The Sun Belt has benefited on the football side of things because of the addition of the two Florida schools FIU and FAU. A number of it's members are new to FBS football the last 10 years or in the coming years (Troy, MTSU; WKU, South Alabama).
A long-standing member, North Texas won or shared 4 consecutive football titles, yet found themselves on the NCAA's attendance watch list.
A requirement for FBS football is you must meet certain minimum attendance requirements. You must average 15,000 per game per season over any 3 year period to remain in FBS. There are ways to get around that by meeting other attendance marks. But most schools if they are getting close to falling under that will run promotions like free tickets or food to students to keep from not meeting the minimum.
Along with North Texas, Louisiana-Monroe fell under the watch for a short time.
The WAC has had several members put under watch as well, including New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech.
In recent years a few MAC schools have also fallen under this watch, including Toledo and Ball State.
And that's in part what forces schools to focus on football, even when they may not want to spend all their money there. I've been saying it for years--football is in the process of destroying college sports.
And it's a smart move for upstarts like FGCU and A&M-Corpus Christi to make the move, because they are marketing gold.
