In order to provide a timely decision, the Metropolitan State University of Denver Board of Trustees, by electronic vote, decided Friday that the institution will remain in NCAA Division II and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rather than pursue a potential move to NCAA Division I's Western Athletic Conference for athletics.Board members had met March 11 in a special work session to hear presentations and to ask questions about the pros and cons of a potential move. The Board wasn't scheduled to meet again until May but decided to hold an electronic vote after considering the results of the special session.The WAC first asked MSU Denver Athletics to consider potential Division I membership in fall 2018. The inquiry prompted the University athletics department to conduct a feasibility study both to examine a potential move to Division I and to evaluate its current status in Division II.Presenting to the board on March 11 were Jeff Hurd, commissioner of the WAC; Brian Mueller, CEO of Grand Canyon University and the chairman of the WAC Board of Directors; Chris Graham, commissioner of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference; Tim Selgo, Division II consultant and former athletic director of Grand Valley State; Russell Wright of Collegiate Consultants; and George Middlemist, MSU Denver's interim vice president of finance & administration.Hurd and Mueller discussed the benefits of transitioning to Division I, while Graham and Selgo discussed the benefits of remaining in the RMAC and Division II. Wright presented his feasibility study, which included an analysis of MSU Denver athletics compared to both WAC programs as well as other RMAC and Division II institutions. Wright detailed revenue and expense projections for each option. Middlemist presented on the financial impacts of a possible transition.The NCAA requires a one-time, $1.7 million fee in order to make the transition to Division I.Wright projected that an increase of $4.5 million to the athletic department budget by 2024-25 would be needed in order to fund programs similar to the midpoint of other WAC schools.He said MSU Denver ranks seventh among RMAC schools in operating budgets (fourth when institutional support dollars are included). He reported that increasing that athletics budget by about $1.5 million would put it in alignment with the Director's Cup Top 25, the most successful programs in Division II.Hurd's presentation on the argument for Division I included: elevated exposure for the university, elevated stature both locally and regionally, increased revenue from NCAA distributions, elevated branding opportunities, more engaged booster and alumni involvement, and the potential for enrollment increases.Mueller's support for joining the WAC included the fact that five members of the league have transitioned from Division II, that joining the WAC now is MSU Denver's best opportunity to make the transition, that the WAC is a fit for MSU Denver because it offers championships in all 16 of the institution's sports, and that the league is geographically, culturally and institutionally diverse.Graham made the case for the RMAC based on the missions of Division II vs. Division I, which include stating the emphasis on the well-being and academic success of student-athletes, a balanced experience and an inclusive culture. Surveys have shown that Division II student-athletes spend less time on athletics and have more positive experiences than do those in Division I, Graham noted.Selgo cited continued diminished funding support for public institutions from state legislatures and determining whether achieving a goal such as reaching the NCAA tournament in men's basketball was worth the financial impact and risk, particularly because of the potential for losing more often in all sports.The RMAC's Graham noted that the goal of student-athletes was to play in post-season national tournaments, and that the opportunity to do so in Division II was far greater than in Divisions I or III. Conversely, Grand Canyon's Mueller said that when his school transitioned from Division II to Division I as a WAC member that the overwhelming majority of student-athletes on that campus stated that they preferred to compete as Division I athletes moreso than Division II.Wright's study detailed that transitioning to Division I from Division II would include increased revenue as well as increased expenses.Among other ways to raise the required revenue to maintain Division I status would be increasing the current student athletic fee, essentially doubling it.Wright compared the revenues and expenditures of current members of the Western Athletic Conference (which includes California Baptist, Cal State-Bakersfield, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Missouri-Kansas City, New Mexico State, Seattle, Texas-Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley) with budgets and expenses at MSU Denver, and projected how much more the Roadrunners' athletic program would need to increase financially in order to be competitive athletically.The WAC lineup will change soon, with Dixie State moving up from the RMAC to join the league and replace Cal State-Bakersfield, which is moving to the Big West Conference for geographic purposes.Besides raising NCAA revenues, student fees and increased fundraising, other options for revenue generation include ticket revenue (though Wright is conservative about the potential for MSU Denver) and playing guarantee games. These games (he recommends 4 to 6 annually for men's basketball and 3 to 5 for women's basketball) are road games against "big-name" schools who typically offer more than $100,000 for opponents to play.The WAC acknowledged that it was nearly forced out of existence less than 10 years ago when conference realignment throughout college athletics left it short, primarily due to football programs leaving the conference. The WAC remade itself as a league focused on men's basketball and is proud of its rise from 31of 32 Division I conferences in RPI (a measure of the league's overall strength) to "as high as No. 12" recently. This year the league is at No. 15, according to realtimerpi.com, as of Monday.There have been success stories such as Grand Canyon and Utah Valley, but UMKC and Chicago State have seen little to no success as Division I athletic institutions. Those supporting the move to Division I for MSU Denver cite the success stories, those supporting the other side cite the institutions who have struggled.