bincitysioux

Not sure what you mean by that. UND sports went from being available in 54 Million homes to 275,000 homes. In my book, that is a downgrade. The vast majority of North Dakotans won't even have access to "UND Sports Extra", which has been aired state-wide for like 30 years.

I do understand all of that. This will be the last year that the Sioux hockey is available on FCS. That is due to the exclusivity clause that the NCHC signed with CBS. My problem is that UND football, basketball, volleyball, and women's hockey will not be on FCS this year, presumably because of the deal with Midco. I question whether or not it was a good idea to cut Forum Communications/WDAZ out of the TV rights in favor of Midco. Midco serves about 275,000 homes in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Forum Communications serves about 650,000 homes in North Dakota alone, and probably reaches 100,000 more in South Dakota and Minnesota. I understand that very few games were televised on Forum Comm's ABC stations, but the Sunday night coach's show was, as well as marquee games like the Gopher hockey game and NDSU basketball game were. The deal with Midco drops UND's overall state-wide audience by two-thirds. Who cares if Midco will have HD and a penalty clock if nobody can see it?

I've been hearing football ads on 970 WDAY and seeing them on WDAZ for 2-3 weeks now. Haven't seen anything on today's event other than on Fightingsioux.com and Midcosportsnet.com.........................

I guess up until this new atrocity that is passing for a TV deal with Midco was signed this summer, I think Faison's team has done an excellent job with marketing. They expanded the FSSN to numerous local cable companies, and then got the deal with Fox College Sports that made Sioux sports available nationwide. The radio network has increased exponentially, and now includes occasional broadcasts of basketball, volleyball, and women's hockey outside of the Grand Forks market. As far as facilities go, I don't know what more improvements could be made outside of the Indoor Practice Facility, and maybe a different soccer field. The Betty, REA, and Alerus are all first class, and were all in place before he got here. Kraft Field and the Alerus have both received turf upgrades under his watch. Tennis will be moving into a new spectacular facility soon. I don't know how much, if anything, he had to do with any of that, but with the REA, Alerus, Sioux Center, updated Kraft Field, and Choice Wellness Center, I'd hardly say that UND has facilities that are "no better than a DII or DIII school".............

Could Faison possibly the best A.D. that North Dakota has ever had?

Well that is good news I suppose. Kind of sucks for the fans that are aware that North Dakota has other sports besides hockey....................... No access for FTA satellite users either. Link This new deal with Midco sure does suck compared to what we've gotten used to for like 10 years now.

2012 Big Sky position rankings: Running backs

I think the Sioux Center is an awesome basketball venue when it is near capacity. I don't miss the Hyslop at all...................

Over Under Over

27 16 6 wins, 0 losses 2 wins, 3 losses (San Diego St., Montana St., EWU) Cal Poly. It will be the only conference game that the Mustangs lose. 13,500 No. Only around 8,000 on average last season. Expect to be in the neighborhood of 10,000 this season............

Absolutely. When North Dakota was poised to join the Summit Leauge, I thought that was an awful proposition (although slightly better than the Great West). We would have had "X" schools for hockey opponents, "X" schools for basketball/olympic opponents, and "X" schools for football opponents. If Denver had football, that would totally change how I view them as far as this discussion goes.

Nothing wrong with that at all! I hope they keep all games in the Sioux Center though. Someday, I think the interest may justify having a Big Sky game in the REA (Montana, Montana St., Weber) but for now, I think the atmosphere that the Sioux Center provides trumps what the REA could. I'd rather have 3,000 fans in the Betty for an important Big Sky game against Weber or Montana than 5,000 in the cavernous REA.................................

Hard to argue with any of that. All I'm saying, is that in my eyes, Denver and UNC would be a push. I view Denver as has quality academics, mediocre olympic sports, geography, and hockey going for it. UNC has above average olympic sports, geography, and football going for it. If I had to pick one, I'd personally pick UNC because of the familiarity across all sports and the fact that they have football. Having said that, I don't know why I'm lobbying so hard for them, since they are not even in my "dream" conference! As far as "academic peers", I think my hypothetical conference offers quite a few to UND with Idaho, Montana, Montana St., South Dakota St., and Drake in the mix................ In the NCC days, I'd say SDSU, USD, and NDSU were the only ones that came close........................

Did your source give a reason for turning it down? Not calling you out, just saying that given UND's history for scheduling FBS teams, it seems unlikely that they'd turn down 4 times what they've agreed to in the past on multiple occaisions..............................

This video was linked in the football forum. It mentioned that season tickets for basketball were unusually ahead of pace compared to prior years. So, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were on how attendance could or should be for this upcoming season in the Big Sky. Last year, attendance was 2,045. That includes the 7,000+ that came for the NDSU game. That game will be in Fargo this year, so we don't get that one to pad the stats. During the 4 year transition, the average has been 1,873. So, do you say over or under 1,900? I think if we are competetive, we can do 2,500+............................

I think only Montana St. in this hypothetical conference has skiing. None of the others have Lacrosse (unless Sicatoka gets his way ) . Surely, neither would be sponsored by this conference. I'm just not as big on Denver as alot of others are. I love them in the NCHC, and WCHA, but like I said, what do they bring to the table other than hockey, that Northern Colorado does not? I'm not even including UNC in my proposal, but they have a football program, a baseball program, better basketball, better volleball, a history with UND, and don't have 4 pro sports teams 10 minutes away to compete with.

Denver has been DI forever and have been to the Tournament the same number of times that Northern Colorado has. I don't like affiliate members. I like academic peers as well, but you have to "give and take". Northern Iowa is nowhere near an academic peer to North Dakota, but they have location and quality athletics going for them. Same goes for Eastern Washington. Personally, I'd take Northern Colorado over Denver. Denver destroys them academically, but UNC has the same location, better athletics, and probably a better fan base for every sport that isn't played on ice.

The numbers are definately trending upward. If the number we are debating was in fact offered to North Dakota, I have a hard time believing they'd turn it down. Which leads me to believe that high a payout wasn't offered....................................

I can acknowledge Denver both academically and geographically.................... But as far as athletics go, outside of hockey, they are below Idaho St., and even Northern Colorado as far as I can tell......................................

Agree.................. The most I've ever seen reported was in the $500,000 to $600,000 range that Montana got from Tennessee.................................. Oklahoma could probably pay more than Tennessee, but I doubt they'd offer it to a school like North Dakota...........................

Buning left in December of 2007. He was the fool that agreed to a $10,000 buy-out clause with both Idaho St. and Southeast Louisiana (which they both excercised). He also locked us into two games with Idaho at $100,000 a pop, barely enough to cover expenses. That was gross. Faison came in May of 2008. He got us $225,000 from Texas Tech (as a non-counter), $250,000 from Fresno St., and $275,000 from San Diego St. Faison has been awesome......................

If we are talking a purlely hypothetical "pie-in-the-sky" conference, I would offer this................ North Dakota Northern Iowa Montana St. Montana Idaho Idaho St. South Dakota St. Weber St. Eastern Washington Drake Travel partners would be: UND-SDSU UNI-Drake Idaho-EWU Idaho St.-Weber St. Montana St.-Montana -All schools have football -The home state's of all schools adjoin contiguously -A nice mix of FCS football powers and a couple highly regarded mid-major basketball schools -Allows for intriguing non-conference games against NDSU, USD, UNC, etc.....................

Faison is the one who made that deal. And it was quite the accomplishment at the time, because North Dakota was not a "counter" to Texas Tech for bowl game aspirations...........................UND is one of the few teams to get an FBS game as a "non-counter". I can't see Faison turning down Oklahoma for even $300,000...................unless prior scheduling requirements precluded it, which is very possible. But for $1 million? UND would find a way to make the game happen..................... Sorry, but I question your "source".......................

$225,000

That website should be "www.tall-tales.com."