondering if this info is what NDSU, Sac State, etc heard and if it gave them urgency to move up so they would be in FBS before the split?

https://x.com/WinterSportsLaw/status/20 ... 1741307939

Oh fun

Inevitable.

I find it odd that I don't care if it happens, but 5-6 years ago I would have felt much differently.

fjblair wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 9:22 am

I find it odd that I don't care if it happens, but 5-6 years ago I would have felt much differently.

The group that shares your sentiments is growing quickly. Sad, but that’s the state of things in this day and age.

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

Wonder if lower divisions will work on higher penalties for transferring to a higher division. Could get interesting. Unless NCAA squashes it to keep their P4s in control completely.

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:15 pm

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

That is my concern as well. Gillin is gambling right now and I just hope it works out for us. We basically moved up to end up in the second tier. The big benefit to going FBS was so we don't end up with a bunch of small private schools and non-scholarship schools. We also put ourselves with other similar schools because had we stayed we would have had nothing in common with our conference mates in the SoCon.

AppStFan1 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:10 pm

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:15 pm

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

That is my concern as well. Gillin is gambling right now and I just hope it works out for us. We basically moved up to end up in the second tier. The big benefit to going FBS was so we don't end up with a bunch of small private schools and non-scholarship schools. We also put ourselves with other similar schools because had we stayed we would have had nothing in common with our conference mates in the SoCon.

DG is not gambling. If we had not moved up, we would definitely be third tier

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:49 am

AppStFan1 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:10 pm

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:15 pm

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

That is my concern as well. Gillin is gambling right now and I just hope it works out for us. We basically moved up to end up in the second tier. The big benefit to going FBS was so we don't end up with a bunch of small private schools and non-scholarship schools. We also put ourselves with other similar schools because had we stayed we would have had nothing in common with our conference mates in the SoCon.

DG is not gambling. If we had not moved up, we would definitely be third tier

The move up wasn't the game. The current levels of spending are the game.

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:42 am

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:49 am

AppStFan1 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:10 pm

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:15 pm

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

That is my concern as well. Gillin is gambling right now and I just hope it works out for us. We basically moved up to end up in the second tier. The big benefit to going FBS was so we don't end up with a bunch of small private schools and non-scholarship schools. We also put ourselves with other similar schools because had we stayed we would have had nothing in common with our conference mates in the SoCon.

DG is not gambling. If we had not moved up, we would definitely be third tier

The move up wasn't the game. The current levels of spending are the game.

That's always the game whether move up or not. That is the era we are in. Thought that base line was understood.

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:47 am

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 7:42 am

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:49 am

AppStFan1 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:10 pm

appdaze wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2026 3:15 pm

I'm close to jumping on the boat of apathy. Honestly, though, did we ever Really leave the FCS? By the time we joined the sunbelt, the FBS ranks were already littered with former FCS schools and more have joined since then. We never truly "moved up." We just rebranded. My one and only true hope at this point is that we don't spend ourselves into oblivion chasing the dragon.

That is my concern as well. Gillin is gambling right now and I just hope it works out for us. We basically moved up to end up in the second tier. The big benefit to going FBS was so we don't end up with a bunch of small private schools and non-scholarship schools. We also put ourselves with other similar schools because had we stayed we would have had nothing in common with our conference mates in the SoCon.

DG is not gambling. If we had not moved up, we would definitely be third tier

The move up wasn't the game. The current levels of spending are the game.

That's always the game whether move up or not. That is the era we are in. Thought that base line was understood.

I meant to say gamble not game. The gamble wasn't moving up. Moving up was just staying with the new FCS. The amount of money we are currently burning through is the gamble. How many millions is athletics in debt now?


Edit: I can't find the most recent numbers, but according to this document page 69 https://finops.appstate.edu/sites/defau ... report.pdf we are 78.3 million in debt for athletics as of 2023. I would imagine that is higher now.

So, are we worried about spending too much or too little? Seems like an impossible needle to thread with this crowd.

My 3 concerns if this does in fact happen…

1. Can App afford to spend enough to be competitive against the top G5 programs?
2. Will ESPN as the rights holders promote it as its own entity or just use it as a way to market the P4 league?
3. Will whoever runs it, whether it’s NCAA or a new standalone entity, be able to apply any kind of protections at all against unmitigated P4 poaching.

AppGrad78 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 9:52 am

So, are we worried about spending too much or too little? Seems like an impossible needle to thread with this crowd.

I'm not sure about others, but my biggest concern is the spending. It sure would be nice for people to be able to watch App football in 30 years. I have a feeling the end game of all of this NIL/Portal era/ realignment era is not going to end well for a lot of programs.

APPdiesel wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 10:00 am

My 3 concerns if this does in fact happen…

1. Can App afford to spend enough to be competitive against the top G5 programs?
2. Will ESPN as the rights holders promote it as its own entity or just use it as a way to market the P4 league?
3. Will whoever runs it, whether it’s NCAA or a new standalone entity, be able to apply any kind of protections at all against unmitigated P4 poaching.

1. Year in and year out, no. Once every 5 years, it's possible. All G5's are getting poached. So once every 5 years, we might be able to put together a group of mercenaries that take us to the top of G5 before they leave.
2. Market for P4. They will really hammer home the new divisions like they did the G5 as they did with the original divide between G5 and what was the P5.
3. No. It will be a minor league system and will be treated as such.

Overall, I do not feel that concerned. When I look at our fellow programs, they have spending similar to us. The new softball, track and field facilities... Although good are not excessive from a bells and whistles perspective. Although I have no clue how Boise is funding their football stadium expansion... Private via Albertsons or other or going into debt. However, their end zone addition makes ours look somewhat miniature in comparison. This is just an example. I see most Group programs continuing to spend. Time will tell if it comes to an infection point or not. Not too concerned at the moment personally.

I dont typically look to follow lemmings.

We should never try to compare ourselves to Boise state. We are not the same.

That wasn't the point of comparison as I stated. The point was that I see many of our peers spending and quite a bit more than us

And we sure in the hell were comparing ourselves to Boise in 2019.

BambooRdApp wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2026 12:29 pm

That wasn't the point of comparison as I stated. The point was that I see many of our peers spending and quite a bit more than us

And we sure in the hell were comparing ourselves to Boise in 2019.

Are our peers spending on players or facilities? Seems our focus is clearly on facilities. My rhetorical question is if it’s all about the benjamins and we routinely lose players and are a revolving door - will there be any fannies in the seats to enjoy those first class facilities?