Idaho’s administrators have known for nearly two years that the Western Athletic Conference was slowly dying, and if it were to exist in the future at all would likely continue without football. Finding a new conference has been a top priority, but success has been hard to come by.
The 2012-2013 season will be the last single conference season for University of Idaho Athletics in the foreseeable future. When athletic director Rob Spear first stepped into his position in 2003, the situation wasn’t too different than the one he finds himself in today.
“It’s funny, the goals then are probably the same as the goals now. We were in a split conference. The goal was to get into a single conference that made geographic sense,” Spear said.
As Spear continues the search for a conference, several issues will make it more difficult today than it was in 2003. Primarily, the demographics of the greater Moscow area and the resulting media market.
The location of UI attracts many students, faculty and staff, but when it comes to the size of its media market, the location and size are less than adequate.
“It is an issue,” Spear said. “The Mountain West Conference told us that was an issue … we wanted to join the Mountain West, we solicited them and they said no and one of the reasons they gave us was that our media market was too small.”
Spear said this was despite the fact he and Idaho’s other administrators place Idaho in the 75th largest media market in the country.
“We include Spokane and that whole market,” Spear said. “We also include Boise because we feel we have significant alumni presence down there, but we don’t have enough TVs in the eyes of the Mountain West to be an attractive addition to their conference.”
Moscow is a small, rural community compared to many cities that are home to major FBS institutions in the nation. The population is only slightly larger than the maximum seating of the Kibbie Dome and the surrounding area is even less populated. In addition, UI has a relatively small population as well, with only a little more than 10,000 undergraduate students.
This means if UI were to fill the Kibbie Dome to maximum capacity there would be very few people left at home to watch the games on TV and generate the media revenue and market of other major FBS institutions.
“It’s the very same problem we have in the Big Sky,” said Doug Fullerton, Big Sky Commissioner. “We have tremendous institutions and institutions that can really play football well but they’re located in a state like Montana … they just can’t put the television sets out there.”
Jeff Hurd, Western Athletic Conference interim commissioner, said in a market as small as Idaho’s success on the field becomes even more of a factor.
“There’s a smaller margin of error when you’re in a smaller community,” Hurd said. “You can’t change the market you’re in. What has to happen here … you have to do everything you can to improve the program as much as possible, make it as competitive as possible, and then establish what your goals are. Idaho is not going to be Notre Dame, but Idaho could still have a presence in the Western part of the United States.”
Hurd said although a strong media market is one factor in determining the attractiveness of a school to a conference, it is not the deciding one.
“Media markets are important, but they’re not the be-all-end-all either. Notre Dame is in South Bend, Indiana … South Bend is not a huge metropolitan area. Yeah it’s bigger than Moscow, but from a media standpoint it’s still not a big, big deal,” Hurd said.
Fullerton said it is important to remember the value of an institution is not the reason FBS conferences are reluctant to include the Vandals.
“Athletic programs aren’t linked to the worth or the value of the institution as much as they’re linked to your demographics,” Fullerton said. “That’s why you didn’t get an invite somewhere else. It has nothing to do with your self-worth or the quality of your institution. I know how good your institution is. It has to do with the population and the demographics.”
Hurd said there is one bonus to not being in a larger media market.
“You don’t get scrutinized quite as much as you might if you were in Los Angeles or something like that,” Hurd said.
Spear said there’s no way for him to solve the issues involved with the location of UI or the size of the media market, but he will try to increase the attractiveness of the program to FBS conferences.
He said in order to improve Idaho’s chances of finding an FBS conference that also makes geographic sense he will continue to focus on improving the program and the facilities, just as he did when he first began his tenure as Idaho’s athletic director.
“We were fortunate to find the WAC when we did. It was great when it was the old WAC,” Spear said. “My goal at the time was to get Idaho in the WAC and then develop a competitive program. But it also was my mission to enhance the facilities here for the athletes and the fans. And we’ve made great strides, but we still have a long way to go.”
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]