Just out of curiosity, what are the economics of this?
Realistically, how much money gets cut out of a football budget if D-1 is no longer the highest division? Half?
I would assume scholarship limits would drop and without the prospect of pure money games (with AQ's refusing to play anyone outside the division) does football even make sense from a budgetary standpoint?
As others have said, given the success of the basketball team and the longterm opportunities there, it would probably be prudent to allocate the funds to basketball vs. keeping a second tier football program going.
I disagree with posters that think this would be anything other than a huge bomb for the program in general.
What small TV contracts the MAC has (in football) will go away, Ohio will rarely ever play on TV (if at all), they'll never play a big time opponent again (PSU still sucks) and they'll still be sinking a bunch of money in to keeping it going.
I love football but the whole thing is a bit disheartening. A plan to cut out over half of the D-1 football teams doesn't exactly align with the spirit of college athletics.
My high school basketball coach had an old saying.....There are two things that don't last: Dogs that chase cars and teams that don't make free-throws.