UND Fan

The original capacity of the Betty was to be 3,200 as most crowds have been less than that. Only at the last minute did they agree to increase it to 4,000. In other words, it could have been worse!

Plus, he had committed to UND before changing his mind and going to Texas at the last minute. That prohibited us from getting another kid we wanted because we had committed $ to Terry. I think he had some minor injury while in Texas but nothing to blame a so-so career on.

Someone stated that the press conference also discussed a new fundraising drive. What was that all about? I had hoped they might be announcing a new indoor practice facility. Apparently, not yet!

The VerDouw kid was a great prospect when he was a freshman in HS but did not continue his development. Niether UND nor SU had an interest in giving him scholarship $. (That doesn't mean he won't develop into a decent player.) The Terry kid transferred from SU to Valley City State. There certainly have been cases over the years where a ND kid turned into a heck of a player at smaller colleges but I can't think of an obvious "miss" by UND or NDSU in the last 5-6 years. Northern definitely recruited 2-3 of them in the mid-90s. Who else am I missing?

Sicakota - you are absolutely right. It is a money issue! Games at the Ralph will likely generate 2-3 times more revenue than if they were played at the Betty. You have to generate $ to bring in that many quality opponents. UND will pay $150,000 more in guarantees for BB and FB next year than they did this year. That is offset to some degree by reduced travel costs. There are no home-and-home arrangements with any of the new BB teams on the schedule (not sure about FB). That being said, the Ralph certainly doesn't have the same atmosphere as Hyslop. I live out of state but was in GF over the weekend for the games. The Bison fans won't agree with this, but I guarantee the UND women's team would have won that game had it been played at Hyslop. It would have been so loud in there that you wouldn't have been able to hear the whistle. I guess that is the price you pay for having to generate so much $ these days to compete. We will likely have more of a home court advantage in the Betty than in the Ralph.

Years ago, there was a Conference Letter of Intent as well as the National Letter. The CLI could be signed prior to the national signing date. It was not binding in that the athlete had to go to that school, but if they signed it, they could not sign a NLI with another school in that conference. I would guess guess the CLI is no longer used - haven't heard about it in a long time. I had not heard of Institutional Letters until now but it makes sense. In March or April each year, you will see schools like Moorhead or Crookston announce 30+ signees. They certainly are not providing scholarship assistance to that many athletes.

I agree with your observation. Obviously, I hope that it is a down period rather than a long term issue. You mentioned Koenig - it is interesting to note that he is unhappy at Green Bay. His friendship with UND red-shirt, Tommy Leikas, may turn out to be a plus for UND. I have no inside knowledge other than the statement about his being unhappy - I don't want to start a rumor!!

So, Bison1234 - Whether this is true or not, it appears that you would have no problem with a team from your university acting in this manner? Am I correct in this assumption?

I am sure that you are partially correct but also for the first time, UND will have a heck of a schedule to announce. The question will be: have they found an opponent on the date that we scheduled to play the Bison. The last I heard, the date remained open for both teams. I believe that is where Kutztown came into play - they also had that date open. I don't know if they wre able to work out a deal. With the playoff situation the way it is and if we were able to find a quality opponent on that date, there really shouldn't be a major issue. However, if both schools have it as an open date, we will be hearing about it from SU fans for the next 9 months!

So did we sign Jordan? Anyone know for sure?

I think part of the delay or at least a reason why our schedule hasn't been finalized and announced is that Bubba was the lead-guy in putting together this schedule. Obviously, he wouldn't have been the one negotiating guarantees but he was the one who was contacting schools to determine interest, their open dates, etc. I think the days of Crookston, etc. are behind us. With only seven NCC schools (meaning six games), finding five really good non-NCC opponents will be a challenge some years so we will likely have a patsy once in a while but the perception (which was reality) that we normally play a weak non-conference schedule will end. Thank God!

That really surprises me that they have discontinued the tourney. It looks like they are going to a regional format similar to Cross Country. The tourney at the end of the year has always determined the NCC Champion, I assume the the team with the best head-to-head record will now be the champ? Still curious if the NCC requires a minimum number of teams in a sport for it to be officially sponsored by the conference.

Does anyone know the miminum number of teams needed in the NCC to warrant a conference championship or if there is a minimum? There will only be four wrestling teams next year - I guess the conference could continue to recognize a championship tournament with four teams - three teams wouldn't make much sense. Swimming should be safe for awhile with five teams remaining. UMD does not have either wrestling or swimming.

92,96 - My understanding was that the Delta State and Ferris State games were just about finalized and negotiations were continuing with Kutztown. Again, my source was a pretty good one but until the contracts are signed, you never know!

Just ignore stupid comments from Bison fans whether it is on their Board or ours. Addressing it and getting into a pissing match with them just lowers ourselves to that level. I have never been to that Board and do not plan on it. There are some SU fans that do provide some good conversation on this Board but, for the most part, I wish they would stay on theirs and we on ours. I certainly hope there aren't UND fans on their Board making dumb, antagonist comments like many of them do on ours. Again, we don't need to do that. Our teams/programs can do the speaking for us - even if we are on different levels going forward. They made that decision - not us!

roper - Thanks for reminding me about when the Blake's moved.

roper - Thanks for informing us about the tourney. That is great that such a tourney is held nearby - I would bet that there will be some future Sioux players taking part! But wouldn't Jason Blake have been playing for a Moorhead team?

I am the one who started the "rumor" here that we may have as many as 8 home games. It appears that we have 7 for sure and we are working on an 8th.

It was hoped that UND could release their schedule before recruiting was complete as it should be quite appealing and could entice a couple of key recruits to come our way. However, it appears that we haven't been able to finalize a few issues. Hopefully, it will be soon!

Am I correct that Rory is the last Manke in the family or are there any other younger Mankes who will be future Sioux?

92,96 - Thanks for the post - I appreciate all the research you do. Getting Freund would be outstanding - it certainly sounds like he is the real deal. I agree - it may help land Heckendorf. Adding Freund to the current group of QBs will make that position very competitive - in other words, a couple of them will likely need to find other positions.

I believe you are correct!

Legend334 - We were asking about your source for your REA info. I don't think anyone will argue with you about the Alerus deal.

Legend 334 - You are very adament in your comments regarding REA, its financing and how it relates to UND's Athletic Department. I know for a fact that much of what you are saying is incorrect. As was asked by others, where did you get your information? It was a poor source.

I do not have any idea how revenues from the Ralph are reported but I know the cost of each suite is $20-30,000 per year and the cost of providing each suite with food and beverages on any given night can run between $250 - $1,500 (many suites are routinely in the $750 - 1,000 range per game). Obviously, this is all not profit but there is a nice margin built in. This income from 48 suites (most of which are occupied each game), along with concession income from the other thousands of people attending every hockey game, amounts to a great deal of $. I would guess that this is not reported an income directly attributable to hockey but it does filter back to the Athletic Department.