FargoBison

I think they could switch dates and get a deal with another sports cable network, that said none of the other networks have the impact that ESPN does. I do agree the Summit doesn't do enough to protect its top teams. If it was up to me I'd scrap the Summit model and move to what the Horizon does.

At least NDSU gets a bye this year...more than they would have gotten in previous seasons. The way the Summit runs their tournament is definitely flawed. Top seeds should always get byes...tournament should be Thursday-Sunday. IMO the Horizon has the best setup.

I never said anything about UND's academics holding them back. What would be holding UND back in FBS would be market, facility and budget. NDSU would have similar issues. Going FBS in a bare bones manner is $5 million a year added to the athletics budget. That is a big chunk of new money to come up with every year and and to be competitive you would probably want that number to be closer to $10 million.

NDSU's research classification isn't? Both schools have their strengths. To make this academic argument in regards to the Big Sky adding one over the other is laughable.

The WAC wanting to add Montana schools gave them leverage. When NDSU and SDSU were being discussed that threat didn't really exist, so the west coast schools could block. Academically there little to no difference between NDSU and UND so I am not sure what point you are even trying to make. Academically NDSU is very similar to Montana State.

The answer to that is in my previous post.

The timing was better, the WAC was wanting to take schools and it gave the Montana schools leverage to get who they wanted. Montana State tried everything possible to get NDSU into the league....PSU and Sac would have none of it.

Congrats on having a similar academic profile to NDSU I guess. UND got into the Big Sky because the timing was right for them, it wasn't right when NDSU wanted to join. That said it ended up working out better anyway I guess for NDSU.

Those schools went FBS a long...long....long time ago. It is a different world now.

In some off chance this happened...I could see NDSU becoming involved. That said I don't see the Belt voluntarily creating a new conference resulting in money coming out of their pockets every year because of it.

NDSU football's media numbers are way more impressive than those merchandise numbers. Those numbers will translate to some real money.

I don't see the Belt going for this, I think they add Missouri State and call it good for now. I do think another western conference is needed but that is an argument Idaho and western/great plains AD's and president's will need to make to the NCAA/FBS.

Indiana State's resume is basically the same as NDSU's...that isn't a good thing if you want an at-large.

Football is by far the most watched sport in ND. I'm talking TV and butts in seats. When I put TV in there....football is lapping the field.

The Redhawks would be #2...That said everything lags miles and miles behind NDSU football.

The only place where hockey is bigger than football in ND is Grand Forks/Grafton.

Football is king in ND and it isn't close. That said football is king pretty much everywhere in this country.

Well at least they don't have to go to SUU anymore. Worst road trip in all of DI. The league does need to add another eastern school, somebody to pair with WIU or IPFW.

All I can say is that the Summit has done a nice job in getting away from that model and building a solid footprint. That conference is a mess, talk about a travel nightmare.

Ohio State spends more on football then UND spends on its entire athletics department. When it comes to football only a select few have the ability to compete. The rest are just playing for meaningless bowls or chose to be the in the FCS. Don't compare it to hockey, it just doesn't work.

Valpo would be the be last team to get a 12, so not in the decade. What I said was based on this yahoo article..... http://sports.yahoo....-235101188.html

I am not pounding my chest at all. I will only do that in regards to NCAA tournament success, which has been absent for either conference for a while now. What I am doing is stating what has happened. A summit team was in discussion to get a possible at-large, somebody made it seem like that is never the case. Somebody else also said the Summit will never get a 12 seed which is just ridiculous, especially since it has happened before.

Hey I'm not the one that said the committee seeded the Summit champion and then never talked about the conference again. If a Summit team was mentioned on national TV by the committee chairman, clearly they talked about a Summit team beyond the auto-bid winner.

Except in 2012 right? You know when the committee chairman went on CBS and told the entire nation that a Summit League team was the last team out of the field.

If there was no beer and they couldn't give away tickets they would struggle to draw over 1500.