Question to CWU

[Tech Boys]

Did your AD do an interview on the local sports radio show in the last week? And what did he say about CWU going D1? I can't find anything.

A poster on the realignment board, not the usual suspect, says this.

Central Washington AD recently made comments about looking at D1 after dropping lots of money into renovations of facilities and growing their athletic department while drowning in a 3 team GNAC league and Western Washington has very anti athletics leadership currently.

[IronOre]

Everyone seems to forget that the GNAC is doing okay in all other sports. It's just football that's the problem.

[Tech Boys]

Here's a link someone posted. This is from December 2020 so it would not be the interview that poster claims he is referencing.

https://www.dailyrecordnews.com/spor...8a367535e.html

[tsull]

There is a very extensive story in the Spokane newspaper The Inlander, on Washington State University's athletics budget woes. They are soon to be $120 million in athletic debt. Also, Eastern Washington is upwards of $13 million in athletic debt. I don't think the state of Washington needs another Division one debt running university, which it would be in Ellensburg, no question about it. Any financial gains made by playing body bag contests is funneled right back into coaching salaries and expensive facilities.

If Eastern Washington didn't have some success in the won-loss department, they would be a strong candidate for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Portland State and Sacramento State are also big time Division 1 frauds.

[Tech Boys]

I don't believe it really matters if they've had success or not, it's what's financially feasible and sustainable. It's not the same but in a way might be; Texas A&M walked away from one of the best and successful rivalries in the country when they joined the SEC.

It's just sad that Portland State is D1. They played a couple seasons in the Timbers stadium and now play in basically a high school stadium. Hillsboro Stadium is half the size of my high school stadium. It's understandable to have a stadium smaller than Texas high schools but to be a D1 school and your stadium is smaller than the largest high school stadium in Arkansas, that's a different story.

[Runnin' Cat]

I don't believe it really matters if they've had success or not, it's what's financially feasible and sustainable. It's not the same but in a way might be; Texas A&M walked away from one of the best and successful rivalries in the country when they joined the SEC.

It's just sad that Portland State is D1. They played a couple seasons in the Timbers stadium and now play in basically a high school stadium. Hillsboro Stadium is half the size of my high school stadium. It's understandable to have a stadium smaller than Texas high schools but to be a D1 school and your stadium is smaller than the largest high school stadium in Arkansas, that's a different story.

Hillsboro Stadium is not a HS stadium. It is owned by the city of Hillsboro. Central Catholic has played some home games there. Seating is 7600. It is part of a larger recreation complex in Hillsboro.

It may not be a D1 quality in your eyes, it is probably around the average FCS stadium.

Hillsboro Stadium - Wikipedia

What was your HS stadium?

[Wildcat Khan]

Hillsboro Stadium is not a HS stadium. It is owned by the city of Hillsboro. Central Catholic has played some home games there. Seating is 7600. It is part of a larger recreation complex in Hillsboro.

It may not be a D1 quality in your eyes, it is probably around the average FCS stadium.

Hillsboro Stadium - Wikipedia

What was your HS stadium?

And with 3000 seats added for PSU games to reach 10.6k capacity. It is similar size to Roos Field (EWU), Nottingham Field (Northern Colorado), Eccles Coliseum (Southern Utah), J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome (Northern Arizona), and Aggie Stadium (UC Davis) who are all FCS schools in the west.

PSU's old stadium wasn't even the largest in the Big Sky at just over 20k, which is barely more than the Moda Center for Blazer's games in Portland. Montana has the largest stadium in the Big Sky despite Portland State being in the largest city in the conference.

[Tech Boys]

Hillsboro Stadium is not a HS stadium. It is owned by the city of Hillsboro. Central Catholic has played some home games there. Seating is 7600. It is part of a larger recreation complex in Hillsboro.

It may not be a D1 quality in your eyes, it is probably around the average FCS stadium.

Hillsboro Stadium - Wikipedia

What was your HS stadium?

Quigley-Cox Stadium at Little Rock Central (yes that Central High School from your history books). Cox was my coach. It was built by the WPA and seats 15,000. The pigs played there before War Memorial was built. I was really talking more about size than quality. For me, I would be disappointed in going to a D1 stadium that is smaller than what I had in high school. It's part of the reason why I don't see central arkansas as a real D1 school. I do know that more than half of FCS stadiums have a less than 15,000 capacity.

[Wildcat Khan]

Quigley-Cox Stadium at Little Rock Central (yes that Central High School from your history books). Cox was my coach. It was built by the WPA and seats 15,000. The pigs played there before War Memorial was built. I was really talking more about size than quality. For me, I would be disappointed in going to a D1 stadium that is smaller than what I had in high school. It's part of the reason why I don't see central arkansas as a real D1 school. I do know that more than half of FCS stadiums have a less than 15,000 capacity.

I'm not sure if there are any HS football stadiums that large in Washington. The only one I could really find over 15k in the state is Joe Abli Stadium in Spokane which is 28,626 for capacity and the Tacoma Dome which is used primarily for state finals in football. All the schools I listed in my early post all have stadiums under 10k in capacity as D1FCS stadiums in the West, so I'm not sure your standard fit here. Even Martin Stadium is only around 33k in Pullman for WSU as a Pac-12 school.

[Tech Boys]

I'm not sure if there are any HS football stadiums that large in Washington. The only one I could really find over 15k in the state is Joe Abli Stadium in Spokane which is 28,626 for capacity and the Tacoma Dome which is used primarily for state finals in football. All the schools I listed in my early post all have stadiums under 10k in capacity as D1FCS stadiums in the West, so I'm not sure your standard fit here. Even Martin Stadium is only around 33k in Pullman for WSU as a Pac-12 school.

It's mostly how I see things. I see how it "should" be even though I know it is not real life. Martin Stadium is a great size for FBS, I would never describe its capacity as only. I like the Tacoma Dome but have seen it just twice on TV, Arkansas State v Georgia Southern 1-AA championship game and a couple years ago on American Ninja Warrior. They showed highlights from when Lance Pekus (Cowboy Ninja) played football there in high school.

[Wildcat Khan]

It's mostly how I see things. I see how it "should" be even though I know it is not real life. Martin Stadium is a great size for FBS, I would never describe its capacity as only. I like the Tacoma Dome but have seen it just twice on TV, Arkansas State v Georgia Southern 1-AA championship game and a couple years ago on American Ninja Warrior. They showed highlights from when Lance Pekus (Cowboy Ninja) played football there in high school.

If you mean by the amenities, I'll agree. As for the Tacoma Dome, it was also used for the NAIA final the year CWU and Finley played to a tie and looked great on TV. That is something CWU lacked for years and they would even use a HS stadium in Yakima for playoff games, most likely though due to lighting if the game was at 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm start time in November and Tomlinson didn't have lights.

That said, football isn't as popular in the West and stadium capacities are smaller outside of Husky Stadium and Lument Technology Field in Washington. They and Autzen Stadium are the only ones over 50k in the Pacific Northwest.

[Pounder]

[Wildcat Khan]

They use it for football only after the Pendleton Roundup, but the Pendleton Roundup and Happy Canyon are a big draw for the area and one of the largest in Oregon or Washington even larger than the Ellensburg Rodeo. Here's an article about their stadium on campus and how it finally got lights in 2017: https://www.eastoregonian.com/sports...e82086be2.html

No lights and early afternoon games, something CWU fans now a little something about?