I doubt anyone on this blog knows the costs of YSU going to FBS football. Also, YSU does not need to go to the MAC. A better fit would most likely be Conference USA (East). Non conference games could be with MAC teams, Akron, Kent, Toledo etc.
Yes and no. It's because there is no stated expenditure minimum other than the scholarship requirements for all sports, and those requirements that exist are not solely about football. Technically, YSU is close to meeting the requirements (see below), but that doesn't mean that it is a good idea. There are D-I FBS programs running all sports in the area of $15-20 million, but no one we would deem successful at a high level. The minimum expenditure in Conference USA is about $25 million, about twice what YSU spends and it is questionable whether YSU can afford to spend what it does now. It's one thing to get some big donors to donate to a campaign so that we can spend $25 million some season--it's another to sustain that campaign indefinitely and also match cost increases. Also, there remains the distinct possibility that the FBS could split in two, essentially making all but the Big Five a Super FCS.
Of course, you could start charging $50 to $75 a ticket for a football game, but if you started that next season, don't think our attendance numbers are going to suddenly swell. It will be the opposite.
The actual requirements for a D-I school to be in the FBS are as follows:
1. Sponsor a minimum of 16 varsity intercollegiate sports, including football, based on the
minimum sports sponsorship and scheduling requirements set forth in Bylaw 20.
Sponsorship shall include a minimum six sports involving all male teams or mixed teams
(males and females), and a minimum of eight varsity intercollegiate teams involving all
female teams. Institutions may use up to two emerging sports to satisfy the required eight
varsity intercollegiate sports involving all female teams. [Bylaw 20.9.9.1]
2. Schedule and play at least 60 percent of its football contests against members of Football
Bowl Subdivision. Institutions shall schedule and play at least five regular season home
contests against FBS opponents. [Bylaw 20.9.9.2]
3. Average at least 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all home football contests over a
rolling two-year period. [Bylaw 20.9.9.3]
4. Provide an average of at least 90 percent of the permissible maximum number of overall
football grants-in-aid per year over a rolling two-year period. [Bylaw 20.9.9.4-(a)]
5. Annually offer a minimum of 200 athletics grants-in-aid or expend at least four million
dollars on grants-in-aid to student-athletes in athletics programs. [Bylaw 20.9.9.4-(b)]
You can read more at
https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Football%2BBowl%2BSubqa%2B12%2B8%2B10.pdfMy feeling. Let's do the best we can and enjoy it. No sense jeopardizing the financial state of the university to be something we aren't ready to be. If some works out a manageable solution, great. If they don't, I'll still be attending football games anyways. I even come in the rain and snow.