Anything new on bringing back football at Big West and West Coast Colleges?

The truth is, there are still fans at many of these universities that want football to return, however, since a referendum at Long Beach State University failed, there has been nothing new.  There will likely be no movement on this effort until the economy is in full recovery.

For those of you who are interested, here is how to contact the football movements at universities in the west.  Many former football schools are not even interested in bringing back football.

Long Beach State

Here is a link to the Long Beach State Football Facebook Page.  They are highlighting politicians who support the return of 49er football.  I suspect there will be a move for another referendum if there is more community support and less of a financial burden on the student body.

Cal State Fullerton

Here is a link to CS Fullerton's Football Facebook page.  And here is a link to the website.  Right now, it is mostly just a memory movement.

Santa Clara

Here is a link to Santa Clara's Football Facebook page.  The Broncos are closer to returning to the gridiron than anyone else.  They are also a private school, and can do what they consider a good expenditure of their budget.  Once the MLS San Jose Quakes move out of Buck Shaw Stadium, the Broncos will have a real nice stadium to play in.  That does not mean that the Bronco will be starting football next season.  It is still several years away.  Here is a link to a website, but it has not been updated for 2 years.  I suspect, however, that they will either join fellow WCC member, San Diego, in the Pioneer Football Conference.  Or they may follow the example of another fellow WCC member, BYU, and be an FCS independent.  There are probably a number of Big Sky Conference schools that will be willing to schedule the Broncos.

CS Northridge

There is a movement at CS Northridge to build a new football stadium and bring back football.  Here is a link to the facebook page.  Having a stadium is one step, but there will be more than this to bring football back.  There is also a student referendum planned, and that is another step.  Football is probably 5-6 years away from coming back.

Loyola Marymount

The Facebook page to bring back LMU football was deleted.  And the petition I found it 2 years old.The drive to bring football back to Loyola Marymount seems to have lost momentum.

Pacific

Here is a link to the Facebook Page, but it will probably be deleted in soon as it has not been updated for 2 years.  The University is making the move from the Public-School oriented Big West Conference to the Private-School oriented West Coast Conference.  They still have a good-sized stadium to play in at Stockton.

UC Irvine

This website is about 4 years old.  The movement does not appear to have any momentum.

No football movements at the following schools.
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
San Francisco
St. Mary's
Pepperdine
Portland
Seattle
Gonzaga

If any of you know about movements at these universities, please send a link.

What conference would these teams play in?

With UC Davis and Cal Poly playing football in the Big Sky Conference and with San Diego playing in the Pioneer Football Conference, perhaps it will only take just 1 more school to bring football back to the Big West Conference.  Six member should get the Big West an automatic bid in the FCS playoffs.  Once the Big West brings back football, it is possible that they could lure Portland State or Sacramento State out of the Big Sky for all sports.

The more I read into the issues at schools that no longer have football, the main reason for the demise of the Big West football program was not really the loss of programs like Boise State, but an unwillingness on the part of programs currently in the Big West to consider dropping to the FCS level once they determined that they could not keep up with schools in the PAC-12.  UC Santa Barbara and Pacific, for example, voted to drop football without even considering the lower division option.

There is not doubt in my mind that another conference out west would help balance some of the issues experienced by the Big Sky Conference right now such as unbalanced schedules and travel costs.   

If Big West football returns, I suspect it will return at the FCS level and would be a welcome addition.  I would encourage those who wish to see football return at their schools to push for an FCS-level return and bring football back to the Big West Conference.