Villanova and expansion

[crambone]

Those of you who are mad that Nova is going to join the conference are really struggling to see the bigger picture. If Nova declines, in all likelyhood UCF will end up invited to our conference, which regaurdless of what any of you think, is bad for USF.

For that reason alone, i badly want nova to move up.

On top of that, this helps in a split. Theyll be our Duke or Northwestern.

Sums up my feelings exactly.  Great post, would read again.

[Knight_Light]

I keep hearing from those....that they would rather have UCF or Houston over Villanova.

Look I understand....Villanova is not a great football invite.....but then UCF is?!?

Don't recall many (if any) that said Villanova (or even UCF) would be a GREAT Football Invite...to its obvious that the 2 football programs you are trying to compare are not the same.

See below Villanova's 2009 Div I-AA Football Home Playoff Attendance results:

1st Round: 4,319

Quarter Finals: 2,661

Semi-Finals: 4,171

3 Playoff Game Home Average Attendance for Nova: 3,717

That's the program/team that many USF fans are clamoring for....

Heck...USF and UCF drew much larger crowds when they were back in their Div I-AA days vs what Nova is attracting today.

Nova does not have a Div I-A ready facility to play in and unlike the comparison to even UCONN (who had a "free" $90 Million off-campus stadium built in East Hartford that was paid entirely by the State of CT), Nova will not get a $90 Million gift from their state to build them a new football stadium anywhere.

[Guest nybullsfan]

Additionally football games would be scheduled for 7p.m. Saturday evening.

By doing so we incur off-peak traffic. This would allow for late afternoon

tailgating for visiting parents, fans and alumni but mitigate the impact on local

traffic conditions.

Page 32 included this little nugget talking about traffic mitigation.

Do they even follow Big East football?

The first line would have greater truth if it had read "would NOT be scheduled".

When I saw this, I had two thoughts:

- Nova will write it into their signing agreement - all home on-campus games at 7PM Sat, or

- They just killed any chance of a home stadium and will be stuck in the soccer park forever

[2000bull]

I keep hearing from those....that they would rather have UCF or Houston over Villanova.

Look I understand....Villanova is not a great football invite.....but then UCF is?!?

Don't recall many (if any) that said Villanova (or even UCF) would be a GREAT Football Invite...to its obvious that the 2 football programs you are trying to compare are not the same.

See below Villanova's 2009 Div I-AA Football Home Playoff Attendance results:

1st Round: 4,319

Quarter Finals: 2,661

Semi-Finals: 4,171

3 Playoff Game Home Average Attendance for Nova: 3,717

That's the program/team that many USF fans are clamoring for....

Heck...USF and UCF drew much larger crowds when they were back in their Div I-AA days vs what Nova is attracting today.

Nova does not have a Div I-A ready facility to play in and unlike the comparison to even UCONN (who had a "free" $90 Million off-campus stadium built in East Hartford that was paid entirely by the State of CT), Nova will not get a $90 Million gift from their state to build them a new football stadium anywhere.

i don't think anybody is clamoring for Nova. It's more like what's the better of the two evils. If anything, I'd say let Nova make the move up, if they want. If they don't, hold tight w/ 9. It's not like the BE should be in a rush to add ucf....it's not like they're going anywhere. You can add them anytime you want.  >

[Bullshutter]

I keep hearing from those....that they would rather have UCF or Houston over Villanova.

Look I understand....Villanova is not a great football invite.....but then UCF is?!?

Although those numbers are expected for their current level of play, I believe that there should be a spike in attendance with the BCS tag and the nearby Big East schools coming to play.  I wouldn't mind heading to Philly for a weekend to catch a game.

Also, I may be interpreting it wrong but there is an underlined sentence on page 15 that leads me to believe that attendance won't be a big corncern

[South_Florida_Flip]

Don't recall many (if any) that said Villanova (or even UCF) would be a GREAT Football Invite...to its obvious that the 2 football programs you are trying to compare are not the same.

See below Villanova's 2009 Div I-AA Football Home Playoff Attendance results:

1st Round: 4,319

Quarter Finals: 2,661

Semi-Finals: 4,171

3 Playoff Game Home Average Attendance for Nova: 3,717

That's the program/team that many USF fans are clamoring for....

Heck...USF and UCF drew much larger crowds when they were back in their Div I-AA days vs what Nova is attracting today.

Nova does not have a Div I-A ready facility to play in and unlike the comparison to even UCONN (who had a "free" $90 Million off-campus stadium built in East Hartford that was paid entirely by the State of CT), Nova will not get a $90 Million gift from their state to build them a new football stadium anywhere.

I just love how UCF fan is so quick to put the attendance card up. Nova's attendance will go up if they move to 1 A and have more desirable opponents to play.

UConn got their stadium after the Patriots decided not to build their new stadium in Hartford. While I agree Villanova won't get the state funding they have enough deep pockets to help them in their stadium if they decide to expand.

'Nova can play in the new MLS Stadium if need be and would be a nice little stadium for them to use while they decide if they will expand on campus.

[Knight_Light]

I keep hearing from those....that they would rather have UCF or Houston over Villanova.

Look I understand....Villanova is not a great football invite.....but then UCF is?!?

Although those numbers are expected for their current level of play...

Actually, Villanova isn't even close to the Top teams attendance wise in Div I-AA.

From 2009 Div I-AA Attendance Leaders:

Rank School G Attendance Average

1. Montana: 24,417

2. Appalachian St.:  24,004

3. Yale:  21,245

4. Delaware:  20,750

5. Old Dominion: 19,782

6. N.C. A&T: 17,219

7. South Carolina St.: 17,027

8. Ga. Southern: 16,728

9. North Dakota St.: 16,515

10. Jackson St.:  16,334

11. James Madison:  15,305

12. Liberty:  14,931

13. Tennessee St.:  14,462

14. Youngstown St.: 14,054

15. Southern U.:  13,817

16. Montana St.: 13,283

17. South Dakota St.: 13,265

18. Citadel: 13,029

19. UNI: 12,969

20. McNeese St.: 12,948

21. Florida A&M: 12,490

22. Texas St.: 12,488

23. Jacksonville St:  11,502

24. Ark.-Pine Bluff:  11,112

25. Stephen F. Austin:  11,111

26. Furman:  10,973

27. Norfolk St.: 10,950

28. Massachusetts:  10,887

29. Harvard:  10,701

30. Penn: 10,600

Remember, Philadelphia is the only city to EVER have its BCS Football Program "kicked out" because of terrible support (on the field and in the stands) yet some folks think Nova will suddenly draw fans when they haven't bothered to come out for games as of yet...and the much larger local school (Temple) was kicked out of the conf because of weak support.

[South_Florida_Flip]

UConn didn't have great support either before they moved up.

[Knight_Light]

UConn didn't have great support either before they moved up.

Actually, unlike Nova, UCONN was in the Top 15 in Div I-AA attendance during their last few years before moving up...as UCONN averaged 14,166 and 14,536 in their last 2 years playing in their small on-campus stadium in the Div I-AA level.

As noted above, UCONN got a "free" $90 Million stadium built in the Hartford area by the State...as that large metro area had ZERO major professional sports teams calling it "home" whereas Philly is a heavy professional sports town. (College sports on the far back-burner).

Nova has no room on their campus for a Div I-A football stadium nor do they have a $100 Million gift from the state waiting for them.

[South_Florida_Flip]

UConn knew they were moving up, hence why their attendance increased those past 2 seasons. When we played there in 2000 they couldn't have even been near 10,000 and we were their homecoming game.

Again, 'Nova has deep pocketed alums who will be willing to donate to the football program. State funding would be nice, but they can manage a move up to 1 A without it.

If the report is true and Villanova is indeed buying property in and around their stadium/campus, then you cannot say with 100% certainty that they wouldn't have room for an expanded stadium on campus.