[81alum]

Maybe the Big 5 should be their own division of football, Division 1+ or something, and all those schools without access to brobdingnagian TV contracts and giant fan bases should be a lower division.

I do not mind the Big 5 only playing themselves, if everyone else were released from the arms race.  But I am struggling with the knowledge that San Jose State subsidizes its athletics program more than Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Oregon, and UCLA combined just so it can play "with the big boys."  There is something rotten about that system.  Should there be greater financial parity so that the SJSUs of the world do not have to deprive their regular students of classes in order to field a football team, or should the SJSUs of the world simply all be Division 2?  The big schools would probably say the latter, but the smaller schools might reasonably claim that they are in a subordinate position because the big schools operate like a cartel.  Without access to play "the big boys" for guaranteed money the smaller schools would simply be starved to death.

It is a tough question, but personally, I do not think there is enough money and fan interest to sustain the number of Division I football programs in the country, and there just need to be fewer of them.

[81alum]

Maybe the Big 5 should be their own division of football, Division 1+ or something, and all those schools without access to brobdingnagian TV contracts and giant fan bases should be a lower division.

I do not mind the Big 5 only playing themselves, if everyone else were released from the arms race.  But I am struggling with the knowledge that San Jose State subsidizes its athletics program more than Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Oregon, and UCLA combined just so it can play "with the big boys."  There is something rotten about that system.  Should there be greater financial parity so that the SJSUs of the world do not have to deprive their regular students of classes in order to field a football team, or should the SJSUs of the world simply all be Division 2?  The big schools would probably say the latter, but the smaller schools might reasonably claim that they are in a subordinate position because the big schools operate like a cartel.  Without access to play "the big boys" for guaranteed money the smaller schools would simply be starved to death.

It is a tough question, but personally, I do not think there is enough money and fan interest to sustain the number of Division I football programs in the country, and there just need to be fewer of them.