Next CAA school to start football?

[Very Short President]

So with ODU starting football in the next couple years, and GSU getting the million-dollar ball rolling, who is the next CAA school to start a D1 football program? Or will none of them ever play us on the gridiron?

Drexel
With their small student population and plenty of college teams in the Philly area, they seem to not be exploring this road. Can Philly support multiple FCS teams?

George Mason
Have seen possible future campus maps that include a football stadium on the outskirts. They already field a club team that plays D-3 and D-2. But their admin is not so gung-ho on it, publicly at least.

UNC Wilmington
Have seen student opinion stories in their newspaper about starting football. Decent sized school in a decent sized area with plenty of space for a stadium. However they have the lowest athletic budget in the CAA.

Virginia Commonwealth
Where would they put a new stadium!? It has been pulling teeth for Univ. of Richmond to build a tiny track/football complex on campus. Like Drexel, can Richmond support multiple FCS teams?

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

Ummmmmm... No, No, No and No! :)

Time will tell. I think none of those schools really want / can afford football. ODU is a bit different than those schools. VCU might be able to take over old City Stadium after UR moves back on campus, and GMU has the size - they just need the leadership.

CAA, like the MVC, is a basketball conference that plays football for kicks. I am a football fan, so this is truly hard for me to accept, but those schools know they get a lot of money from basketball and have lightyears to go to catch the rest of the CAA schools in football. That's a big hole to fill with lots of cash.

[Tribe4SF]

Once ODU and Ga. St. are on the field, football will become the big kid in CAA. I think both Maon and UNCW will continue to look at it.

[89Hen]

The best chance has to be Mason. They are VERY similar to GaSt in many ways and if they see GaSt do it, they may also. They do have a club team just like GaSt did/does.

[Old Cage]

MaineJeff keeps hoping here that the Black Bears will field a team one of these years.

[The Historian]

Drexel had a program, but they dropped in the early 70's.

[Monarch Nation]

I had to vote the "none of the above" option. While GMU looks to be the most likely, their leadership apparently doesn't want to play football beyond the club level. Some of their posters seem to really want it, and some really don't. I know that at ODU, our checkbooks are getting what seems to be a two-a-day workout, and we're just under 2 years away from kickoff.

Personally, I'd like to see all the CAA members play football; it would be the beginning of an all-sports league.

[RadMann]

Proof of a Drexel team (from a pic from a game with UD back in the leather helmet days)....

http://www.udel.edu/sportsinfo/hall_of_fame/1999/images/buckthompson.jpg

[bkrownd]

Drexel has varsity lacrosse, so football is very doubtful.