Big leagues in 49ers' future?

[BDKJMU]

Interesting article on UNCC possibly starting I-AA play in 2012, and moving up to I-A as soon as possible after that:
http://www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking/story/464640.html

[KiddBrewer]

:) Its going to be so fun whooping their tail all the time!:) and the best part of it is, their fans will expect to beat us in year 1.

[neersnbeers]

Not to sure about the swiftness of FCS >> BCS in this market. Tough to recruit ACC,SEC,BigSo,CUSA,SOCON etc sharing the market. I guess enough politics can make anything happen. Granted Charlotte is a city currently under leaps and bounds, just sounds like a "perfect world" idea to me.

[Touchdown Yosef]

Not to sure about the swiftness of FCS >> BCS in this market. Tough to recruit ACC,SEC,BigSo,CUSA,SOCON etc sharing the market. I guess enough politics can make anything happen. Granted Charlotte is a city currently under leaps and bounds, just sounds like a "perfect world" idea to me.

I don't know how much realism was taken into account when doing this study other than we want football so we better make this sound really good. I think if Charlotte wants to move that quickly and be relavent they need to break the bank on a coach and facilities.

The one thing that UNCC does have going for it is it's growth. North Carolina is expecting almost 80,000 new students above its current level into the UNC system over the next several years and UNCC is poised to take on the bulk of that growth. App can only grow so fast and Chapel HIll and NC State don't want to get any bigger. ECU has offered to grow some but UNCC has offered to take as many students as they can possibly get. This growth may bode well for their hopes of football. It will be interesting to see who will want to play there and coach there with no program now in existance and such bold growth plans.

[Fresno St. Alum]

Charlotte was in the C-USA before and they hope that adding football and jumping asap to the FBS will get them back in the C-USA. Key is a spot needs to open for them to get in. The Belt would take them.

Would the CAA take them for FB during the FCS years to put them at a even 14? The Big South could always use bodies

[Monarch History]

Interesting article on UNCC possibly starting I-AA play in 2012, and moving up to I-A as soon as possible after that:
http://www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking/story/464640.html

I think the key phrase in that statement is "as soon as possible". That could be 10+ years.

[BDKJMU]

I think the key phrase in that statement is "as soon as possible". That could be 10+ years.

It sounds like they want to be another USF, with I-AA a short pit stop for a few years while on the way to I-A.

[henfan]

Good luck to Charlotte finding a conference in the FCS or FBS. Hope they're enjoying the A-10. xlolx

[neersnbeers]

Good luck to Charlotte finding a conference in the FCS or FBS. Hope they're enjoying the A-10. xlolx

Thats just it. Finding a Conf Comm. that is willing to make the arrangements to "sqeeze in" new program to create asap FBS feasibility. Just don't see it happening in a solid Conf. .............But who knows......

[furman94]

Wow! Aren't they just special! If they join the Socon, I confidently say that they will get beat, year in an year out.

[asufan87]

Wow! Aren't they just special! If they join the Socon, I confidently say that they will get beat, year in an year out.

That's a mighty bold statement coming from the fan of a program that got beat by a new program (CCU).

[furman94]

Hey, That team went to the Playoffs! Don't be so arrogant Mr. My team is the best in the Universe! ASU's reign will come to an end, soon. All I was saying is that a University with no FB program whatsoever, they have mighty high expectations! Lay off FU!

[asufan87]

I'm simply stating a fact and it proves that programs in their infancy CAN become competitive in a very short time. As CCU proved, they don't even have to be in the Socon to become competitive against Socon programs.

And nowhere did I make any mention of ASU or gloat in any way so stick to the topic.

[Seawolf97]

Not to sure about the swiftness of FCS >> BCS in this market. Tough to recruit ACC,SEC,BigSo,CUSA,SOCON etc sharing the market. I guess enough politics can make anything happen. Granted Charlotte is a city currently under leaps and bounds, just sounds like a "perfect world" idea to me.

Have to agree. Probably the best they could hope for is Confrence USA -maybe. The Elite conferences - ACC, SEC and Big East arent going to touch them for long time.xcoffeex

[Touchdown Yosef]

anyone know what Charlotte's plans for a stadium would be? Would they convert the soccer stadium or build from scratch, I know they have a bunch of land.

[henfan]

SoCon officials have already gone on record stating they wouldn't be interested in borrowing for a couple of years a FB affiliate whose intent would be reclassification. The CAA wouldn't have interest either. In terms of geographically feasible conferences, that leaves the Big South. If UNCC is intent on taking the USF path, they'll go the FCS indy route and then try to find an appropriate all-sport affiliation. I suppose they could jump into the FBS as a FB independent but there's not a lot of stability in making a move like that. Good luck getting home games.

UNCC may have already set themselves back a few years by announcing unreasonably ambitious intentions out of the gate. Live and learn.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

Charlotte was in the C-USA before and they hope that adding football and jumping asap to the FBS will get them back in the C-USA. Key is a spot needs to open for them to get in. The Belt would take them.

Would the CAA take them for FB during the FCS years to put them at a even 14? The Big South could always use bodies

Adding football is a big step in getting them into the BCS. Charlotte is a great market. You have to figure that if they are successful with a program launch and participating as an independent, the Big East will set eyes on them. It wouldn't be a stretch to think 10 years from now, that the big East would look like:

Uconn
Syracuse
Rutgers
Pitt
WVU
Cincinnati
Louisville
USF
Memphis
Charlotte



I agree though. Lot of work for the 49ers. Best of luck.

[Appstate29]

UNC-C Fans suffer from the most severe case of what I call "Georgia Southern" delusions (if they keep it up I'm going to have have to change it to UNC-C delusions) Charlotte is at best 5th favorite in their own city in basketball, and even if they have football, they'd probably be about 15th favorite (UNC,NCSU,UT,South Carolina,Clemson,ASU,ECU,UGA,Wake,UVA, Bama, UF,VaTech) ect. ect. They will be better than Duke though.

[Touchdown Yosef]

UNC-C Fans suffer from the most severe case of what I call "Georgia Southern" delusions (if they keep it up I'm going to have have to change it to UNC-C delusions) Charlotte is at best 5th favorite in their own city in basketball, and even if they have football, they'd probably be about 15th favorite (UNC,NCSU,UT,South Carolina,Clemson,ASU,ECU,UGA,Wake,UVA, Bama, UF,VaTech) ect. ect. They will be better than Duke though.

So I guess the consultant should've focused on what to do to make them relavent in their own city. Being fair of course every school not named Duke, UNC, NCSU, or Wake struggles with this in North Carolina.

[yosef1969]

UNC-C Fans suffer from the most severe case of what I call "Georgia Southern" delusions (if they keep it up I'm going to have have to change it to UNC-C delusions) Charlotte is at best 5th favorite in their own city in basketball, and even if they have football, they'd probably be about 15th favorite (UNC,NCSU,UT,South Carolina,Clemson,ASU,ECU,UGA,Wake,UVA, Bama, UF,VaTech) ect. ect. They will be better than Duke though.

They will have to go independent in FCS for a couple of years but
I don't think it's crazy at all for Charlotte to think they have a shot at the big east. That conference will realign at some point and no conference has captured the Charlotte TV market. The current footprint stretches from Morgantown to Tampa with nothing in between, Charlotte could be a first step in bridging that gap.

[Fresno St. Alum]

So would Charlotte be a better grab for the BE than ECU who's been around and plays solid FB?

[ERASU2113]

anyone know what Charlotte's plans for a stadium would be? Would they convert the soccer stadium or build from scratch, I know they have a bunch of land.

Why build one when you have Bank of America in downtown?

[Touchdown Yosef]

Jerry Richardson is pretty protective of that stadium and my guess would be that the cost of using it would mean they were going to lose money on every home game. It will be interesting.

[DLS]

i think the plan is to put the new stadium on the baseball field. that school has been in desperate need of a team for a while. Cant wait to kill some niners.

[Rowdy]

Why build one when you have Bank of America in downtown?

Memorial Stadium, probably around 20,000 seats, would be ideal. It's in downtown Charlotte some 15 miles from their campus, but should satisfy their needs for 20-30-maybe 40 years, until they get their fan base built up.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

So would Charlotte be a better grab for the BE than ECU who's been around and plays solid FB?

Simply put...YES

[Fresno St. Alum]

Charlotte vs UCF for a spot in the BE who gets it?

I think Memphis will be at the top for them if they ever split

[Dane96]

Guys, I think UCF, Charloote, Memphis, and another (maybe ECU) eventually ALL get into the BIG EAST FOOTBALL if that expansion ever occurred.

Why? Conference title game=Big Bucks! Go to 12...get your title game.

This is why I think the Big East hoop schools will eventually go their own way...and Big East football is called whatever it will be called.

Too much money on the table for the Big East Football schools NOT to grab.

[Fresno St. Alum]

I thought they might too, but a lot of people on the NCAABBS board they were saying if a split happened that the BE would only take one, that way they don't have to the $$ pie up 12 ways just 9 more for each school.

I think they key is if they get 12 would a tv & championship game deal be worth more per school then just having 9 members & a tv deal.

[catdaddy2402]

Wow! Aren't they just special! If they join the Socon, I confidently say that they will get beat, year in an year out.
No worries...they aren't a small private school so the Socon wouldn't touch them.
xlolx

[furman94]

Hey now! FU and Wofford have proved that Small and Private means nothing!

[Fresno St. Alum]

did you say small privates?

[furman94]

Haha! I thought the same thing after I reread my post!