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THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: March 2, 2014

| March 2, 2014 8:00 PM

For those still wishing Idaho would go back to the good 'ol days of Big Sky football, athletic director Rob Spear sounds this warning:

"If that decision's ever made by the university, to drop down (to the lower-level Football Championship Subdivision), the institution will never move back up," Spear said recently, during a visit to Coeur d'Alene for a Vandal booster function. "I think the biggest fear would be, if you made the decision, which I think would have been a short-sighted decision to drop down, that schools like Montana and Montana State may have leapfrogged over and moved up. That would be a bad situation for the University of Idaho."

Part of that reasoning for staying in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and not dropping down into the FCS, is what Spear called "governance issues" that the NCAA is considering, that might make it more difficult for teams to move to FBS from FCS.

"There could be a large financial component to it, where you have to pay $2 to $5 million to start the process to join (FBS)," Spear said. "You may have to have a certain budget amount, right now you have to have 16 sport programs, so they may increase it.

"So that's going to be a changing dynamic, and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to stay the course as an FBS school," he added. "We control our decision now into the future. So, once all these macro-issues settle, we'll be in a better position, and we can make the right decision from there."

MONEY GAMES. Spear said ideally, he'd still like to play just one "money game" per season. Idaho played three last year, he said, because the Vandals had an independent schedule.

This year, the big money game is the season opener Aug. 30 at Florida ($975,000). The Vandals also play at San Diego State ($525,000).

One factor influencing money games, Spear said, is that from 2008 through '13, Idaho's scholarship costs have increased a total of $1 million. And now, those costs are $1 million more per year.

"So when tuition goes up on our campus, that's a direct expense for us," Spear said. "So we've had an increase in expenditures without the corresponding offset in revenue, which has required us to play one additional money game. Now, we're hopeful, with the revenue distribution from being in the Sun Belt, we'll be in a better position to play one (money game per season)."

Sun Belt revenue - from TV, bowl appearances, etc. - equates to about $1 million per year per school, he said. The TV deal doesn't pay much, but Spear said if the conference can add a 12th member - and create a conference championship game - that would generate more revenue, as well as give the Sun Belt the opportunity to renegotiate its TV deal, which is now with ESPN.

Spear said he thought the Sun Belt might add a 12th team "sooner than later." Idaho joins the Sun Belt this year in football after playing last year as an independent.

Idaho's revenue from the Big Sky Conference, where it will house all its other sports beginning next year, will come from revenue distribution from the NCAA basketball tournament. The Big Sky does not have a TV deal per se. Some games wind up on Altitude, which does not pay a fee to the league.

As for Idaho's football team last year, under first-year coach Paul Petrino, "we were 1-11, but we were a lot closer than it looks," Spear said. "He spent so much of last year building a foundation, coaching effort and attitude, and probably not as much on football technique."

Spear said it was important for Idaho to remain in FBS in football in order to "control our decision now into the future," meaning a drop to FCS would have made it harder to move back up to FBS, should the landscape of college athletics change.

AND THOUGH Spear said the big five conferences have been pushing to create their own rules and their own division - a level above the smaller FBS schools - in order to control more of the revenue, they're still going to need the "little guys" to survive.

"Because at the end of the day, they've still got to play teams like Idaho, and they have to play teams like the Sun Belt schools," Spear said. "As long as bowl eligibility is six wins, they need to find a way to get to six wins.

"You can go back and look at some of the Big Ten, Big 12 schools that go 4-0 in nonconference and 2-6 in their league, and they go to a bowl game. Well, 4-0 in nonconference mostly comes at the expense of schools like us."

Spear said he is often asked, why not the Big Sky in football, where Idaho was wildly successful in the 1980s and '90s.

"As I explain, one (reason) is we want to be in a position to control our own destiny, and if we made that decision to move back it would reduce student-athlete opportunity," he said. "We would have to cut a couple sports, for sure, because the revenue wouldn't be there right now to help us support 16 sport programs. So until we see what happens with this entire landscape, we feel pretty good about where we're at right now."

Of course, asked if the Big Sky is an option in the future, Spear replied, "You never say never."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.

James, Rhodes also win state titles; Post Falls third, Coeur d'Alene fifth in 5A