This College Football Newsletter is Making a $1 Billion Economic Impact
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Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where our consultants have estimated that you reading this will result in $1 billion of economic impact. You and I won’t get that money, but someone somewhere out there will, maybe.
North Dakota State did not get a long runway as the newest FBS program. The Sacramento State Hornets have finally gotten their wish and are joining FBS and the Mid-American Conference. Sacramento State had made it clear for months that they intended to make the leap from the Big Sky (via a quick stopover as an FCS independent) to an FBS conference with the help of new money. SacState figured that would be the Pac-12. Instead, it’s the MAC.
This move will generate about a billion dollars, according to Sacramento State, in something called “economic impact.” We hope to see the math one day soon.
Sacramento State’s contract with the MAC is also very explicit that the move is for a five-year period. The Hornets may well expect to be in and out of the MAC by 2031. That departure could arise from any of these scenarios:
The Hornets, who are 330–414–8 all-time, are so successful in their short stint that they draw the attention of a more geographically sensible conference.
The MAC declines to renew SacState’s membership once the school stops paying for teams’ plane travel to California.
SacState gets tired of the geographic hassle of being in this conference.
The MAC ceases to exist in its current form and its teams get rolled into some new league with other Group of 6 and current FCS teams.
In these scenarios, the Hornets could just become FBS independents—which they’d be fine with, as compared to trying and failing to get a waiver to move up.
We love the MAC on this podcast but we have also pointed out its struggles as the tides have shifted against them in media rights, the transfer portal, and the coaching carousel. Just this week, Thomas Hammock left NIU (which is still technically in the MAC for a few more months, then goes to the Mountain West) for a Seahawks assistant job. Sacramento State’s football success isn’t necessarily tied to playoff opportunities, but not being eligible for the postseason for two out of the five years doesn’t inspire any additional confidence.
Here’s what Alex and Richard dropped into your podcast feeds this week.
Alex and Richard talk about the Sacramento State move in detail and also cover topics like how the NCAA thinks Diego Pavia’s case to keep playing college football technically could mean other players are entitled to an 18-year collegiate career.
Part 2 of the big offseason-opening mailbag dropped this week for subscribers. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. As a bonus, you get to listen to Alex and Richard react to the tail end of the Czechia-Canada men’s hockey game.
Some recommended reading and listening from our hosts:
At Hang Up and Listen over at Slate, Alex talked about the NBA’s tanking problem
Richard graded every new FBS head coach hire for CBS Sports.
Montana linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu is prepping for his (probably) final season. Because injuries have derailed his previous years, this is his ninth season in college football.
If you’re reading this on Friday, be on the lookout for a new YouTube video narrated by Richard. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you here next week. Here’s our YouTube.