aceinthehole
September 3rd, 2019, 10:35 AM
No, Saint Francis isn't going to play Penn State, but it does provide some insight on their upcoming FBS matchups vs. MAC schools.
Penn State embarrassed a really, really bad Idaho team Saturday, 79-7, and by this point, we all know why these kinds of games are played.
Big teams eat up the cupcake opponents, who in turn get tons of money to take back to their campus and use it to fund the rest of their athletic department.
That’s how the business of college sports works around the country, for better or worse.
But why, specifically, did Penn State play Idaho, an FCS opponent that might be the worst visiting team ever at Beaver Stadium? There’s an interesting back story, and I’ll get to it in a bit.
Staying close to home, I was asked this by a half-dozen people over the past couple of days: If PSU is going to play Idaho and pay that school a whopping $1.45 million for the game, why can’t the Lions throw a bone to Saint Francis and schedule a game against the FCS program from Loretto?
The long and short of it is that Saint Francis just recently got its football program up to the 45 scholarship and 56.7 equivalency limit. So, beginning next season, the Red Flash can start playing FBS opponents — and getting some big paydays for doing so.
The Flash play at Buffalo next season, and in the coming years will have games at Eastern Michigan and Akron. Payout figures for such games are hard to find, but my best guess is it’s in the $300,000 range. By comparison, Saint Francis gets in the $100,000 ballpark for high-profile men’s basketball road games at places such as Duke and Louisville.
Theoretically, Saint Francis would be eligible to play a game at Penn State starting next year, but that’s nowhere close to happening. It would be such a gigantic step up in competition and depth for SFU that there would be concerns of injuries for players from the small program.
In a decade or so, after getting experience playing many FBS opponents, Saint Francis could try to seek a game against PSU. Even then, I doubt it would happen, simply because Penn State football is a huge national brand that can play basically any program in the country, and it would be a hard sell even to diehard Lion fans bringing the team from Loretto over to play a game.
http://www.altoonamirror.com/sports/psu/2019/09/the-cupcake-business-scheduling-fcs-foes-all-about-the-benjamins/
Penn State embarrassed a really, really bad Idaho team Saturday, 79-7, and by this point, we all know why these kinds of games are played.
Big teams eat up the cupcake opponents, who in turn get tons of money to take back to their campus and use it to fund the rest of their athletic department.
That’s how the business of college sports works around the country, for better or worse.
But why, specifically, did Penn State play Idaho, an FCS opponent that might be the worst visiting team ever at Beaver Stadium? There’s an interesting back story, and I’ll get to it in a bit.
Staying close to home, I was asked this by a half-dozen people over the past couple of days: If PSU is going to play Idaho and pay that school a whopping $1.45 million for the game, why can’t the Lions throw a bone to Saint Francis and schedule a game against the FCS program from Loretto?
The long and short of it is that Saint Francis just recently got its football program up to the 45 scholarship and 56.7 equivalency limit. So, beginning next season, the Red Flash can start playing FBS opponents — and getting some big paydays for doing so.
The Flash play at Buffalo next season, and in the coming years will have games at Eastern Michigan and Akron. Payout figures for such games are hard to find, but my best guess is it’s in the $300,000 range. By comparison, Saint Francis gets in the $100,000 ballpark for high-profile men’s basketball road games at places such as Duke and Louisville.
Theoretically, Saint Francis would be eligible to play a game at Penn State starting next year, but that’s nowhere close to happening. It would be such a gigantic step up in competition and depth for SFU that there would be concerns of injuries for players from the small program.
In a decade or so, after getting experience playing many FBS opponents, Saint Francis could try to seek a game against PSU. Even then, I doubt it would happen, simply because Penn State football is a huge national brand that can play basically any program in the country, and it would be a hard sell even to diehard Lion fans bringing the team from Loretto over to play a game.
http://www.altoonamirror.com/sports/psu/2019/09/the-cupcake-business-scheduling-fcs-foes-all-about-the-benjamins/