Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton has done a good job of adding football teams to his league and also holding onto teams that have been courted by the FBS. He has gone on to create one of the best football leagues in all of FCS. Fullerton understands what it takes to be a successful league by keeping rivalries intact, geography and a balanced budget.
In an interview with Brad Rock of the Deseret News he talked about all of those and said a shocking quote about a FBS team:
"What's the difference between Colorado State and Montana State? Nothing," Fullerton said.
This is an interesting comment to say and it is not accurate at all.
With that quote Fullerton was referring to that no matter how much mid-major teams spend on facilities and upgrades they will never be able to keep up with schools like Texas, Michigan or Ohio State who bring in trucks full of cash each year. Thus, making them similar to his Big Sky schools.
However, Fullerton is still completely off base because just look at what Colorado State is doing in moving forward with an on-campus stadium that is approximately valued at $250 million. Montana State is not going forward with that type of project.
Colorado State will never be able to compete in the revenue department with those high power schools, and athletic director Jack Graham said he is not getting into an arms race. He just wants Colorado State to be on the same level as the rest of the Mountain West, and I can assure everyone that Montana State would do the exact same thing to keep on par with the rest of the Big Sky.
Even by going through Fullerton's rationalization it is stil a ridiculous thing to say that Montana State is the exact same as Colorado State.