San Diego ha basically decided it's cheaper to fly their football team across the country than offer as many as 126 scholarships - 63 for the football team and another 63 for women's teams to maintain compliance with Title IX. Even if they played in the Big Sky, few teams are within driving distance. Even "selling" a game to a FBS team for a few hundred thousand dollars only makes up a fraction of the tuition revenue USD currently enjoys from non-scholarship football.
Torero stadium while small, is such a pretty stadium. I mean the whole university could be the prettiest campus in america. Great architecture, extraordinarily maintained, beautiful greenery and gardening, and overlooking mission bay in san diego. I can see why everyone wants to play there
Fun fact about St. Thomas: up until recently they were a D-III school, but got expelled from their conference for winning too much (not a joke, the actual term used was 'athletic competitive parity') and they were granted a rare exception to jump straight to Division I after the school was heavily recruited by D-I conferences.
&Tony’s Music St. Thomas being an old D-3 school doesn’t have the budget to offer football scholarships and the Pioneer Football League is a conference made for those schools that don’t offer football scholarships thus why they’re in it.
That’s a big jump up in competition for St Thomas. D3 to FCS is a a major step. I love watching the MIAC and WIAC games, and their great traditions. It’s too bad that we aren’t going to get anymore Johnnies vs Tommies game. That was on my bucket list.
Thanks for this video! I spent many Saturdays watching USD football as a student in the 1980s. I've also been to Davidson when I lived in North Carolina (when Davidson has played USD)
The Sellick Bowl was originally intended to be a true bowl stadium. In the 1920s Butler had aspirations of joining the Big Ten and after buildingthe gigantic fieldhouse they started on a football stadium. Construction started on the northeast corner and had made it around to the 50 yard line on the other side before they got a new president who decided not to continue construction, leaving it in a J shape. In the 50s they tore down the south endzone seats and built an outdoor theater which stood till 2005 when it along with the entire east stands were torn down. The bowl name remained even though it's just a modest two sided stadium now.
St. Thomas was too good in all sports, was kicked out of their D3 conference and received an exception from the NCAA to move directly to Division 1. The one school that didn’t want to kick them out was their primary football rival, St. John’s. It was, arguably, the biggest rivalry in D3 football and regularly drew over 15,000 when played @ St. John’s. There wasn’t enough room for that many at St. Thomas for the games against the Johnnies and they started playing at larger venues. The rivalry drew nearly 35,000 to a game at Target Field (home of the Minnesota Twins) and 19,000 to a game at Allianz Field (home of Minnesota United FC). If not for COVID, they would have played the final game against each other at the Viking’s USBank Stadium. I have no doubt there would have been 65,000 in the building for that one.
Hey!! Another video I loved!! Presbyterian hall of fame player Darrel Bridges transferred to UT Chattanooga his senior year. Which is a part of SOCON!!!
My nephew was a long snapper at Morehead State. I've been to Welcome Stadium; it's close to their basketball arena, which is the most horrible place imaginable to host an indoor band competition (you have to get everything down a monstrous hill with a turn halfway down, and then scramble to push everything back up before the next band comes on) yet the WGA World Championships for indoor winds are held there every year.
Time for a little history.. The Pioneer League was founded in the early 90's as a response to the NCAA cracking down on schools playing below their weight class, so to speak. For many years, most of the schools that make up the conference played in either Division II or Division III despite having Division I level sports in others, like basketball. This changed when the NCAA said that for a school to be in Division I, all of their sports had to be in Division I. This rule forced six schools to form the Pioneer League with five of the six still in the conference (The one who isn't is Evansville, who dropped their program in 1997). They've added members over the years and have seen a few of them graduate up to scholarship football like Austin Peay, Campbell and Mercer while Jacksonville dropped their program two years ago. As for the members themselves.. Butler: More known for their basketball team, which plays in the Big East. They also have a bulldog mascot named Butler Blue, he's awesome. Davidson: More known as the school that had Stephen Curry lead the way to the Elite 8 in 2008. Their other sports are in the Atlantic 10 Dayton: Another A-10 school, their arena is the home site for the First Four of the Men's basketball tournament. Drake: Another school with a bulldog mascot and I believe they vote for the Best Bulldog during the Drake Relays or something like that. Marist: A member of the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), they are a leftover from when that conference had football, which it dropped in 2007. Morehead State: A member of the OVC that doesn't play within the OVC for football, they're the alma mater for Phil Simms. Presbyterian: The smallest school at the Division I level in terms of enrollment, they're a current member of the Big South that had to drop scholarship football because they weren't any good. BTW, the nickname (Blue Hose) comes from the socks the players wore in the early 20th century but it also has ties to Scottish warriors. St. Thomas: The newest member of the Pioneer League also has their roots in Division III, but for different reasons - they were given the boot by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for being too damn good. So, the Tommies had to looks for options and oddly enough, the Summit League gave them an invite. Earlier this year, the NCAA okayed this extraordinary move for St. Thomas with the caveat of a 6 year process to become an official Division I school (Normally, a Division II school has to do a four year transition to become a Division I school). San Diego: One of the better known teams in the Pioneer League because of the playoff success they've had - they're the only school in the league to win an FCS Playoff game (and they have 2 wins). Stetson: A member of the ASUN conference, they brought back football in 2013 and really haven't done anything since.. although they have a cool nickname in the Hatters - famous hat maker John Stetson founded the school and all. Valparaiso: Another school more known for hoops then anything else, they're in the Missouri Valley. They also went through a recent nickname change as they were the Crusaders up until recently. The negative connotation of the name forced them to make a change, which they did and a few months ago, they became the Beacons.
Yeah and this is just a football-only conference. The teams are all in different conferences for other sports; for instance, Butler is part of the Big East and Dayton and Davidson are in the Atlantic 10.
@@dennisud This is the I-FCS conference for schools that don't want their football teams to be at this level. Several years ago, the NCAA made a rule that you can't compete in different divisions in different sports (with some exceptions). The Pioneer League was formed by schools who were playing D3 football but D1 everything else, and they continue not to offer scholarships. So, ironically, they're in this conference to save money.
That isn’t the original football field, it’s actually across the Miami River from the university (I Live in Dayton) The original stadium is used for Soccer/track and is nestled behind a large brick building. Imo I think they should have stayed even though the seating is about 1/2 or less
@@carter-rm9js yeah it really needs a complete overhaul. For as good as the team is they deserve better facilities. Sorry your dad had to deal with that.
The Pioneer League is a D1 league for teams that don’t want to field a legitimate D1 football program at the FCS or FBS level. Pioneer League football is a non-scholarship league. That means it’s pretty much full of guys who want to play D1 football, but aren’t D1-level football players. A friend summarized the league as a bunch of players with dads insistent their “future hall of famers” play D1 football and are willing to pay full freight (meaning they pay full tuition) for the experience.
I was wondering about that; when I was watching this video, I was surprised that St. Thomas (MN) was in this league. They were Division 3 until this season, I guess, but what changed their minds?
ohhhh shoot as a stetson fan i know our stadium is pretty bad, but thanks for covering over it! the PFL doesn't get any love and the main reason why is because we suck
I can’t imagine the budget that these schools have for travel. I know for a fact that PC is a small school so it blows me away that they have to travel so far for away games.
As bad as Welcome Stadium is, UD Arena is the polar opposite. It’s a sweet place to see a game and is normally sold out. Good work as always!
I pass that depressing place every single time I drive to school…
UD Arena: the road begins there
March Madness, best time of the year
The elevated seating at the St. Thomas stadium looks interesting. I wouldn't mind watching a game from those seats.
They are weird to sit in
Because of this channel, I have discovered many new levels of sports. Thank you for the things you do
The only common factor of teams int his league is that they are D-I but don't offer direct football scholarships.
Drake looked awesome! I like the facade look. San Diego was definitely interesting. Such a weird conference geography.
San Diego ha basically decided it's cheaper to fly their football team across the country than offer as many as 126 scholarships - 63 for the football team and another 63 for women's teams to maintain compliance with Title IX. Even if they played in the Big Sky, few teams are within driving distance. Even "selling" a game to a FBS team for a few hundred thousand dollars only makes up a fraction of the tuition revenue USD currently enjoys from non-scholarship football.
I feel like the Pioneer football league are pretty cool in their own ways with their stadiums!
1:02 "The Stadium opened over 100 years ago, making it over 100 years old . . . . " You win the redundant award! 🙂
This channel literally reveals some hidden gems when it comes to stadiums.
San Diego and St. Thomas take the prize here, with Drake being an alltime classic.
Torero stadium while small, is such a pretty stadium. I mean the whole university could be the prettiest campus in america. Great architecture, extraordinarily maintained, beautiful greenery and gardening, and overlooking mission bay in san diego. I can see why everyone wants to play there
currently a student
USD has been rated the prettiest campus in the US if I recall. Absolutely gorgeous (I'm biased as a 1987 graduate).
Fun fact about St. Thomas: up until recently they were a D-III school, but got expelled from their conference for winning too much (not a joke, the actual term used was 'athletic competitive parity') and they were granted a rare exception to jump straight to Division I after the school was heavily recruited by D-I conferences.
Heavily recruited, but they chose one of the worst football conferences in DI?
@@TonysMusic1974 probably only conference to send an invite
&Tony’s Music St. Thomas being an old D-3 school doesn’t have the budget to offer football scholarships and the Pioneer Football League is a conference made for those schools that don’t offer football scholarships thus why they’re in it.
As a Stetson alum, it's nice to see us get a shoutout on this channel!
This is my favorite UA-cam channel of all time. Keep doing what you’re doing, man
CAA stadiums please, and include JMU! They haven’t left yet! (Technically)
Can't wait for this one!
I have been asking for the last 4 videos!!
Yes! i wanna hear what he has to say about UNH
@@duhbullb Me too
Best FCS conference in the nation surprised he didnt do it yet, I played at URI
Please do a video on the stadiums of the Turkish Süper Lig, the stadiums there are so diverse
That’s a big jump up in competition for St Thomas. D3 to FCS is a a major step. I love watching the MIAC and WIAC games, and their great traditions. It’s too bad that we aren’t going to get anymore Johnnies vs Tommies game. That was on my bucket list.
Make sure to do the Southern Conference. Some beautiful stadiums in some stunning locations.
This may be biased but WCUs stadium has the greatest scenery in the whole conference
*Patiently waiting for the MEAC*
Wow, how you can afford to travel to all those stadiums and take those great aerial shots, I'll never know.
It's Google Earth buddy. You must have heard of it.
@@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888 take a joke
Cool fact for you! Stetson is named after the inventor of the cowboy hat, therefore they are the Hatters
Thanks for this video! I spent many Saturdays watching USD football as a student in the 1980s. I've also been to Davidson when I lived in North Carolina (when Davidson has played USD)
Love your videos mate. Just came here after your video of EFL Championship Stadiums. Here's a comment for the algorithm ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
The Sellick Bowl was originally intended to be a true bowl stadium. In the 1920s Butler had aspirations of joining the Big Ten and after buildingthe gigantic fieldhouse they started on a football stadium. Construction started on the northeast corner and had made it around to the 50 yard line on the other side before they got a new president who decided not to continue construction, leaving it in a J shape. In the 50s they tore down the south endzone seats and built an outdoor theater which stood till 2005 when it along with the entire east stands were torn down. The bowl name remained even though it's just a modest two sided stadium now.
Thank you I’ve been waiting for these ones
Fun fact the st.paul team is so good that they jumped from d-3 to d-1
They literally got kicked out of their old conference for winning too much.
You make the best videos on yotube. I really like the collage basketball arena ones. I hope you keep doing those. Keep it
Id love to see the South Atlantic Conference from D2, So I can see my Lenoir-Rhyne Bears on this channel.
love this series bro
LET'S GO I been waiting for this!
What the heck bro!? You scared the crap out of me with that canon sound at the beginning. lol.
The League of Ireland and Vanarama National league have some really cool ones
St. Thomas was too good in all sports, was kicked out of their D3 conference and received an exception from the NCAA to move directly to Division 1. The one school that didn’t want to kick them out was their primary football rival, St. John’s. It was, arguably, the biggest rivalry in D3 football and regularly drew over 15,000 when played @ St. John’s. There wasn’t enough room for that many at St. Thomas for the games against the Johnnies and they started playing at larger venues. The rivalry drew nearly 35,000 to a game at Target Field (home of the Minnesota Twins) and 19,000 to a game at Allianz Field (home of Minnesota United FC). If not for COVID, they would have played the final game against each other at the Viking’s USBank Stadium. I have no doubt there would have been 65,000 in the building for that one.
Des Moines , IA . So underrated ❤️
Div 2 football stadiums and Texas high school football stadiums. Please and thank. Love the videos
Hey!! Another video I loved!! Presbyterian hall of fame player Darrel Bridges transferred to UT Chattanooga his senior year. Which is a part of SOCON!!!
Please do lone star conference D2 football
That would be cool
Please do the CAA next
Imagine my shock with headphones in when the cannon went off. 😅
This is a good one. Good work as always. To bad you will need to do all of college Football again in 2023.
Once you complete D1-AA maybe you could do D2. Check out the Pennsylvania Conference.
My nephew was a long snapper at Morehead State. I've been to Welcome Stadium; it's close to their basketball arena, which is the most horrible place imaginable to host an indoor band competition (you have to get everything down a monstrous hill with a turn halfway down, and then scramble to push everything back up before the next band comes on) yet the WGA World Championships for indoor winds are held there every year.
I've seen indoor band competitions at Wright State in Dayton, which has a much newer, modern arena with plenty of staging room.
Still hoping for the WAC/ASUN conference!
Welcome Stadium is across the river from campus, but that parking lot is mainly used for the arena next door, where there is more fan support.
Time for a little history..
The Pioneer League was founded in the early 90's as a response to the NCAA cracking down on schools playing below their weight class, so to speak. For many years, most of the schools that make up the conference played in either Division II or Division III despite having Division I level sports in others, like basketball. This changed when the NCAA said that for a school to be in Division I, all of their sports had to be in Division I. This rule forced six schools to form the Pioneer League with five of the six still in the conference (The one who isn't is Evansville, who dropped their program in 1997). They've added members over the years and have seen a few of them graduate up to scholarship football like Austin Peay, Campbell and Mercer while Jacksonville dropped their program two years ago.
As for the members themselves..
Butler: More known for their basketball team, which plays in the Big East. They also have a bulldog mascot named Butler Blue, he's awesome.
Davidson: More known as the school that had Stephen Curry lead the way to the Elite 8 in 2008. Their other sports are in the Atlantic 10
Dayton: Another A-10 school, their arena is the home site for the First Four of the Men's basketball tournament.
Drake: Another school with a bulldog mascot and I believe they vote for the Best Bulldog during the Drake Relays or something like that.
Marist: A member of the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), they are a leftover from when that conference had football, which it dropped in 2007.
Morehead State: A member of the OVC that doesn't play within the OVC for football, they're the alma mater for Phil Simms.
Presbyterian: The smallest school at the Division I level in terms of enrollment, they're a current member of the Big South that had to drop scholarship football because they weren't any good. BTW, the nickname (Blue Hose) comes from the socks the players wore in the early 20th century but it also has ties to Scottish warriors.
St. Thomas: The newest member of the Pioneer League also has their roots in Division III, but for different reasons - they were given the boot by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for being too damn good. So, the Tommies had to looks for options and oddly enough, the Summit League gave them an invite. Earlier this year, the NCAA okayed this extraordinary move for St. Thomas with the caveat of a 6 year process to become an official Division I school (Normally, a Division II school has to do a four year transition to become a Division I school).
San Diego: One of the better known teams in the Pioneer League because of the playoff success they've had - they're the only school in the league to win an FCS Playoff game (and they have 2 wins).
Stetson: A member of the ASUN conference, they brought back football in 2013 and really haven't done anything since.. although they have a cool nickname in the Hatters - famous hat maker John Stetson founded the school and all.
Valparaiso: Another school more known for hoops then anything else, they're in the Missouri Valley. They also went through a recent nickname change as they were the Crusaders up until recently. The negative connotation of the name forced them to make a change, which they did and a few months ago, they became the Beacons.
Great video. Do the bandy elitserien stadiums.
For small colleges and Universities they sure have to travel far, even more then the top team leagues!
Yeah and this is just a football-only conference. The teams are all in different conferences for other sports; for instance, Butler is part of the Big East and Dayton and Davidson are in the Atlantic 10.
@@HaydenU Still for small schools they have to pay more in the long run for trips... unles the NCAA helps out!
@@dennisud This is the I-FCS conference for schools that don't want their football teams to be at this level. Several years ago, the NCAA made a rule that you can't compete in different divisions in different sports (with some exceptions). The Pioneer League was formed by schools who were playing D3 football but D1 everything else, and they continue not to offer scholarships. So, ironically, they're in this conference to save money.
@@waverod9275 Thanks for the information! A good way to do things!
That's what not providing scholarships can do.
Can’t wait to see my school on the big south stouts stadium video
Make a video about your favourite stadium in every European country, I'd love to watch it
For Butler it is student apartments and dorms so that's cool.
You should look into the older version of Butlers stadium. It used to be a bowl shape and ampi theater attached to it
You should review the ASUN/WAC conference
Would love to see what Welcome Stadium's land looked like in 1949. How did it end up looking like that in the middle of a parking lot?
That isn’t the original football field, it’s actually across the Miami River from the university (I Live in Dayton)
The original stadium is used for Soccer/track and is nestled behind a large brick building.
Imo I think they should have stayed even though the seating is about 1/2 or less
Are you gonna do the MEAC conference (If only to talk about Morgan State and Howard U)?
Do Mexican baseball stadiums 👍🏻👍🏻love the videos
For the Stetson stadium, Do you know why the city is named Deland. Because it's close to Desea.
Hey could you do a video on SEC Baseball stadiums
I know you haven't gotten there yet, but could you do the D3 Commonwealth Coast Conference?
You should cover the d2 football stadiums. Gliac
Are you going to do the Big South?
I used to live by welcome stadium and fun fact it's actually owned by Dayton Public Schools that's actually there biggest money maker
Will you be doing Frontier League Football Stadiums? They are in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and I think Utah.
Hey can you do the Ligue 2 stadiums (France) please 🙏?
The cannon freaked me out while wearing earphones
Do more college basketball arena videos!😁
Please do the big south conference football stadiums
Please make more videos on cricket stadiums,
Please do a vid on stadiums in the jd welsh premier league
Dayton really needs a new stadium
my dad went there and quit d1 football after 2 weeks because of how sucky the field was lol
@@carter-rm9js yeah it really needs a complete overhaul. For as good as the team is they deserve better facilities. Sorry your dad had to deal with that.
I should go up to St. Paul next year and watch a football game.
Looking forward to an American Southwest Conference
are you do all fcs football stadiums
When are you doing the big south
That’s where The Waterboy was filmed? That stadium needs to be a national landmark
Do the Atlantic Sun football stadiums!!!
You should do HBCU’s Stadiums
Please do NBA GLeage Arenas or the best arena in each state
Welcome stadium home of the Dayton Flyers because of the Wright Brothers and the Wright Flyer.
Can you continue Canadian university football
I played against St. Thomas when they were still D3!
Please do European Conference league stadiums!
Do the NEC football conference D1AA
Please do CAA!! They are 2x the size of these stadiums
It seems that the more academically prestigious colleges tend to have football fields close to the center of the campus.
Do the Canadian premier league or Ontario league1 next !!!! 🍁 ⚽️
You should look at GAA stadiums
do the northeast conference next
Yeah that would be cool my favorite fcs team is in that conference
The Pioneer League is a D1 league for teams that don’t want to field a legitimate D1 football program at the FCS or FBS level. Pioneer League football is a non-scholarship league. That means it’s pretty much full of guys who want to play D1 football, but aren’t D1-level football players. A friend summarized the league as a bunch of players with dads insistent their “future hall of famers” play D1 football and are willing to pay full freight (meaning they pay full tuition) for the experience.
I was wondering about that; when I was watching this video, I was surprised that St. Thomas (MN) was in this league. They were Division 3 until this season, I guess, but what changed their minds?
@@ClaudiusPGreen The D3 conference St. Thomas was in kicked them out for winning too much
@@jamessimms415 I'm speechless. Truly speechless.
ohhhh shoot as a stetson fan i know our stadium is pretty bad, but thanks for covering over it! the PFL doesn't get any love and the main reason why is because we suck
Do GAA stadiums
My brother plays at drake, go dawgs!
Would love to see Morehead upgrade their stadium. They deserve better.
Do the WAC
Please do the southern conference go cats
Sunday league cricket grounds of west Bengal please.
SoCon or I riot
Do "Southern Conference" next, "SOCON"
Do HBCU Schools of the CIAA & SIAC.
PC Stadium is really nice I live 10 minutes from it
Do the SAA
I can’t imagine the budget that these schools have for travel. I know for a fact that PC is a small school so it blows me away that they have to travel so far for away games.
Travel can't happen if they offered scholarships so good thing the conference don't