This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/n1tney on 2026-02-14 19:06:10+00:00.

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North Dakota State is poised to become the 137th member of the FBS level, starting in the mountain west conference this upcoming season. 1 So, who else could theoretically join them? Key word here is could, not necessarily will. I used 6 factors in finding the potential teams. You can find them below with some explainers. The schools that meet the minimum criteria are scored > 1. A score of 1.0 means a school meets the minimum FBS requirements. The factors were then very crudely weighted until I got a result I liked

Factors:

Enrollment – this is an obvious one, how many students (and alumni) does a school have to support it. The current lowest enrollment in the FBS is Tulsa, with ~4000 students.2

Endowment – this is a bit less obvious. The correlation coefficient for a university’s Endowment and Athletics budget is only 0.27, but this is limited due to the amount of private universities in the FCS, which don’t often share athletics budget information. There is some noise there, and endowment is reflective a schools resource. It will not be weighted heavily. The FBS schools with the lowest endowment is Coastal Carolina3 with an endowment of ~$77MM.

Athletics Revenue – Probably the most important factor here. Due to the many private FCS schools, I had to give a revenue of $0 if I could not find it, so the results are definitely skewed. I was able to find Harvard’s4 and Villanova’s5 after some less than intensive searching. Much of the information came from Knight-Newhouse6. The FBS school with the lowest revenue is Louisiana-Monroe with ~$19MM.6

Stadium Capacity – the NCAA used to require FBS schools to average 15K fans to meet eligibility, but as of 20237 no longer requires this. I will keep it here as I think it’s a fine criteria to have (and it makes the math easier).

Recent Success - how many times a team has made the FCS Playoff in the past 10 years

The list:

Rank |Team |Endowment |Enrollment |AD Revenue |Stadium Capacity |Recent Success |Score

|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|

| |*MEDIAN FCS* |$173400881.5 |9258.5 |$15296024.5 |11250 |1 |1.035

1 |Harvard |$50700000000 |21613 |$43636552 |30323 |1 |15.595

2 |Yale |$41400000000 |12093 |$0 |61446 |1 |12.53

3 |Princeton |$35800000000 |8478 |$0 |27800 |0 |10.135

4 |Penn |$21000000000 |23374 |$0 |52593 |0 |7.105

5 |Columbia |$14800000000 |36649 |$0 |17000 |0 |5.16

6 |Cornell |$10700000000 |26284 |$0 |21500 |0 |3.895

7 |UC Davis |$2000000000 |40848 |$50059304 |10849 |4 |3.69

8 |Delaware |$1780000000 |24221 |$58133283 |18500 |4 |3.52

9 |Villanova |$1310000000 |9900 |$65090000 |12500 |6 |3.465

10 |North Dakota State |$457000000 |11592 |$29948436 |19000 |10 |3.435

11 |South Dakota State |$213000000 |11465 |$29836789 |19340 |10 |3.37

12 |Montana |$241600000 |10811 |$28970312 |25200 |8 |3.05

13 |Sacramento State |$92991000 |31451 |$43065314 |21195 |4 |2.985

14 |Montana State |$264000000 |17144 |$28397789 |20767 |7 |2.925

15 |Weber State |$219555666 |29914 |$18433998 |17000 |6 |2.76

16 |North Dakota |$422100000 |15019 |$36995926 |12283 |6 |2.745

17 |New Hampshire |$475100000 |14784 |$33102605 |11015 |6 |2.64

18 |Illinois State |$224700000 |21546 |$31460587 |13391 |5 |2.56

19 |Brown |$7200000000 |10737 |$0 |20000 |0 |2.545

20 |Dartmouth |$7900000000 |6746 |$0 |15000 |0 |2.53

21 |Stony Brook |$390500000 |25710 |$40920954 |12300 |2 |2.3

22 |Tennessee State |$91100000 |8198 |$20209138 |68798 |1 |2.165

23 |Missouri State |$193000000 |23418 |$34252090 |17500 |2 |2.14

24 |South Dakota |$328500000 |9971 |$25893184 |10000 |5 |2.1

25 |Richmond |$3200000000 |3914 |$0 |8400 |5 |2.1

26 |Northern Arizona |$198200000 |28194 |$28121139 |15300 |2 |2.09

27 |William & Mary |$1500000000 |9517 |$36410837 |12259 |2 |2.07

28 |Northern Iowa |$163000000 |9021 |$22170455 |16000 |5 |2.065

29 |Cal Poly |$285300000 |22000 |$43594326 |11075 |1 |2.01

30 |Lehigh |$2200000000 |7692 |$0 |16000 |4 |1.875

31 |Idaho |$465000000 |11849 |$24035157 |16000 |3 |1.855

32 |Tarleton |$42000000 |14092 |$28200122 |24000 |2 |1.845

33 |Rhode Island |$203000000 |18061 |$37478061 |5180 |2 |1.845

34 |Southern Illinois |$171801763 |18107 |$19924295 |15276 |3 |1.84

35 |Youngstown State |$321500000 |11076 |$21696473 |20650 |3 |1.835

36 |Chattanooga |$147100000 |11775 |$22565863 |20668 |3 |1.825

37 |Lamar |$161000000 |17850 |$23835722 |16000 |2 |1.73

38 |Eastern Kentucky |$78800000 |14324 |$25201250 |20000 |2 |1.72

39 |Towson |$87800000 |22294 |$30232859 |11000 |1 |1.675

40 |Stephen F. Austin |$128000000 |11946 |$28806850 |15000 |2 |1.655

41 |Holy Cross |$1273000000 |3219 |$0 |23500 |4 |1.655

42 |Albany |$100900000 |16658 |$28970317 |8500 |2 |1.655

43 |Southeast Missouri State |$114000000 |9677 |$16320360 |11015 |4 |1.645

44 |Jackson State |$60000000 |6564 |$14620629 |60492 |0 |1.635

45 |Eastern Washington |$32100000 |10915 |$17259231 |8600 |4 |1.63

46 |Central Connecticut |$80000000 |9653 |$15394256 |5500 |4 |1.515

47 |Georgetown |$3600000000 |19005 |$0 |3750 |0 |1.51

48 |Central Arkansas |$56000000 |11487 |$17646027 |10000 |3 |1.49

49 |Abilene Christian |$823000000 |6730 |$21201476 |12000 |2 |1.48

50 |Southeastern Louisiana |$22600000 |14298 |$15471340 |7408 |3 |1.455

51 |East Tennessee State |$151800000 |13483 |$22815023 |7694 |2 |1.435

52 |Maine |$444900000 |10878 |$28930862 |10000 |1 |1.42

53 |Nicholls |$30000000 |6366 |$11265966 |10500 |4 |1.415

54 |North Carolina A&T |$202000000 |14331 |$17333508 |21500 |1 |1.41

55 |Furman |$812300000 |2283 |$0 |16000 |4 |1.37

56 |San Diego |$652500000 |9000 |$0 |6000 |4 |1.32

57 |Portland State |$98000000 |21040 |$18184751 |7600 |1 |1.315

58 |Austin Peay |$45300000 |9326 |$20690310 |10000 |2 |1.295

59 |The Citadel |$423600000 |3721 |$18919109 |13800 |2 |1.28

60 |Tennessee Tech |$96200000 |10117 |$20746115 |16500 |1 |1.25

61 |Fordham |$972000000 |16556 |$0 |7000 |2 |1.22

62 |Norfolk State |$24400000 |5616 |$22381070 |30000 |0 |1.205

63 |Wofford |$417400000 |1800 |$0 |13000 |4 |1.2

64 |Incarnate Word |$175000000 |9191 |$0 |6000 |4 |1.2

65 |Florida A&M |$95600000 |10028 |$14086107 |19633 |1 |1.16

66 |Mercer |$502000000 |9024 |$0 |10200 |3 |1.16

67 |Western Illinois |$84300000 |6332 |$11674076 |16368 |2 |1.15

68 |Southern |$9400000 |8226 |$18190798 |28500 |0 |1.15

69 |Southern Utah |$33500000 |14330 |$18138339 |8500 |1 |1.14

70 |Murray State |$100200000 |9489 |$24997393 |16800 |0 |1.135

71 |Davidson |$1300000000 |2079 |$0 |6000 |3 |1.105

72 |Alabama State |$125000000 |5475 |$19280970 |26500 |0 |1.095

73 |McNeese |$118000000 |7626 |$15235747 |17410 |1 |1.09

74 |Elon |$308000000 |7117 |$0 |11250 |3 |1.075

75 |UT Martin |$51000000 |6873 |$15484458 |7500 |2 |1.07

76 |Drake |$254400000 |4774 |$0 |14557 |3 |1.065

77 |Texas Southern |$100000000 |8632 |$16893081 |22039 |0 |1.035

78 |Duquesne |$472100000 |9344 |$0 |2200 |3 |1.01

79 |VMI |$703100000 |1512 |$18043818 |10000 |1 |1.005

80 |Western Carolina |$130000000 |11877 |$18395877 |13742 |0 |1.005

81 |Minimum Required |$76200000 |3832 |$18233877 |15000 |1 |1

82 |Colgate |$1202000000 |3230 |$0 |10221 |2 |0.99

83 |Samford |$403500000 |6101 |$0 |6700 |3 |0.99

84 |Eastern Illinois |$66600000 |8505 |$15123197 |10000 |1 |0.96

85 |North Carolina Central |$55000000 |7553 |$15688096 |10000 |1 |0.94

86 |Dayton |$862000000 |11378 |$0 |11000 |1 |0.93

87 |Indiana State |$110000000 |8305 |$20058407 |12464 |0 |0.92

88 |Utah Tech |$17500000 |12556 |$17745912 |10500 |0 |0.92

89 |East Texas A&M |$33200000 |10966 |$16871158 |13500 |0 |0.915

90 |Idaho State |$75000000 |12614 |$15657577 |12000 |0 |0.915

91 |Prairie View A&M |$148500000 |9893 |$15356302 |15000 |0 |0.915

92 |North Alabama |$53000000 |8832 |$17765052 |14215 |0 |0.9

93 |Northern Colorado |$111900000 |7917 |$22439916 |8533 |0 |0.89

94 |Monmouth |$153100000 |6167 |$0 |4000 |3 |0.875

95 |West Georgia |$41100000 |14394 |$12812259 |10000 |0 |0.855

96 |Northwestern State |$20800000 |9389 |$13505438 |15971 |0 |0.845

97 |Sacred Heart |$189800000 |10730 |$0 |4000 |2 |0.805

98 |Grambling State |$7000000 |5232 |$13527878 |19600 |0 |0.8

99 |Morgan State |$41400000 |9808 |$15644319 |10000 |0 |0.795

100 |Lafayette |$1063000000 |2729 |$0 |13132 |1 |0.795

101 |South Carolina State |$15100000 |2649 |$13741996 |22000 |0 |0.785

102 |Howard |$865300000 |12886 |$0 |10000 |0 |0.75

103 |Morehead State |$71000000 |8619 |$13352195 |10000 |0 |0.725

104 |Alcorn State |$21300000 |2933 |$9273867 |22500 |0 |0.705

105 |Delaware State |$43000000 |6451 |$16211290 |7000 |0 |0.665

106 |Gardner–Webb |$79700000 |3124 |$0 |8500 |2 |0.66

107 |Bucknell |$1070000000 |3787 |$0 |13100 |0 |0.625 …

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