That television number is believed to be around $1 million each, a source said, with the total conference payout at least double that.Ĭould the Sun Belt expand even further? Gill didn’t rule it out when asked, but he also downplayed anything serious. Other sources in the league said that television revenue increase will essentially keep each school whole at last year’s number while splitting the pie 14 ways instead of 10 or 12 before. Gill announced that the league’s ESPN contract through 2030-31 would expand and add financial resources with more football and basketball games on linear TV (a specific number wasn’t given), plus more than 6,000 non-revenue sports games on ESPN+, including more than 1,000 baseball and softball games each. And there is a television value boost for the Sun Belt. This is way above my pay grade, but how many fans from USC will travel to Rutgers? How many UCLA fans will travel to West Lafayette? … We’re three hours from (almost everyone in our division).”įalling attendance and the increased television value of football have driven most of the realignment across the country. “That’s what big-time college football is about. “Our fans will travel to Huntington, our fans will travel to James Madison,” App State head coach Shawn Clark said. At a time when attendance is dropping nationally - at its lowest since 1981 - the Sun Belt will almost certainly have an increase again this fall. The Sun Belt was one of only three FBS leagues to see an increase in attendance from 2019 to 2021, according to CBS Sports. Georgia Southern is nearing a record despite coming off a 3-9 season. Southern Miss could sell its most in a decade. Troy is nearing a school record in season tickets. Along with easier travel, App State sold out of its nearly 11,000 football season tickets. And the quality of football, we’ve got really good winning traditions in our mix now with passionate fan bases.” Folks will play teams they have a history with. Gill, the first Black commissioner in FBS history when he took the job in 2019, received a contract extension through 2030 earlier this week. Commissioner’s Keith Gill’s approval rating basically doubled from a year ago. In The Athletic’s Group of 5 reader survey earlier this month, 73 percent of the more than 400 Sun Belt fans who voted rated the league’s new membership as a five out of five. … to a game that was played annually from 1977-96 - and will be again with Marshall joining App State in the Sun Belt's East Division. Southern Miss is within driving distance of several new conference-mates in the states of Louisiana and Alabama. So are App State-James Madison and JMU-Old Dominion. The Appalachian State-Marshall rivalry is back. The Sun Belt, on the other hand, doubled down on regional ties, with programs that mostly have a strong football history. The Big 12 and American Athletic Conference backfilled with the best available competitive or financial options, expanding their geographic base. The SEC and Big Ten expanded with major brands. Non-football members UT-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock have already departed. Marshall, Southern Miss and Old Dominion have joined from Conference USA for the 2022 season, and James Madison moved up from the FCS level, giving the SBC 14 members. The Sun Belt was one of the last FBS conferences to be impacted by conference realignment last year, but it was the first to implement it. Instead, there was a lot of excitement over how much they hated each other - in a good way - and a belief that this could become the strongest Group of 5 conference.
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