Jason Groves

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES – New Mexico State will play as a Football Bowl Subdivision independent program in 2018 and beyond, following a short-lived football-only membership in the Sun Belt Conference.

New Mexico State University regents heard a report on the financial differences between FBS football and Football Championship Subdivision programs on Friday. According to an Athletic Advisory Committee report, presented by the group's chairman Mickey Clute, a drop to FCS football would have cost NMSU an estimated $1,444,153, most of which came from the opportunity to play "money" games in the FBS.

Clute and 18 other committee members were charged with studying a potential drop to FCS football in the past month. The committee unanimously agreed the Aggies should proceed as a FBS program. The financial report was a significant determining factor, in addition to an existing resolution.

Board of Regents Chair Debra Hicks reaffirmed Friday a 2013 resolution that stated the board's "commitment for NMSU to work to create a strong and respected athletic program that competes at the Division 1 FBS level while also stating our commitment that football will continue while being an ongoing focus for improvement."

Clute said the committee determined expenditures and revenue based on numbers that were quantifiable and that were on the conservative side. The report showed NMSU's 2015 athletics budget, at $18,961,729, as well as a proposed FBS independent budget and a proposed FCS budget. If the committee was not able to determine a definitive estimate, such as future state funding, the estimate remained the same as the current budget.

Chair: NMSU football 'staying the course with FBS'

"We began working on the FBS/FCS comparison because we felt like that was the most compelling and urgent one at this time," Clute said.

The report cited a current budget surplus of $959,602, which stems from more than 200 walk-on or partial scholarship students who pay tuition to the university. The proposed FBS independent budget estimated a $425,109 surplus and the proposed FCS budget estimated a $1,019,044 shortfall.

The big ticket items on the revenue side were a $2 million difference in guarantee or "money" games between FBS and FCS, and a $450,000 difference in the university's multimedia rights guarantee with Learfield Sports. The committee estimated $2.9 greater revenue as a FBS independent than a FCS program.

NMSU's 2016 football schedule includes guarantee games at Kentucky and Texas A&M for roughly $3 million. The committee's report noted average guarantee games range from $2 million to $3 million. It also noted there is potential for a third guarantee game in 2018, but that was not included in the estimated revenue.

Learfield's guaranteed amount next year is $800,000. The report noted that, "Learfield indicated that this contract is a 'FBS' contract and if the football team was FCS, then the contract would likely be cut in half."

Clute and NMSU Accounting and Information Systems head Dr. Kevin Melendrez also reported an estimated a $393,450 drop in football ticket sales, primarily due to the lack of a home game against University of New Mexico or UTEP.

Regent Mike Cheney asked Clute to expand on the question as to why rivalry games at Aggie Memorial Stadium would cease to exist.

"It goes back to the money games, there are conferences that have taken the stance that they are not going to play FCS teams because it would reduce their power ranking," Clute said. "Why would (UNM and UTEP) play a home and home with a FCS team. You may be able to play at their place, but if you happen to beat them, you would make them look bad. That is one of those things that would have to play out over time but we think that would be dissolved all together.

"Those two football games do have a component of fundraising attached to it. ... The Associated Students of NMSU ran a survey and that was one of the most important things to the students."

Expenditures remained the same for the most part, with the exception of a $210,000 savings in scholarships since FCS programs sponsor 22 fewer scholarships than the 85 allotted FBS scholarships. The committee estimated FCS expenditures to be $1.5 million.

There was also an anticipated $941,297 salary reduction savings after a transition to FCS. The salary saving was based on the average athletics department salary of the top three budgets in the Big Sky Conference, which sponsors FCS football and had shown interest in adding New Mexico State before Hicks reported the university had broken off talks in recent weeks.

"We held travel costs across the board the same and scholarship numbers dropped a little bit," Clute said.

Future conference realignment issues regarding the university's Olympic sports will continue to be evaluated while continuing to compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

"As you can see, these regents are committed to playing FBS football, and so that's the way we'll go forward," NMSU president Garrey Carruthers said. "I think we need to set that issue aside, understanding that this is the direction they want to go, and we'll set our sights on things like restructuring the university."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.