Frisco, Texas, has become synonymous with FCS football. The Dallas suburb hosts the championship game between South Dakota State and Montana this weekend for the 14th season.
It’s become not only a destination for the two teams left standing and their fans, but it’s become a place where multiple FCS fan bases come to mingle at local establishments, chop it up about the FCS, tailgate, and enjoy the title bout, no matter who’s playing.
Frisco has treated the FCS title game extremely well.
The city and businesses give it a big-game feel for teams and fans, something that likely wouldn’t happen if it moved to a bigger city like Orlando or Las Vegas. Toyota Stadium underwent renovation in the mid-2010s, adding a soccer hall of fame that also came with new locker rooms designed for football teams. The renovations did knock stadium capacity down from about 20,000 to a little less than 18,000, which has led to even more packed stands and standing-room-only sections.
Attendance in the last five fall championship games has been 19,090, 17,802, 17,866, 18,942, and 18,023. For comparison, the last two games at the previous host site Chattanooga, Tennesee, were 17,823 in 2008 and 14,328 in 2009. Chattanooga hosted the game from 1997-2009.
The Frisco Bowl in December between Marshall and UTSA drew 11,215 fans.
“When you think about a championship location, every FCS program’s goal to start the year is to get to Frisco. So it has that similar Omaha feel for baseball or Oklahoma City for softball,” FCS playoff committee vice chair and NDSU AD Matt Larsen said Friday at Toyota Stadium. “Having a place that invests and cares about the championship is huge. You’ve seen the growth here in the 14 years it’s been here. The growth, the investment, the renovation of this facility we’re in, a lot of that was driven by the FCS championship.”
Economic Impact
The economic impact of hosting the FCS championship game has been substantial for Frisco and nearby Plano. That’s certainly helped by North Dakota State fans flooding the area for multiple seasons. But Montana State, SDSU, and Montana fans have shown out in full force as well.
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Per Star Local Media, this year’s FCS championship game is estimated to bring in $9.9 million in direct economic impact, a number that jumps to $16 million after taking indirect and induced spending into account. The Frisco Bowl was expected to have a $1.9 million economic impact. If you add in both indirect and induced impact, that number increases to about $3 million.
“It’s New Year’s, Saint Patrick’s Day, and 4th of July in three consecutive days,” Jerry Elliott, owner of Ringo’s Pub and Scruffy Duffies in Plano, told HERO Sports back in 2019 about FCS championship weekend. “It’s huge for the cities of Plano and Frisco.”
Frisco Future
Frisco won the bid to host before the 2010 season. The city beat out two other bidders: Chattanooga and Missoula, Montana. In early 2019, the NCAA agreed to a five-year extension to keep the championship in Frisco. There is an option for the FCS title game to stay in Frisco through the 2026 season.
When Frisco got that extension, the championship wasn’t put out to bid. This next go around, the game will be up for bid. The NCAA’s Ty Halpin told HERO Sports there are a few cities interested in hosting. But Frisco expects to put in a competitive bid as well.
“It truly feels like a championship event,” FCS playoff committee chair and Montana AD Kent Haslam said. “Frisco, the organizing committee, and the NCAA have really done a great job.”
What we do know about the FCS championship game’s future is it will be played on network television for several years to come.
New TV Deal
The NCAA has reached an eight-year agreement with ESPN worth $115 million annually to televise 40 college sports championships each year, including the FCS playoffs. The previous deal signed in 2011 was $34 million per year.
The national championship game in Division I women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s gymnastics, and the FCS are guaranteed to air on ABC each year.
That’s great exposure for the FCS.
However, finding a good TV window for ABC will be a challenge with the College Football Playoff expanding and the NFL playing on Saturdays late in the season. The FCS championship has usually been played at 11 a.m. CT Saturdays on ESPN2, but last year and this year it is at 1 p.m. CT Sunday on ABC due to ABC having an open window. Last year’s game drew 1.07 million viewers, down from 1.32 million the year prior when it was Saturday on ESPN2.
To show how well the game can do on ABC with no competition, the 2019 season’s game was on ABC on a Saturday and drew 2.68 million viewers.
Haslam says the FCS championship will stick around the same early January weekend, leaving three weeks between the semifinals and title game for teams and fans to prepare. What day specifically of the weekend will be determined by TV windows. Friday night games have been discussed, while it will be hard to avoid NFL pregame shows/games on Saturdays and Sundays. But with the game locked into ABC, open TV windows with no competition will be tough to find.
“On the football oversight committee, we moved to lock in this weekend regardless of what happens with the CFP and their championship,” Haslam said. “So the first weekend after New Year’s is the slot we’re going with for the FCS title.”
Bracket Changes
The increase in annual revenue for the NCAA via the new TV deal could see changes to the bracket structure.
One reason seeding more teams in the playoffs didn’t get final 2023 approval was because NCAA revenue was flat year over year. Now, with this huge increase in annual revenue coupled with the transformation committee’s recommendations of more investments in championships, there is confidence we’ll see bracket changes next season when it comes to increasing the number of seeds.
The 24-team field wouldn’t change in overall number of teams. But seeding 16 teams instead of eight, for example, would help with less regionalization, more balanced second-round matchups, and would get rid of inconsistent first-round hosting determinations.
Some FCS fans want to know if the new media deal will see FCS playoff teams get a cut. But that’s not how it works. The only NCAA tournament with a revenue-sharing model is the men’s basketball tournament. The NCAA says it is trying to get there with the women’s basketball tournament.
A few ways the revenue increase could benefit the FCS financially is by lowering the bid amounts to host and lowering the ticket revenue cut given to the NCAA (around 85%) so FCS teams can pocket more of that money for winning and hosting multiple games. This early in the new deal announcement, it is to be determined if those two things will happen.
