Why is North Texas better in the Sun Belt Conference instead of moving to the WAC? There has been a lot of internet rumors about North Texas and a possible WAC move. A check with a source close to the North Texas program gave some insight to the rumor mill.

It is more than just a perceived notion the WAC is better than the Sun Belt, it has a lot to offer any new member and has several things better than the Sun Belt. However, it does not appear to offer what North Texas is looking for. This is not knocking the WAC or its schools in anyway or putting it down.  This is about North Texas and the reasons they stay in the Sun Belt instead of moving to the WAC.

Look at the WAC, they have LaTech, San Jose State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Utah State and New Mexico State. Presently they have five bowl tie-ins, Emerald Bowl in San Francisco (WAC vs. Pac 10), New Mexico Bowl (WAC vs. MWC), Poinsettia Bowl (WAC vs. MWC), Hawaii Bowl (WAC vs. CUSA) and Humanitarian Bowl (WAC vs. MAC).

The conference has a great bowl record. When Boise State was in the conference the WAC was fourth in All-Time Bowl winning percentage with a bowl record of 36-33-2 for a .521% bowl winning percentage. The SEC is first with .533% bowl wins, the Pac-10 has .526% bowl wins and the ACC is third with a .524% bowl wins.   

The 2008 revenue sharing for the WAC was $10,434,348 with the Sun Belt coming in with $9,397,222.

Last year the BCS bowl distribution money to the five non-AQ conferences was broken down this way. The Mountain West received $9.8 million, Western Athletic-$7.8 million, Conference USA-$2.8 million, Mid-American-$2.1 million and the Sun Belt-$1.5 million. The money to the MWC and WAC was a result of TCU and Boise State playing in a BCS Bowl. With Boise now in the MWC, this distribution will be different in the future.

According to our source, North Texas does not have to wait for the WAC to invite them into the conference because the WAC has an open invitation for North Texas to join. When the WAC offered North Texas back in 2004 and North Texas decided to stay put in the Sun Belt, the WAC Commissioner stated UNT had an open invitation to join their conference. Anytime UNT wants to join the WAC all they have to do is pick up the phone. (Of course, back then UNT was cleaning everyone’s clock in the Sun Belt and maybe the open invitation has changed but that is doubted.)  

So why did North Texas not join the WAC back then and would they join today? Really, the answer is sort of complicated but simple. Why North Texas did not join then and why they probably will not join now is for the same reasons. It seems the thing the North Texas Athletic Department is most concerned about are the fans then the money. It all boils down to building fan support, building rivalries, cost savings and team support.

Again, the WAC is a fine conference with fine teams, traditions and fans. What is about to be pointed out concerning the WAC can be said about the Sun Belt and their teams if the Sun Belt offered to a team from out West. So please keep everything in context.

The inherit problem for North Texas to join the WAC comes from the fact that LaTech, San Jose State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico do not travel well and they are not in close proximity to North Texas. This means they do not help fill the opponents stadium. Basically, only the home team fans fills their stadiums. Putting fans in an opponents stands come from two sources. They either bring their fans to the game or they are a highly anticipated opponent causing the home fans show up. (Look at baseball. The N.Y Yankees fill stadiums not only with their fans but the local team fans who show up cheering on their team to beat the Yankees.)  

With the exception of LaTech, there is no natural rivalry in the WAC for North Texas. The distances between the teams make it hard for North Texas to build possible rivalries within the WAC. There is no ‘I hate that team’ because of this reason or that reason. There is no one showing up to the games to 'boo' the opponents. As previously mentioned, the big part of the problem is the distance between the schools causing each team to exist in its own bubble and there is little reaction between the teams and their fans. 

For example; Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State etc. fans inter-reaction on a daily basis and that builds excitement. Those encounters with fans wearing opposing colors in malls, shopping centers, discount stores or anywhere else brings out an emotion that states ‘wait till next season and we are going to beat your tails.’ That type of emotional response is hard to get with teams spread out so far.

Look at TCU. They’ve had great football teams lately, but still have problems filling up their stadium. While they have good fan support from opposing teams, the schools are still too far apart for many fans to have daily contact or to make the trip to Fort Worth.     

True, North Texas might be able to grow a rivalry with LaTech but what about the remaining WAC schools? North Texas would have only one school in the WAC’s present form to build a possible rivalry. (Building a rivalry with LaTech could be done staying in the Sun Belt and scheduling the Bulldogs as an out of conference opponent, but don’t look for that to happen because the OOC games are money games for North Texas.)

There can be arguments both ways about whether the present WAC has better teams than the Sun Belt. For sake of argument let’s give a slight nod to the WAC. After that question comes the ones that matter the most to the North Texas Administration. While the thought is North Texas fans would have gone to the stadium to see Boise State play the question is which WAC teams would bring fans to Denton now? What present team in the WAC would bring out more North Texas Fans to Fouts Field? Which present teams in the WAC would North Texas Fans travel to go see? Which teams would bring in the walk-up football fans because they want to see the WAC teams play? Which team in the WAC would North Texas fans hate the most and purchase a ticket to see them play and cheer for North Texas to beat them?

Now, look at the Sun Belt line-up. Look at attendance at the games and ask the question would more fans come out to see the WAC team’s play or would it be about the same as the Sun Belt teams? If you feel the answer is 'yes, more fans would come out to see the WAC teams play, then the next question is; 'Would there be enough of an increase in fan support to overcome the cost of non-revenue sports travel? One way to answer this question is to determine how many tickets are sold to away games by each team in the WAC. Since most teams are close to each other in the WAC, except for LaTech, how many tickets are bought for the WAC traveling teams when they play against the Bulldogs? This would answer about how many tickets would be sold when they traveled to Denton. If there is an increase in attendance for the WAC teams then would the revenues generated overcome the traveling cost of the non-revenue sports? It appears the administration feels the answer back then and now is no. If North Texas would not join the WAC when Boise State was in it, why would they join it without Boise State? In other words, Athletic Director Rick Villarreal and his staff are doing their due diligence and feel it would actually cost the athletic department funds to join the WAC even if some fans feel it maybe a step upward.    

Much can be said about the Sun Belt Conference line-up (Middle Tennessee State, University of Louisiana-Monroe, Florida International, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Troy, Denver, South Alabama and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock) versus the WAC line-up card. The thing that sticks out about the Sun Belt Conference is almost all the games are within easy reach of North Texas fans. 

Much like the WAC, there is not a lot of excitement about other teams in the Sun Belt to get fans in a frenzy and show up to Fouts Field. Similarly, there is not a lot of fan support from the other teams in the Sun Belt to help fill up the stadium. 

With that in mind, the travel costs to the Athletic Department to the Sun Belt games are a lot less then the travel costs to the WAC schools. Even though this year there is BCS money available in the WAC because of Boise State being in a BCS bowl, will there be more possible BCS money in the future without Boise State? Which teams in the WAC can be the next BCS buster? The administration has to consider the BCS money as a temporary influx of funds which may occur occasionally or may not happen again. So they have to make a decision on solid information and that information is the regular revenue sharing. The WAC had the $10,434,348 divided among their members while the Sun Belt had $9,397,222 divided among their members, so there isn’t enough regular revenue sharing to overcome North Texas travel costs to face WAC schools.

As for building rivalries, at one time the most hated team in the Sun Belt was North Texas. With their winning ways, everyone in the conference was gunning for the Mean Green Eagles. Every team and fan in the conference looked to the North Texas game because they wanted to beat the best. The excitement was building in the conference.

Once a hole in the tire deflated North Texas’ winning ways, they now have become the green slime and irrelevant in conference football. Even the Green Slime available in most discount stores has not been able to plug the holes in the North Texas football team. So right now there are no other teams in the Sun Belt Conference which all conference fans love to hate, who they want to see lose, and for whom they would be willing to travel and cheer for their team to beat the ‘hated’ opponent. There is no dominant football team in the conference. As a result there is no fan excitement and that means no media excitement either. The feeling is the present WAC line-up would not offer much more excitement as the Sun Belt line-up.

Even with the WAC having more money, there are eight distinct differences that make the Sun Belt a better choice for North Texas.

Difference one; North Texas fans can travel to almost all their Sun Belt conference away games. As a member in the WAC they would only be able to travel easily to LaTech and maybe New Mexico. Fan support is so important to the North Texas football, basketball etc teams, when they travel to opposing stadiums and see the sea of green, they play better. So the administration wants as many fans to be at away games as they can get. The best choice is the Sun Belt.

Difference two; With the Sun Belt teams closer to each other, there is a better chance North Texas will be able to build rivalries. Rivalries are one part of filling up stadiums. Right now there are no colorful coaches in the Sun Belt to spur the rivalries on. Every coach appears to be a gentlemen and not sticking their necks out with bold predictions to get the fans excited. There is no dominating team in the Sun Belt to hate. Once there is a spark between coaches or a dominate team emerges, rivalries will ignite and the fans will come out to fuel the flames. Even if this should happen in the WAC, the distance would prevent fans from coming out to boost the excitement. Excitement would be easier to grow in the Sun Belt. (A personal feeling about this, the media fans the flames of rivalries by what they print about a coach or another team. The Sun Belt and the WAC have poor media coverage and therefore some sparks never ignite the flames of rivalries. The internet is helping to overcome this.)

Difference three, the Sun Belt is more fan friendly for North Texas. The fans are able to travel to more away games in the Sun Belt Conference than they could in the WAC. Bringing fans to away games is a big factor in bowl scenarios. Having 100 North Texas fans showing up at Hawaii, San Jose State, Fresno State etc is not as impressive as 1,000 fans showing up at Troy, Arkansas State, ULL, ULM etc. Really. North Texas needs to bring about 5,000 fans to all away games to get noticed in the bowl world and bigger conferences. That is more likely to happen in the Sun Belt as opposed to the WAC.

Difference four; Teams in the Sun Belt will bring more fans to Denton than the WAC would. The result is more fans in the stands. It also means more money to the football program, vendors, motels, local restaurants, night clubs and other businesses. They start seeing the money come in from the opposing team's fans and they will be more supportive of the North Texas program.

Difference five; Time zone difference and the effect on the team, fans and national network coverage. Traveling to the east to play Sun Belt schools are more likely to get mentioned in the local and eastern newspapers as well as the national television and radio media. Playing out west, the games are too late. While the eastern press is in printing production the games are still going on out west so they are not mentioned in eastern newspapers on Sunday morning. Many of the national television shows are over with so there will be no mention of the final score in their shows. True, the scores get shown at the bottom of the television screens on Sunday morning but there is no talk about the game on the network shows. There is no recap or highlights. You need that in the football world. Getting mentioned in the eastern media helps affect a team’s rankings and helps put them in better position for a better bowl. In order to get the national media attention, games out west will have to be played before three P.M. Most college fans like a night venue. There has always been a complaint by the PAC-10 schools about the media having an eastern bias. This is the reason for it. Face it, when the games out west are over, the Eastern sportscasters, writers etc are sleeping. It’s the nature of the beast.

Difference six; The cost of non-revenue sports is so drastic it becomes cost prohibitive to travel out west. While it is true the WAC did get more money from the BCS this year, when you divide the money up between conference members the money to each school is not as great as some fans may think. The extra money could easily be used up in a year or two on travel costs of non-revenue sports and Title IX sports. The BCS money is a hit and miss proposition and only comes in when a member of the conference gets into a BCS bowl. It can’t be counted on as regular incoming in a non-AQ conference. Look at the WAC and the Sun Belt and name the team from either conference which now has the best chance of getting a BCS bid to bring in the BCS money.

Difference seven; Players grades can suffer because they may not get back to Denton until five or six in the morning after playing an away game. In addition, at times, they would have to leave Denton a day early to get to the game site and could miss classes or tutor lessons. The players are students and are at North Texas to get a degree, not just to play football or other sports.

Difference eight; North Texas fans would have to stay overnight when playing almost all the teams in the WAC or have same day round trip airline tickets. In addition a lot of businesses would not favor their employees missing so many work days to see North Texas play. In the Sun Belt, fans can drive to and from many games in the same day.

So, what if the Mountain West Conference came calling? The MWC has almost the same problem as the WAC with travel, media attention, fan support, television coverage and so on.  Would the differences still hold water and would North Texas refuse to apply for admission? The answer is they would look heavily into applying for admission because there are so many other advantages going to the MWC over the WAC. While the problems with the time zone, eastern media coverage, traveling for the team and fans, and concerns about player’s academics would still exist, there would be several added benefits which would overcome those obstacles.

What North Texas fan or any football fan in the Denton/Dallas/FW area would not want to see a home game against TCU, BYU, Boise State, Utah, Air Force and Colorado State? There would be interest in San Diego State, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming. Almost all the MWC schools have some established fan base in the Denton/Dallas/Fort Worth area which would have them show up for the games. This is true of the WAC teams but the alumni base of the MWC teams is bigger. With bigger fan bases in the area more fans in the stands, more revenues streams and more excitement. The MWC is a higher profile conference than the WAC.

There is a bigger revenue sharing check in the MWC and the possibility of earning an auto-BCS bid. The added revenues would put a big dent in the cost of non-revenue sports. There are better bowls, more exposure and more media attention.  

What if Conference-USA made a bid for North Texas? No question, North Texas would make a jump. North Texas could build rivalries with SMU, Rice, Houston, Southern Miss, Memphis, Tulane and Tulsa because of the proximity to each of those schools. In addition, traveling to UAB, East Carolina, Central Florida would be easier than most of the WAC or MWC schools. The long distance schools would be Marshall and UTEP and they are still closer than most of the WAC or MWC schools. (True, UTEP is further west than Denver.) The travel costs of non-revenue sports would be less in CUSA versus the MWC or the WAC.  As it stands today, even though the MWC would have bigger revenue sharing checks than CUSA, the bigger paydays from the MWC would be eaten up by the travel costs and it is believed that in the end the net income from either conference would be the same.

As it stands today, if the CUSA and MWC offered right now, the first choice would be CUSA. If the MWC earned an auto-BCS bid and an offer extended, things would be different because of the stable BCS funds coming. Since there is no MWC play at this time, there is no reason to conjecture about what might happen.

While most North Texas fans think an invite to CUSA is not possible, that is not true. North Texas is on their short list. For example, the Alabama Board of Trustees has been on UAB for years concerning their home attendance and threatening to pull funding if it does not improve. In 2009 home attendance was 17,987, in 2008 it was 19,062, 2007 it was 16,706, 2006 it was 23,139 and 2005 it was 20,101. Here are the top ten drawing games for UAB at Legion Field. 1. Southern Miss (2003) 44,669; 2. Mississippi State (2006) 36,104; 3. TCU (2004) 33,280; 4 Troy (2006) 32,818; 5 Virginia Tech (1998) 31,897; 6 Southern Miss (2005) 31,363; 7 Kansas (1998) 30,543; 8 Houston (1999) 28,573; 9 Memphis (2004) 27,192 and 10 Alabama State (2008) 26,414

The Board of Trustees is loaded with Auburn and Alabama fans who would love to see UAB go away for the tax savings. Their concern is that the State of Alabama, with a population of 4.7 million people, cannot fund four FBS football programs. 

UAB played in Legion Field for years without paying rent. That has ended putting an additional financial burden on the Athletic Department.   

A study panel several years ago at Tulane recommended it drop from 1-A to 1-AA for cost savings, but some money boosters put the money up to keep them at the 1-A level. However, will they keep doing it if Tulane keeps losing games and the economy keeps struggling?

Houston, East Carolina, Memphis and Central Florida are actively pursuing ways out of the conference hoping to get into a BCS conference. So there are some possibilities for North Texas to get in CUSA because of what is going on in the conference and they are one of the few schools that fit the CUSA footprint.

Should North Texas go to the WAC and jump to another conference if it opens up? The answer is no for the reasons stated above. Its better to stay in the Sun Belt and help build it up.

While it is true football is driving realignment, North Texas has to consider what is best for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Closer opponents generally bring in more fans to the Super Pit and the closest schools are in the Sun Belt.

For right now, it is better for North Texas to stay in the Sun Belt for money reasons, fan friendliness, and building rivalries among other reasons.  

There are some who feel the WAC without Boise State is the Sun Belt with snow. If that is true, there is no reason to jump to the WAC and take on more expenses for the Athletic Department.

The administration feels the WAC is a solid conference, maybe more solid then CUSA. however, when looking for what is best for North Texas, the answer is staying in the Sun Belt is the sound choice and the best one for North Texas. They are not saying the Sun Belt is better than the WAC, they are saying right now the Sun Belt just happens to be better for North Texas.

As for North Texas talking to CUSA, WAC, MWC, Big 12 etc. we only could get is all universities talk to each conference member, the conference as a whole, as well as other conferences concerning scenarios and what ifs. It does not mean anything will happen. For which conference North Texas talked to the answer was referred back to the first sentence in this paragraph.

A lot of the talk is informal. For example, two weeks ago Villarreal was at the NCAA Headquarters for a week doing his assigned duties with schools from around the nation and in different conferences. It was right in the middle of the Big 12 shake-up, you know there was talk going on about the changes. It does not mean talking to other conferences is a sign a team will jump to another conference or even be offered. It only means an athletic director is doing their due diligence to place his school in the best situation in case an opportunity arises.