my nerves are bad...

[UNLV]

Another quick example.
Lamar's budget is $14 million
UL-Monroe budget is $8 million. this budget will drop to $7 million soon. budget cuts.

UL-Monroe can afford to stay FBS by playing Arkansas and Baylor.

Lamar will play Texas AM for $350k. If Lamar had gone FBS, Lamar would get at least $900k for the same freaking game.

Does Lamar have a math dept. or did it leave with Dr Price retirement.

[skipmeister]

Yes, Lamar has a math dept. Like mentioned in other posts, if LU goes FBS, it'll not only be a boast in the local economy and tourism but both universities playing in Beaumont! If like for example, San Diego State and Lamar have an agreement to play at Provost-Umphrey, it will be a great recruiting tool for both schools! Texas State, while transitioning to FBS, they had home and home agreements with the Naval Academy and Wyoming and did it have a great economic impact for both schools? Yes! The problem is the University needs to do something about this NOW! The community and alumni needs to support LU in terms of monetary donations! I mean make short term and long term investments to LU and the athletic department in order to go FBS!

[UNLV]

App st getting record donations post announcements.
https://twitter.com/GoASU/status/330384533008572416

[skipmeister]

That's great! Like I said, we need to invest in LU's future in order to meet the highest standards of this university as much as possible! Lamar is the People's University and it should act this way! Does anyone realize how much trouble this university have went through over the years to bring football back to campus? The alumni and entire community invested in its both short and long term future and that is upgrading and expanding the facilities on campus making it one of the best in the conference? It could be a lot of trouble getting Lamar to FBS status. Like said, we need to act now!

[UNLV]

[quote name="skipmeister" post="1408297" timestamp="1369454141"]
That's great! Like I said, we need to invest in LU's future in order to meet the highest standards of this university as much as possible! Lamar is the People's University and it should act this way! Does anyone realize how much trouble this university have went through over the years to bring football back to campus? The alumni and entire community invested in its both short and long term future and that is upgrading and expanding the facilities on campus making it one of the best in the conference? It could be a lot of trouble getting Lamar to FBS status. Like said, we need to act now!
[/quote]Too late... Lamar chances of leaving the slc to go fbs within the next 10 years is nearly 0.
What needs to happen.
1. A FBS conference out west needs to start up and invite Idaho and NMSU.
or
2. UL-M drops down.  Budget cuts.
neither is happening in the next 10 years.

This crap makes me so mad. All Lamar needs to do is say yes before June. If SHSU was in Lamar shoes, SHSU would have been gone.

[skipmeister]

What should have done was the the Mountain West Conference needs to be more like the WAC almost 15 years ago and be expanded to 14-16 schools! They need to invite Montana and Northern Arizona to the mix as well as add NMSU and Idaho! It'll be best for both schools!

[UNLV]

[quote name="skipmeister" post="1408349" timestamp="1369502965"]
What should have done was the the Mountain West Conference needs to be more like the WAC almost 15 years ago and be expanded to 14-16 schools! They need to invite Montana and Northern Arizona to the mix as well as add NMSU and Idaho! It'll be best for both schools!
[/quote]Those schools would do nothing to raise the MWC. Maybe Montana.

SFA and SHSU both finished higher than Lamar in the Com. cup, AGAIN. It is no coincident those schools do more with less. ULM is FBS with a $8 million budget, while Lamar can not afford FBS with a $14 million budget.

[LUSportsFan]

Part of the $14,000,000 budget is debt service.  The 2012 budget for FY through August 31, 2012 showed $1,702,534 for that category.  That's not a bad thing.  It means we made the commitment to improve our facilities, but it does reduce the amount of money to spend on the variable costs associated with the program.

It would be interesting to compare the debt service component for the other universities.

See page 9 of the linked pdf file.

[url=http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lamar.edu%2F_files%2Fdocuments%2Ffaculty_staff%2Ffinancial-matters%2Flamar_university_fy2012_budget.pdf&ei=sxGhUZqXA4XW9ASskoGACg&usg=AFQjCNFoIZ4rCzL5dscLcXEKiCNU1L5GVQ&bvm=bv.47008514,d.eWU&cad=rja]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lamar.edu%2F_files%2Fdocuments%2Ffaculty_staff%2Ffinancial-matters%2Flamar_university_fy2012_budget.pdf&ei=sxGhUZqXA4XW9ASskoGACg&usg=AFQjCNFoIZ4rCzL5dscLcXEKiCNU1L5GVQ&bvm=bv.47008514,d.eWU&cad=rja[/url]

There are some other things to look at. 

[b]Scholarship costs.[/b]  Based on the USAToday database, our scholarship costs are around $700,000 higher than FBS University of North Texas who can offer 22 more football scholarships.  Our costs are around $1,200,000 more than those of SHSU.  Comparing the rosters on the official sites, it looks like a lot of that is due to the In State / Out of State athlete mix.  We're at 65% / 35% In State / Out of State.  The other state universities that I did an eyeball look at (SHSU and UNT) have a much higher percentage of In State athlete than us also.  I'm glad our athletes chose to come to our university, but in addition to increasing revenues and contributions, we also need to review the costs and see if there are sensible ways to reduce them.  Working to move to more In State athletes might be one way to lower cost in one area to be able to spend it elsewhere.

I had a lot more detail from the USAToday data, but my session timed out and it was lost.  Not going to key it in again so here's a link to the USAToday data if anyone is interested in looking it up.  Coachacola supplied it a few weeks ago in another post.  If you click on the university name, a more detailed breakdown opens up showing several years of data.  There's a toggle for Revenues and for Expenses.  There are also graphs.  The columns are sortable, also, which makes it nice when looking for comparisons.
Interesting information if you are into that type of stuff. (I am.)

[b]Ticket Sales[/b] - We compare favorably with SFA and SHSU.  We're behind UNT, but that's understandable.
[b]Contributions[/b] - Again, we compare favorably with SFA and SHSU, but we are way behind TxSt and UNT
[b]Licensing[/b] - We're behind SFA, SHSU, TxST, and UNT

[url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/]
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/[/url]

[UNLV]

Good informative post. However, Lamar can afford the SBC and FBS yet they chose to keep Lamar down.

Someone posted here a while ago Lamar should stay in the SLC to be with friends, Mcneese, SFA, and SHSU.
IMO, IMO, IMO, no link, IMO I believe this is the reason Lamar past up a FBS invite. In 5 years, SHSU will be ready, I bet SHSU wont pass up any opportunity to better itself to stay in a conference with Lamar..aka stupid.

Some SHSU fans are wanting to join the southern conference. A cool ideal IMO.

"That drops SoCon down to 7 members from their 12? Maybe it's time they look West and pick up a few schools over here. I know we're out of their footprint, but imagine adding SHSU, SFA, & McNeese (maybe UCA even). It's not the SoCon of old (by any means), but it's better than the scraps of Lamar, IWU, and HBU."

quote from www.katfans.com

[1KatKiller]

It has already been stated that Montana will NEVER go without Montana State. That is the reason Montana didnt go earlier.

[coachacola]

UNLV, do you have any proof that Lamar passed up a FBS invite?  Who in the LU administration told you this?  I think the reality is that Lamar was not invited to the Sun Belt, just like they were not invited to the WAC a few years ago.

[UNLV]

[quote name="coachacola" post="1408993" timestamp="1369844776"]
UNLV, do you have any proof that Lamar passed up a FBS invite?  Who in the LU administration told you this?  I think the reality is that Lamar was not invited to the Sun Belt, just like they were not invited to the WAC a few years ago.
[/quote]Cola, do you have any proof that SBC passed up a Lamar FBS invite?  Who in the SBC  administration told you this?  I have been saying for months something is not making sense. Well it turns out it was me refusing to believe Lamar took itself out of consideration. For the pass month I was saying the SBC will choose Lamar or pass. Since Lamar said no, pass was the only option. AND THE SBC PASSED, JUST LIKE I PREDICTED.

SBC doesn't have a 12th option except for Liberty and JMU therefore the SBC would love to invite Lamar.

I bet Evans and Henderson is behind this. Henderson should have never been hired as any school AD.