Thank you to most of you that made reading this thread palatable, heck even enjoyable. It seems to have lost that a bit with the last couple of pages. But in today's world I enjoy a calm, rational discussion more than I even remembered.
Positive when you sell AAU, passionate fanbase, a University that has committed many millions into the facilities. There is a commitment to athletic success at Iowa State that was lost in the 70s when we last had sustainable success.
100% agree with you, but like I was saying above, this isn't going out and hiring Jim Walden because our facilities are junk and our scholarships were reduced at the worst of times. We have had leadership that understands that and will never allow that to happen again. Ask tOSU's AD. We will survive this and for the first time I actually feel encouraged we will end up in a better place eventually.
I'm very happy the OP started this thread and value their opinion. The thing that stands out to me after reading the 11 pages is that on one hand the statement is that education and endowments mean more than athletics, yet on the other you hear those same people say that money is not shared. So why does it matter what conference said school is in. The other contradiction I've observed is that AAU is the most important, not piddly TV dollars, but then you hear ISU doesn't move the needle with TV sets. (Which I think has been proven in this thread is old thinking.)
I believe that the OP is well connected, very intelligent, and has worked in the industry, and even they don't know how to come to the "correct" decision as the landscape is too fluid.
I'm guessing the relevant people, incredibly smart people (Not ESPN analysts/Radio DJs/Twitter experts, etc), will be analyzing this for many months and even a couple years before we really know where CFB is headed. And schools that are not reactionary, like the SEC, will understand that $$$ is not EVERYTHING.