What needs to happen before it is even a thought.
(1) Enrollment - we need to get our enrollments up to 10,000. The 3 smallest state supported FBS schools are Arkansas St. (13,000), LA Tech (11,500) and ULM (8,900). 10,000 students will give us an enrollment and alumni base that will support being in FBS. It should also give us an athletic budget around $12-$14 million and a football budget around $5 million. The only ones close to that is Texas Southern, Jackson St., Prairie View, and Southern. ULM has the smallest athletic budget at $11.2 million
(2) Attendence - we would need to average 15,000 fans per game. Also we need to have our stadium hold atleast 30,000
(3) Salaries - We would have to greatly increase our salary pool to be FBS. We would need atleast $300,000 for the Head Coach, $150,000 for the coordinators, and $75,000 for the position coaches. That would make our salary pool be $1.2 million. That would be at the bottom of FBS
(4) Ticket prices - In order to maintain we would need to get ticket prices to $25 for GA and $35 for reserved. That would be a $5 increase to those who go to Alcorn games. I quite sure SU folks already pay that now if not more.
$35.00 Reserved
$30.00 30-40 Yard Line
$25.00 20-30 Yard Line
$20.00 Goal Line to 20 Yard Line
(5) Scheduling - We should play at least (1) FCS, (1) BCS, and the rest on our level.
(6) Recruiting - we would no longer be fighting for level 3 recruits but level 2 recruits.
(7) Revenues - Your revenue should come from your tickets sales and student athletic fees, donations, etc. If your school is heavily subsidizing your athletic program then you will be in the same boat that UAB is in.