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Full disclosure – Ol’ SwampSwami earned an M.B.A. from Louisiana Tech University in 1981.
This is not the first time I have discussed this issue.
Yours truly has been on this particular soapbox since October, 2021 (click here) and again last fall in October, 2024 (click here).
The rumors are flying this week that Louisiana Tech University may be offered a spot to join in the Sunbelt Conference very soon.
Actually, Louisiana Tech would be rejoining the Sunbelt Conference.
The Bulldogs were once a member of the Sunbelt from 1991 through 2001.
Louisiana Tech’s potential return to the Sunbelt Conference will depend upon several key pieces coming together soon.
Enter/Exit Texas State
Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas (formerly known as Southwest Texas State) has been a member of the Sunbelt Conference since 2013.
The Bobcats may decide (in a matter of days) to bolt the Sunbelt and move west if an invitation to join the newly-reforming Pac-12 Conference comes prior to the end of June. Texas State would remain in the Sunbelt for 2025 and join its new conference next summer in 2026.
You might remember that the former Pac-12 Conference effectively became the “Pack-your-bags” Conference one year ago. Every school except for two smaller TV market teams (Oregon State and Washington State) exited to join either the Big Ten or Big 12 Conferences.
The remaining Pac-2 Conference Beavers and Cougars are trying to reconstitute their league by romancing schools from other regional conference affiliations.
The NCAA told this currently-under-reconstruction (I’ll call it) “Pac Man” Conference that it must have at least eight members to start the fall football season in 2026.
Mountain West Conference schools Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State have already waived their hands and are ready to join.
That would make seven schools. The reconstituted “Pac Man” Conference only needs one more volunteer to step forward – quickly.
Texas State University would bring the San Antonio (#37 TV market) and Austin (#49 TV market) into play for this new “Pac Man” Conference.
The fast-growing university in San Marcos, Texas has 40,000 students. The Bobcat faithful appear hungry to step up into a higher profile athletics conference soon.
The truth is that this new “Pac Man” Conference would fetch higher media revenues to Texas State than by remaining in the Sunbelt Conference.
Isn’t it always about the money?
The Sunbelt Conference has a current media deal with ESPN’s family of companies which pays member schools about $5 million per year through 2031.
Mountain West Conference schools (like Boise State) are currently receiving about $4 million per year with their media contract with FOX Sports. That deal ends in 2026.
A new media agreement for this revived “Pac Man” Conference is expected to easily exceed those figures.
Did I mention the value of Conference USA’s media rights package?
C-USA schools currently earn $800,000 per year from the league’s media deals with the CBS Sports Network (not to be confused with “regular” CBS) and ESPN’s lower tier of networks. The agreement runs through 2028.
Louisiana Tech might receive an invitation to return to the Sunbelt Conference – soon
Texas State’s exit from the Sunbelt Conference will open the door for someone to take their place.
Two teams from Conference USA appear to be the front runners to replace Texas State.
Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky (Bowling Green) are considered to be the favorites. Middle Tennessee State University (30 miles from Nashville) may be interested, too.
Geographically speaking, Louisiana Tech would make the best choice to replace Texas State University. The Bobcats participate in the Sunbelt’s Western Division against Arkansas State (Jonesboro), South Alabama (Mobile), Southern Miss (Hattiesburg), Troy (Troy, AL), UL-Lafayette, and UL-Monroe.
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs would become the state’s third university participating in the Western Division of the 14-team Sunbelt Conference.
Louisiana-Lafayette and UL-Monroe would make for terrific geographic (and money saving) partners for Louisiana Tech. Lafayette is less than 190 miles from both Ruston (Louisiana Tech) and Monroe (ULM).
Louisiana Tech is also just 240 miles from Hattiesburg (home of Sunbelt member Southern Miss).
The Bulldogs’ closest Conference USA rival is Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas (260 miles). Jacksonville State in Alabama comes in second (geographically speaking) at 460 miles from Ruston.
The savings on transportation for student-athletes and fans would make the Bulldogs’ move to the Western Division of the Sunbelt Conference very appealing.
Adding another $4.2 million per year into the athletics budget ($5 million from the Sunbelt vs. $800K from C-USA) should make this a deal clincher.
I addressed the increasing costs of college athletics last week (click here) after a federal judge signed off on a $2.6 billion settlement agreement. NIL payments for athletes going back to June, 2016 were approved along with significant changes allowing colleges to directly pay athletes starting on July 1, 2025.
Most major programs are going to try to raise more cash to keep playing. Others may opt out of their current conferences in the next year due to rapidly rising costs.
Rivalries matter
Alabama plays Auburn in the Iron Bowl football game every year. Can you imagine a season without Ohio State and Michigan?
Sadly, the Louisiana Tech athletics department has shunned playing in-state rivals such as UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe in football for most of the past 25 years.
The Bulldogs haven’t played a football game against Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns since 2015. The good news is that the two schools (who first played football against each other in 1915) have agreed to a home and home deal beginning in 2026.
The last time that the UL-Monroe Warhawks played football against against Ruston-based Louisiana Tech was in 2000.
At the time, ULM was still known as the Indians.
The two schools are located just 35 miles apart on Interstate 20 in north Louisiana.
The good news is that Louisiana Tech (regardless of whether it joins the Sunbelt Conference) has agreed to host ULM again in September, 2030. A return game will be played in Monroe in 2031.
It’s about time!
Rivalry games bring out the fans, too.
The biggest home football crowds for both Louisiana Tech and UL-Monroe have come when the two schools played against each other.
A few decades ago, local rumors whispered that a prominent Louisiana Tech athletics benefactor might consider ending donations if his beloved Bulldogs scheduled any games against rival UL-Monroe in football and basketball.
The truth remains that Louisiana Tech and UL-Monroe still have not played a football game against each other in 25 years.
Louisiana Tech’s move to the Sunbelt Conference would add $4.2 million in media revenue per year. The added revenue might be enough to outweigh the wishes a few of the school’s major athletic benefactors.
Does the Sunbelt Conference want Louisiana Tech…or East Carolina…or Memphis…or all three?
This “Louisiana Tech to the Sunbelt” story assumes that the Sunbelt Conference actually wants the Bulldogs to replace Texas State if the Bobcats vamoose out west.
Internet rumblings today have two current members of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) kicking the tires of moving to the Sunbelt Conference, too.
The East Carolina University Pirates are located just east of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Memphis Tigers are another AAC school which seems dissatisfied with remaining in their current conference.
Raleigh brings America’s 27th ranked TV market. Memphis is #48. Both would be a plus for the Sunbelt Conference.
The AAC’s media deal with ESPN through 2031 provides about $7 million per member institution. That would be a $2 million per year loss in revenue for each school.
Why would they want to do that?
Travel expenses would be significantly lower for both ECU and Memphis if they were participating in the more regionally-aligned Sunbelt Conference.
The Sunbelt currently has 14 member schools.
The league could easily add both East Carolina and Memphis and have 16 total teams – regardless of whether Texas State leaves.
What needs to happen for Louisiana Tech?
Texas State University must start this game of conference dominoes by announcing its departure from the Sunbelt Conference. The Bobcats must exit by June 30 in order to save significant money when severing their contract with the Sunbelt.
That clock is ticking right now.
A Sunbelt Conference invitation to (I hope) Louisiana Tech should come within hours on the same day. That’s because the Bulldogs would need to provide timely notice and write their own exit check to Conference USA to switch league affiliations beginning in the fall of 2026.
Louisiana Tech’s administration and athletics group must be solidly behind this move. Any wavering by the Bulldog backers in Ruston will cause the Sunbelt Conference to hand the invitation to an eager Western Kentucky University or another school.
A Louisiana Tech exit from Conference USA can’t come soon enough
The time is now to let the decision makers at Louisiana Tech know that you eagerly support a departure from Conference USA and into the Sunbelt Conference.
It is also time for Louisiana Tech to end playing in Conference USA’s Junior Varsity-like midweek night football games during October (the best weather month of the year to attend a college football game).
Many fans are working or have family obligations and cannot attend weeknight games. These games are primarily played to benefit C-USA’s two television partners. They want to attract a few eyeballs (and advertisers) during an otherwise empty weeknight schedule during the fall.
The Bulldogs’ 2025 schedule shows C-USA October games being played on a Tuesday night, another game on a Thursday night, and even a Halloween Friday night kickoff on October 31.
This year’s football schedule also has the Dogs playing against relatively unknown college football barnyard creatures such as the Delaware Blue Hens and the Kennesaw State Owls.
Most North Louisiana sports fans would prefer to be playing football against regional rivals such as the Ragin’ Cajuns of UL-Lafayette and the ULM Warhawks every fall.
The Sunbelt Conference would significantly increase Louisiana Tech’s media revenues and would return a few of the school’s long-time in-state rivals back onto the schedule.
Leaving the far-flung Conference USA in favor of the Sunbelt is guaranteed to bring a refreshing shot of enthusiasm back to supporters of Louisiana Tech’s sports programs.
Make “Champ” a happier bulldog. Just do it!