The Mountain West wins by adding NDSU Football

Here's why:

#1 STRONG NDSU FINANCIALS

Below is football data compiled from NCAA Financial Report data comparing NDSU to MW football members.

• NCAA FINANCIAL REPORTS for UNLV, SDSU, BSU, and AFA were unavailable.
  Please contact me if you have a 2018 or 2019 copy for one of those schools (CLICK HERE)
• Below is a mix of 2018/2019 data using 2018 when possible.
• Used other sources if necessary.
• Source links in site footer.

2018 Football Revenue (level playing field)

- If NDSU had received average MW distributions, conference bowl revenue, and guarantees:

1 - revenue level playing field

2018 Football Ticket Sales

2- ticket football sales

2018 Athletic Department's Royalties, Licensing, and Sponsorship Revenue:

(Obviously heavily influenced by football, although basketball can play a large roll e.g. New Mexico)

3 - royalties

2018 Football / Athletic Department Private Contributions:

(Many schools have large unallocated athletic budgets influenced by football)

4- private contributions

#2 NATIONAL NDSU BRAND

NDSU would bring more eyeballs to the Mountain West than any other team if Boise State were to leave.

Google Search Traffic (last 5 years)

5 - google search traffic

College GameDay Appearances (Since 2009):

6 - gameday

#3 NDSU IS COMPETITIVE

According to the 2019 Sagarin and Massey rankings NDSU would have been at the top of the MW.

2019 Sagarin Ratings

7 - sagarin

Current NFL players

9 - nfl players

#3 NDSU FACILITIES

NDSU already has G5 level facilities.

Stadium: Fargodome

Average Attendance:

This would be closer to 19,000 (max-capacity) for NDSU but of the 9 home games (6 is the MW average), NDSU was the severe favorite in several games so ticket sales suffered. You could expect a minimum of 19k+ for MW competition.

10 - average attendance

#5 Geography

• Similar culture
• Insignificant flight time difference
• Similar distances to other G5 conferences

MAP of MW with NDSU

Example flight times:

Fargo's Airport: <5min from Fargodome

If fly time is slightly more, the airport to stadium drive is not.

This website is NOT affiliated with NDSU, NDSU Athletics, The Mountain West Conference, any teams associated with the Mountain West Conference, nor any FCS team or conference who is sick of NDSU winning.