Stadium Renovation hopes, fears, expectations I agree about the indirect benefits of a move to FBS and upgrade of stadium. Many have suggested waiting for more success in FCS before making a move. My thing about waiting for an FCS championship before a move up or facility upgrade is... More teams *don't* win the FCS championship, or even make the playoffs regularly, than do. And they still maintain their programs. And many of the good programs have or are considering a move to FBS. Not that I think this is who we should be following, but never winning an FCS championship never stopped Coastal Carolina, which has only had a football program since 2003, from moving to FBS. And I think we're in a better position for success than them. Heck, we never won a D2 championship before we moved to D1.
Once in the FBS, most teams (and there are SO many) *don't* make the FBS playoffs. But their programs exist anyway. And they still get to enjoy national coverage with smaller but still televised bowl games. The world gets to be reminded that they exist. Their programs, and thus their schools, remain nationally relevant. Cal, who finished 6-6 this year, is playing UNLV this year in a televised bowl game on ESPN. Our quarterfinal, after our best season ever, is on freakin' ESPN+, which apparently many of our members don't subscribe to (in spite of it being easy to sign up for--it's bundled with Disney+!!). It's an existential thing for the program as well as a prestige thing for the whole athletic department and university as a whole.