The World of College Football

[exit322]

Feels absurd, but if the ACC can do it I guess.

[UAZipster0305]

On 2/12/2026 at 8:21 AM, Captain Kangaroo said:

If YSU presently has the budget, the Zips should too? 

If YSU wants to waste money on excessive travel, let them.

 

I see no value in regularly traveling to North Dakota just for the benefit of having another respectable football program in the MAC. With strained budgets and resources for both UA and its athletics department, this would be a total waste. 

[UAZipster0305]

On 2/12/2026 at 8:18 AM, AkronAlumnus said:

Before NIU the closest MWC school was Wyoming.  NDSU has more juice than other MAC programs.  I'd rather have NDSU and go west than Buffalo/UMass heading east

But there never was an option to ditch Buffalo and UMass in exchange for NDSU. The option would have been to add NDSU or not. I still favor not. It is on a geographic island and no one anywhere in Ohio cares about football in the middle of the Arctic, even if it is good football. In fact, it may be even worse that we get regularly whipped by another program with low to marginal brand recognition. The added travel expenses across all sports would also be significant. No thanks.

[akzipper]

21 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

What about travel to Cali? I’m hearing the mutual exploration/courtship between Sac St and the MAC is more reality than rumor. That doesn’t mean it will happen but there are definitely conversations being had. 

 

I'm so ready for the Ball State vs. Sac State rivalry to really heat up. 

[ZipsBBjunkie]

 

[72 Roo]

Ridiculous!

[Zips1991]

4 hours ago, UAZipster0305 said:

If YSU wants to waste money on excessive travel, let them.

 

I see no value in regularly traveling to North Dakota just for the benefit of having another respectable football program in the MAC. With strained budgets and resources for both UA and its athletics department, this would be a total waste. 

Instead we'll be traveling to California for a lesser known opponent!

[kreed5120]

17 minutes ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

 

 

It seems very short sided. It comes out to like ~$1 million/school, which sounds like a lot, but it's just a drop in the bucket. ADs will have this money spent before it even comes in on a ridiculous buyout or whatever. Meanwhile, for the foreseeable future we will have to eat the cost of flying ~100 players/coaches to California ever 2-4 years.

[UAZipster0305]

13 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

Instead we'll be traveling to California for a lesser known opponent!

For what?

[kreed5120]

36 minutes ago, UAZipster0305 said:

For what?

 

Reports are MAC and Sacramento St. are close to a deal.

[UAZipster0305]

1 minute ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Reports are MAC and Sacramento St. are close to a deal.

Thanks. I don't do social media for a variety of reasons, so I had not seen this.

 

This is about nothing more than the Sacramento media market for the sake of a larger TV contract. This is what college sports (and especially football) has become. It is sad and uninteresting. Why build a beautiful stadium if every decision is made in favor of tv viewership rather than creating a community atmosphere for alumni and friends of the university? It seems the two are mutual exclusive, as evidenced by Tuesday and Wendesday night games in November.

 

Cue GP1 in 3, 2, ...

[Let'sGoZips94]

Hefty buy in fee. Sac State (not Ball State) has invested very heavily in athletics recently. 

[catdaddyp]

38 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Hefty buy in fee. Sac State (not Ball State) has invested very heavily in athletics recently. 

Sounds like it’s for football only. I don’t see the downside for the MAC here. Actually seems like a big win. Sac State paying an entry fee and probably giving up league revenue early on I would guess.

[Let'sGoZips94]

14 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

Sounds like it’s for football only. I don’t see the downside for the MAC here. Actually seems like a big win. Sac State paying an entry fee and probably giving up league revenue early on I would guess.

$15m buy in is massive. Sac State has wanted to get to the FBS level and this is an aggressive way to do it.

[zippy5]

The new Ball Sac rivalry will be worth every penny 

[GP1]

9 hours ago, catdaddyp said:

Sounds like it’s for football only. I don’t see the downside for the MAC here. Actually seems like a big win. Sac State paying an entry fee and probably giving up league revenue early on I would guess.

The downside is a devaluation of the league. Sac State joining would be worse than NIU leaving. The money isn't worth it. 

[catdaddyp]

6 minutes ago, GP1 said:

The downside is a devaluation of the league. Sac State joining would be worse than NIU leaving. The money isn't worth it. 

I’m not sure who would see this as a devaluation. I’d actually say there’s a good chance Sac State is using this as a stepping stone for the future. MAC schools have been losing their fair share of recruiting battles to Sac State for JUCO players over the past few years, for what it’s worth.

[Let'sGoZips94]

16 minutes ago, GP1 said:

The downside is a devaluation of the league. Sac State joining would be worse than NIU leaving. The money isn't worth it. 

 

Injecting $15m into the conference is a nice consolation for being "devalued." Not sure how much more the MAC could've been devalued anyways; the MAC has been on a "joke" trajectory for a couple decades. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Injecting $15m into the conference is a nice consolation for being "devalued." Not sure how much more the MAC could've been devalued anyways; the MAC has been on a "joke" trajectory for a couple decades. 

15mm is more than a million for each member school (assuming it’s distributed to members). Also sounds like they are willing to forgo TV revenue money, which I expect to increase in general with the new deal coming up, and more if the Sacramento market is in the mix.  Sac State has also been paying money for big name players who haven’t worked out in P5 which makes them intriguing to watch. A trip there every other year probably seems worth it to me.

Edited 1 hour ago by LZIp

[Reslife4Life]

17 hours ago, UAZipster0305 said:

This is about nothing more than the Sacramento media market for the sake of a larger TV contract. This is what college sports (and especially football) has become. It is sad and uninteresting. Why build a beautiful stadium if every decision is made in favor of tv viewership rather than creating a community atmosphere for alumni and friends of the university? It seems the two are mutual exclusive, as evidenced by Tuesday and Wendesday night games in November.

 

Cue GP1 in 3, 2, ...

Out of reactions but this hits the nail on the head. Conference expansion has been a disaster for the actual fans of the sport. Get rid of the conference names at this point, just call the MAC “league ten” since it’s the bottom of the totem pole. If we think no one in the community cares when we play schools like CMU, just imagine a year where Kent is a road game and we get a home conference schedule of: Western Michigan, Sacramento, Umass, and Ball State. I just hate everything about this. Who is next? Northern Arizona? Tarleton State? Gardner Webb?

[kreed5120]

16 minutes ago, LZIp said:

15mm is more than a million for each member school (assuming it’s distributed to members). Also sounds like they are willing to forgo TV revenue money, which I expect to increase in general with the new deal coming up, and more if the Sacramento market is in the mix.  Sac State has also been paying money for big name players who haven’t worked out in P5 which makes them intriguing to watch. A trip there every other year probably seems worth it to me.

 

I heard they would forego TV money until a new deal is signed, but that would be only 1 year as the current deal is about to expire. Also, I'm not sure how the CFP pool money would be split. Also, it's probably not cheap to fly ~100 people to Sacramento and put them up in a hotel. $1 million could disappear rather quickly. Perhaps after 3-4 trips.

 

I'll withhold judgement until I actually see the terms.

[Let'sGoZips94]

38 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I heard they would forego TV money until a new deal is signed, but that would be only 1 year as the current deal is about to expire. Also, I'm not sure how the CFP pool money would be split. Also, it's probably not cheap to fly ~100 people to Sacramento and put them up in a hotel. $1 million could disappear rather quickly. Perhaps after 3-4 trips.

 

I'll withhold judgement until I actually see the terms.

 

I doubt they're in the MAC for 3-4 Akron trips out there. MAC schools don't play each other every year and every other game is at home. Could be 8+ years before we make that trip 3-4x. 

[exit322]

1 hour ago, Reslife4Life said:

Out of reactions but this hits the nail on the head. Conference expansion has been a disaster for the actual fans of the sport. Get rid of the conference names at this point, just call the MAC “league ten” since it’s the bottom of the totem pole. If we think no one in the community cares when we play schools like CMU, just imagine a year where Kent is a road game and we get a home conference schedule of: Western Michigan, Sacramento, Umass, and Ball State. I just hate everything about this. Who is next? Northern Arizona? Tarleton State? Gardner Webb?

 

From what I look around and see, Tarleton is 100% a possibility.

[ZippyRulz]

Social media is the rumor mill that keeps on giving: associated speculations are that Ohio & Miami (together) and SBC are kicking tires with each other, as well as Toledo and MWC once the financial dust settles on NIU's transfer.