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The Georgia State Panthers announced in a press conference Monday that they will join the Sun Belt Conference for the 2013 season.
According to CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy, the Georgia State Panthers are set to announce their move to the Sun Belt conference on Monday. According to sources, the official announcement is set to be made at 2 p.m. (ET) at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson is expected to be on hand to welcome the Panthers into their new conference as well.
According to McMurphy, the school's announcement that they're leaving the Colonial Athletic Association is coming one day before the CAA's vote to increase the exit fee.
Georgia State will join the Sun Belt in 2013 after spending the past seven seasons in the Colonial Athletic Association. The timing of Georgia State's announced move to the Sun Belt from the CAA on Monday will come a day before the CAA will vote to substantially increase its exit fee. CAA commissioner Tom Yeager told CAAHoops.com that the league will vote Tuesday to increase the exit fee from $250,000 to "at least a million dollars."
Georgia State has spent the last seven years in the CAA and will now be joining schools in the Sun Belt including UALR, Arkansas State, Florida International, North Texas, Troy and Western Kentucky. While they are likely excited about the move and how it improves their athletics, the Sun Belt could eventually be picked apart if Conference USA and Mountain West merge and look to add some Sun Belt schools.
For more on Georgia State's jump to the Sun Belt Conference, follow SB Nation Atlanta's StoryStream.
Well, that didn't take long at all. The Georgia State Panthers are only entering their third season with a football program and have already moved from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision with the most recent invite to the Sun Belt Conference.
Georgia State becomes just the third school in the state to play in FBS competition. The invite to the Sun Belt Conference is despite the Panthers going 3-8 in the 2011 season.
There had been reports of Georgia State making the jump in the coming weeks, but the decision was rushed when Colonial Athletic Association discussed increasing its exit fees from $250,000 to an amount "significantly higher" according CAA commissioner Tom Yeager.
Here is the full report by Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com:
"The Panthers have a June 1 deadline to declare to the NCAA if they are going to make the move from FCS to FBS. If so, Georgia State's football program could compete in the Sun Belt as a "transitional" league member in 2013, meaning the Panthers would play a full Sun Belt schedule but would not be eligible for the league title or play in a bowl until 2014."
Read more about the Georgia State move to the Sun Belt Conference at SB Nation Atlanta.
After playing their first season of collegiate football in 2010, Georgia State may already be moving up in the world.
According to a report from CBS Sports.com, the school is a leading candidate to receive an invitation from the Sun Belt Conference, which has been decimated by defections to mid-major conferences like the WAC and Conference USA, which in turn have been plucked dry by the BCS conferences in the latest round of conference re-alignment.
And while the feasibility study Georgia State commissioned projected 2014 as a possible start date to play in the FBS, the school could receive an invitation sooner than anticipated and begin playing in the Sun Belt by 2013.
The Panthers, who play their home games in the Georgia Dome, have the facilities to compete in the lowest rungs of the FBS, and they've already had home crowds of over 30,000 while playing football in the Colonial Athletic Association, part of the FCS, formerly known as Division I-AA.
Of the 11 teams Brett McMurphy reports as in one sort of talks or another with the Mountain West-Conference USA merger, only Charlotte currently plays FCS. The Sun Belt could lose a couple teams to MOUNT USA, however, and there's a league that's looking to expand either way.
If Georgia State does end up going FBS in the next few years, the Sun Belt is looking much more likely.
The Georgia State Panthers are still fairly new to the college football scene. They play at the FCS level and are preparing to join the Colonial Athletic Association conference in the coming season.
According to Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the school is already exploring a move to FBS play. Georgia State has commissioned a report on the financial feasibility and repercussions of such a move should the team be offered -- and accept -- an invitation from FBS conferences such as the Big East, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Mid-American or Western Athletic.
Georgia State athletic director Cheryl Levick declined to comment on the report, but stated that the school has not received an invitation from any FBS conference.
We are performing our due diligence to fully understand potential opportunities in the rapidly changing landscape of college athletics and particularly college football. We will evaluate the information in the feasibility study to determine the best course of action for Georgia State.
If the Panthers did receive a conference invite this year, they would have to submit a strategic plan to the NCAA by the end of May.
Here's another FBS conference looking to acquire some up-and-coming talent. We offer up our various GSUs for your approval, Karl Benson.
As has been sort of expected for quite a while now, the Mountain West and Conference-USA are merging to make a new conference, and looking to add something like eight to 12 schools in the process. Since they're not in cahoots with the WAC or Sun Belt, it's hard to figure where they'll find a whole new conference worth of teams without calling up from FCS. Speaking of calling teams up from FCS, have we got a pair of recommendations!
While nearly every non AQ school in America is putting on its best makeup and prom dress, hoping for a date in the latest conference expansion carousel, I'm convinced that Conference USA should look no further than Georgia State to fill the upcoming gap in their Eastern division.
While Georgia State football is entering the summer off-season and concentrating on getting stronger, faster and better while building on their inaugural season in 2010, there have been rumblings of new long-term plans as its future conference home, the CAA , continues to shed teams.
In the last 24 months, Northeastern and Hofstra have dropped football. Rhode Island has announced it's dropping down to the Northeast Conference while shedding scholarships and decreasing travel costs. UMass announced officially Wednesday that it's jumping FBS and will join the MAC in 2012. Villanova is dancing with the Big East and may have a decision by June.
As The Clash said in 1981, "Should I stay or should I go?"
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Georgia State Football Officially Joins Sun Belt Conference, FBS Level In Press Conference At Georgia Dome
A new generation of Georgia State University athletics was officially sworn in on Monday, as the Panthers joined the Sun Belt Conference in a press conference held at the Georgia Dome. Georgia State move from the Colonial Athletic Association to become the 11th football-playing member of the league, which competes at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.
"This has turly been a banner day for Georgia State athletics and Georgia State University," said Georgia State athletic director Cheryl L. Levick.
Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, who was in attendance for the announcement, said the league is looking to expand to 12 football-playing programs by the time expansion is done, as already existing member of the Sun Belt, the University of South Alabama, is also making the jump from a FCS to FBS. Both Georgia State and South Alabama will join the Sun Belt in a transitional period in 2013, and will become eligible in 2014.
"It's still important to us to maintain geographic connections," said Benson about making sure expansion remains regional.
Both Benson and Levick talked about the process of Georgia State joining the Sun Belt, and both admitted that talks began back in January, when Benson was yet named Sun Belt commissioner.
Currently, the only issue surrounding Georgia State's move to the Sun Belt dealing with the Panthers' soccer programs which will not have any conference opponents because the Sun Belt does not have a soccer league.
Levick addressed the issues, saying there are plans A, B and C in place that will help them work through the issue and it will be resolved once the athletic department speaks with the soccer coaching staffs.
For more on Georgia State's jump to the Sun Belt Conference, follow SB Nation Atlanta's StoryStream.
Apr 09 2:55p by Jared E. Smith