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Geography isn't in their favor in terms of a conference invitation. They are, however, maintaining their relevance as a fine program.
Charlotte is "competing" at the FBS with a 15,000 seat stadium, but it can be expanded, and that expansion could be done very cheap it they wanted to go that route to get the seats quick and/or cheap. The Fargodome handles 18,700, which is over the 15,000 for FBS but not by much and not any easy way to expand. It would start from scratch and that would be a lot of money build from scratch. The wikipedia page mentions getting to 25,000 with major changes and that is workable but again comes at a big cost.
Honest question- Do you think the FCS is as stout as it was in the 90s and early 2000s? There are still strong programs, but seems like less than before.
Given the number of different champions in the last decade it is easy to state, it would seem, that parity is not what it once was. I do realize the I-AA/FCS championship schools have generally run in spurts of a few years, but we were the first to get three in a row.appstatealum wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 10:33 pmHonest question- Do you think the FCS is as stout as it was in the 90s and early 2000s? There are still strong programs, but seems like less than before.
Attendance is slightly down. There were empty seats during the playoffs this year.t4pizza wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 12:10 amI can't imagine their fans are still happy with being FCS in light of the decade plus of absolute dominance and the continued exodus of quality schools that play football at a high level in FCS. They are the flagship school in their State, no question they should make the jump to FBS in my mind.
As to Charlotte , their stadium is pretty much land locked. If I recall correctly there are buildings in relatively close proximity on three or four sides. No place much to park except in decks and the tailgaters on here despise that..McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:45 pmCharlotte is "competing" at the FBS with a 15,000 seat stadium, but it can be expanded, and that expansion could be done very cheap it they wanted to go that route to get the seats quick and/or cheap. The Fargodome handles 18,700, which is over the 15,000 for FBS but not by much and not any easy way to expand. It would start from scratch and that would be a lot of money build from scratch. The wikipedia page mentions getting to 25,000 with major changes and that is workable but again comes at a big cost.
Part of the answer, I think, is that the number of FBS schools has increased and that is pulling talent away from FCS schools in the SoCon footprint, and that is not happening with the Dakotas area. They did go from having no FCS to 1 to 4 FCS schools in the Dakotas over the last decade and half but FCS has never been really big in national recruiting that the FBS can sometimes get involved with.APPdiesel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:55 amI wonder why the power vacuum in the SoCon has never really been filled. There are only a few public institutions left. You’d think UTC was the logical successor to the throne and could spend their way there, but obviously finances being what they are it just seems institutions aren’t willing to invest. And that’s what it all comes down to right? The programs that have moved up (not including the CUSA desperation call ups) were those willing to invest at a higher level than the schools around them so they bolted.
I am not sure if you have been to their stadium but I thought it was very nice with plenty of room to walk around on the concourse on the three sides. There seems to be plenty of room to add seats. They could do something on the cheap with temp stands like we did for some years in our NEZ or more permanent stands but still cheaper aluminum or go all out and build nice concrete seats. There is likely more space to get to 40,000 at Charlotte and have room to get to concessions and bathrooms than we have space for at KBS to be honest.NewApp wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:53 amAs to Charlotte , their stadium is pretty much land locked. If I recall correctly there are buildings in relatively close proximity on three or four sides. No place much to park except in decks and the tailgaters on here despise that..McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:45 pmCharlotte is "competing" at the FBS with a 15,000 seat stadium, but it can be expanded, and that expansion could be done very cheap it they wanted to go that route to get the seats quick and/or cheap. The Fargodome handles 18,700, which is over the 15,000 for FBS but not by much and not any easy way to expand. It would start from scratch and that would be a lot of money build from scratch. The wikipedia page mentions getting to 25,000 with major changes and that is workable but again comes at a big cost.
According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Richardson_Stadium the stadium can be expanded to 40,000 without any problems doing so. I do not think that is as easy for Appalachian to do so without major renovation and cost.McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:35 amI am not sure if you have been to their stadium but I thought it was very nice with plenty of room to walk around on the concourse on the three sides. There seems to be plenty of room to add seats. They could do something on the cheap with temp stands like we did for some years in our NEZ or more permanent stands but still cheaper aluminum or go all out and build nice concrete seats. There is likely more space to get to 40,000 at Charlotte and have room to get to concessions and bathrooms than we have space for at KBS to be honest.NewApp wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:53 amAs to Charlotte , their stadium is pretty much land locked. If I recall correctly there are buildings in relatively close proximity on three or four sides. No place much to park except in decks and the tailgaters on here despise that..McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:45 pmCharlotte is "competing" at the FBS with a 15,000 seat stadium, but it can be expanded, and that expansion could be done very cheap it they wanted to go that route to get the seats quick and/or cheap. The Fargodome handles 18,700, which is over the 15,000 for FBS but not by much and not any easy way to expand. It would start from scratch and that would be a lot of money build from scratch. The wikipedia page mentions getting to 25,000 with major changes and that is workable but again comes at a big cost.
Now the question for Charlotte is if they will need more than 20,000 seats with the program they have and everything else they have to compete against in Charlotte for entertainment dollars. App State could use 35,000-40,000 at some point in the future as the university grows and students continue to come out AND we win. But that is a few years away at best. The entertainment competition in Charlotte is very much a model where there are plenty of major league cities that don't do a great job of supporting their university athletic programs. Their winning AND the Panthers continuing to perform poorly might be the best thing for their football team at least for attendance.
But they have space for expansion. They are not idiots down there to completely shut themselves out of some expansion, and the AAC is going to likely force the issue with something happening in a couple years. It is not going to be a good look for a P6 (sic) to have a school that barely meets minimum attendance as the stadium capacity.
I have heard that 40,000 number before as well. I mention 20,000 above due to the fact that with Charlotte hitting 15,000 in attendance getting to 20,000 is both realistic and could be done quickly and might be needed in a few years.AppWyo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 12:54 pmAccording to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Richardson_Stadium the stadium can be expanded to 40,000 without any problems doing so. I do not think that is as easy for Appalachian to do so without major renovation and cost.McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:35 amI am not sure if you have been to their stadium but I thought it was very nice with plenty of room to walk around on the concourse on the three sides. There seems to be plenty of room to add seats. They could do something on the cheap with temp stands like we did for some years in our NEZ or more permanent stands but still cheaper aluminum or go all out and build nice concrete seats. There is likely more space to get to 40,000 at Charlotte and have room to get to concessions and bathrooms than we have space for at KBS to be honest.NewApp wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:53 amAs to Charlotte , their stadium is pretty much land locked. If I recall correctly there are buildings in relatively close proximity on three or four sides. No place much to park except in decks and the tailgaters on here despise that..McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:45 pmCharlotte is "competing" at the FBS with a 15,000 seat stadium, but it can be expanded, and that expansion could be done very cheap it they wanted to go that route to get the seats quick and/or cheap. The Fargodome handles 18,700, which is over the 15,000 for FBS but not by much and not any easy way to expand. It would start from scratch and that would be a lot of money build from scratch. The wikipedia page mentions getting to 25,000 with major changes and that is workable but again comes at a big cost.
Now the question for Charlotte is if they will need more than 20,000 seats with the program they have and everything else they have to compete against in Charlotte for entertainment dollars. App State could use 35,000-40,000 at some point in the future as the university grows and students continue to come out AND we win. But that is a few years away at best. The entertainment competition in Charlotte is very much a model where there are plenty of major league cities that don't do a great job of supporting their university athletic programs. Their winning AND the Panthers continuing to perform poorly might be the best thing for their football team at least for attendance.
But they have space for expansion. They are not idiots down there to completely shut themselves out of some expansion, and the AAC is going to likely force the issue with something happening in a couple years. It is not going to be a good look for a P6 (sic) to have a school that barely meets minimum attendance as the stadium capacity.
Nowhere near as good and it is shown by how the NFL Draft picks from the league have gone down since the 90s by a large number.appstatealum wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 10:33 pmHonest question- Do you think the FCS is as stout as it was in the 90s and early 2000s? There are still strong programs, but seems like less than before.
Started to happen well before we left but has gotten even weaker since then. Just since the 90s alone we have seen Boise State, Marshall, UCF, FIU, FAU, UTSA, App, Ga Southern, Ga State, Coastal Carolina, Troy, ODU, Charlotte, UMASS, WKU, and many more move up from FCS to FBS. We also see Sam Houston State, James Madison, and some others now moving up so that will make it even harder. Add in the fact that several of those are startup programs and that is quite a lot of players who are no longer going to the FCS level. A lot of D2 teams from 90s and early 2000s are power programs in FCS now. It is definitely not what it was but you still can't take away from NDSU what they have done against pier programs. They have done what App, Marshall, Georgia Southern, etc. never did. It is the most impressive run in I-AA/FCS history for sure.Cro-Magnon App wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 10:59 pmWhen Appalachian State left, it got weaker. The Southern is weak now. Of course, all that is obvious.