star2city

Fargo has been gaining west-bound flights, and its only 70 miles away. Consider the air service in Pocatello or Flagstaff (or, for that matter, Cedar City) Three years ago that was used a a theoretical example. In practice, the "leverage hockey attributes" strategy has been shifted to the west with a Canadian twist.

At the risk of sounding like even more of a broken record: SUU will not be going to the BSC, as it doesn't pass the we "want to expand with programs that make us better" sniff test. (It does however, pass the "make us worse" test). SUU doesn't have votes and they don't make the BSC better or enhance the BSC revenue - its just another hungry mouth to feed at the trough of conference revenues. SUU only gets added in desperation if two schools leave the BSC and the BSC hasn't already made a move. Even in the remote chance SUU should leave the MidCon, the MidCon then is forced to respond by taking UTPA to maintain its core members number and its autobid. Other schools only get added if the MidCon goes to 12. DU will not go to the BSC unless there are more additions that satisfy DU. DU holds all the cards: they are the only acceptable core DI member. The BSC absolutely needs one more core member for protection, and they (the BSC) will do what it takes to attract DU. A single canadian school will not be accepted into the BSC, as it wouldn't satisfy the BSC's need for a core member. The BSC choices are rather simple: Add DU + 2 others mutually attractive to DU and the BSC (i.e. UBC and UND) - improves the perception of the BSC, opens future markets, increases revenues and assure survival for 15+ years Add SUU - does nothing to revenue and makes future defections (MT to WAC - MT was informally offered before Idaho was, but decline) more likely, future looks bleak Do nothing - endangers conference autobid status creating even more instability Aff, Until you can grasp the concepts associated with core member and autobid requirements, all your so-called expert comments are just hot air.

Aff promises a million dollars that it doesn't happen. If UBC is granted NCAA membership in September as seems imminent, the Big Sky will definitely be talking expansion. Big Sky Commissioner Fullerton just two months ago used the words: We "want to expand with programs that make us better" --> code for "we want to expand with programs that draw attention to the Big Sky, give us bigger media contracts, and make us all more money."

So much for the United Basketball Conference? If UND doesn't get in the BSC - its conference/scheduling options would be bleak. After the MidCon expansion took three schools, the so-called United Basketball Conference is down to three: Utah Valley State Texas-Pan Am New Jersey Institute of Technology Supposedly, Savannah State and Longwood could also join. If USD, UNO, and/or Augustana move up, these schools would be their athletic peers. The Big Sky meetings in October will provide good news for UND. P.S. Another story on UTPA: UTPA athletics still roaming lonely land of Independents

Who wins, by how much, and why? BTW, it seems UND is 6-1 against its most recent IAA opponents. (Granted they were more than 20 years ago. ) 1979 at Montana State, W, 20-16 1979 at Illinois State, W, 20-0 1980 Montana State, W, 14-6 1981 at Nevada, W, 17-11 1982 at Montana State, W, 28-27 1983 Montana State, W, 21-3 1985 at Northern Arizona, L, 0-41

WKU will announce IA football after this season. There will be one, maybe two more years of WKU in the Gateway. The Gateway will want at least another school in as soon as WKU leaves. Six conference games would make scheduling too difficult. Not anymore: Mayor abandons crusade to bring back Wichita State football Every single Gateway school is public. The four private schools in the MVC can not afford scholarship football. Obviously, we disagee. DU could have moved to the BSC at the same time as when UNC was accepted. DU chose not to move then, because the BSC school profile was not satisfactory. DU will move to the BSC once the school profile has been upgraded to its satisfaction. It will be a win-win-win-win situation for everyone, including UND.

The WAC will almost certainly take either Sac St or Davis once they get their facilities in order as a replacement for Louisiana Tech, which will say goodbye to the WAC sometime within this decade.

[url=http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/colleges/university_of_missouri-kansas_city/15435039.htm]UMKC at the crossroads - WHAT

Getting back to the topic. On the Sunbelt Conference website, their Commissioner, Wright Waters, answers questions from fans on a monthly basis. This particular answer potentially affects both the Big Sky and Great West. Ask The Sunbelt Commissioner

Idaho is really three distinct regions: Southeast, Southwest (Boise), and North. Each of these have different allegiances, with U of Idaho being the only one having a decent level of state-wide support. Southeast Idaho is practically an extension of Utah, so BYU is by far THE school. ISU, while having high support in Pocatello, would probably come in third in its region after BYU-Idaho if BYU-I still had athletics. U of Idaho, U of Utah and Utah State also have some support In Southwest Idaho, Boise St is certainly first, followed by Idaho and then probably BYU. In North Idaho, the Vandals are clearly the most popular, although WSU probably gets some following.

Surprising, Steve Hallstrom doesn't think too highly of the Great West in his latest blog: Hallstrom also believes the Big Sky is the place to be:

So as a DU grad, would you like to see the Pioneers in the MidCOn? Your administration would never.

DUGrad: I can appreciate your skepticism, but there is a lot of additional information that you need to consider. First, because of new NCAA regulations for conference autobids, the Big Sky needs one additional DI core member, a status that takes 13 years at the DI level to acheive. UNC, UND, USD, NDSU, SDSU, and UBC are not core members and will not be till late next decade or early in the 2020's. The only two real possibilities to fulfill this need of the Big Sky are DU and SUU. Adding SUU would destabilize the BSC further, as both Montana and Montana State would start seriously looking a the WAC if SUU was added. For future stability, the BSC badly needs DU and is pursuing it with vigor IMHO. Second, DU and the Sunbelt are not a match. The Sunbelt is a IA football league that really would like to see DU move on (so it can add future IA football schools, like Texas St., and perhaps Appalachian St and Georgia Southern). DU's athletics clearly does not fit with such a conference, especially after New Mexico St left. DU's conference options are minimal: the Horizon chose to stay a purely Great Lakes conference, the Mo Valley is full and stable, the WCC has declined DU's offers of transportation subsidies, and the WAC interest in a 10th non-football playing member has subsided. DU will not stoop to the level of the MidCon and would prefer not to be in the Big Sky, unless it upgraded itself more to DU's liking. Third, with UBC likely receiving NCAA DI membership, it will be (and probably has been) pursuing conference membership. Since UBC will be playing football at the IAA level, the only western conference options for it would be the Big Sky or a WCC/Great West Football combo. The WCC has expressed no interest in adding a large public university, so that leaves the Big Sky. With UBC being practically a PAC-10 university academically and offering the large Vancouver media market, the Big Sky would hugely benefit from more media exposure, television $'s and would be viewed more positively academically. UBC would get very strong support from schools like Portland St., EWU, Montana for membership. With UBC in the Big Sky, the Big Sky would effectively be looked at as THE NCAA conference in the western Canada (consider the media dollars that would bring in). In the future, other western Canadian universities would look to the Big Sky first if they were to join the NCAA. Since UBC would be an upgrade academically and has a unique athletic offering similar to DU, DU would be much more likely to want to join the BSC. Finally, a third school would be needed to get conference membership to 12 (11 is a bad number for scheduling). Who would that be? Not SUU (DU as well as UM and MSU would not agree to that). Likely not a second Canadian school until UBC is firmly established. Since most Big Sky schools are not familiar to western Canadian audiences, it would be natural for the Big Sky to add one that is: UND. UND is a familiar name with Canadian sports fans, especially after the World Juniors Hockey tournament. UND would have allies in its bid from UNC, DU, MSU, UM, and UBC. Portland St, Sac St, and EWU, having been placated with a UBC and DU addition, will not object so stridently on geographic terms. UND does offer the Big Sky a media package that no other existing Big Sky schools can match: a Fighting Sioux Sports Network on cable systems in North and South Dakota and NW Minnesota. This same cable network could also offer a Big Sky sports package with the FSSN is not televising: added $'s and exposure to the Big Sky. Getting DU to move to the Big Sky is the linchpin for this whole scenario. As PuckSwami, a very knowledgable DU fan (mostly posts on USCHO) stated: I am not the only one that sees potential here.

So will this stipend be in cash, securities, treasuries, or real estate?

2005-6 Average Attendance 6721 CC hockey 5917 DU hockey 5671 Wyoming basketball 5018 CU basketball 4303 CSU basketball 3822 Air Force basketball 2254 DU basketball If DU hockey is an afterthought, CU and CSU basketball certainly are too. Another bison fan that can't think strategically. So, in other words, Bison fans are hoping and praying a UND --> Big Sky doesn't happen.

A few more articles: Tacome News-Tribune: Wildcats hope to surprise new foes Seattle Times: A whole new league for Wildcats, Vikings Seattle Times: Central Washington Preview

Hmm, hasn't the Big Sky Commissioner publicly spoken in favor of the BSC going DIA in football? Perhaps Mr. Fullerton envisions a "northern WAC". Trade Idaho for Northern Arizona or Sac St, adding a few large Canadian schools, and adding one school to cover the less populous Dakotas: that could make for a rather strong conference that certainly would have the potential sometime late next decade to be a IA.

The real issue is that the state of North Dakota will not subsidize the operation of the Ralph, like they did for the Hyslop, Old Ralph, and like they do for the BSA. The Ralph has to pay its way entirely, down to the sanitary sewer bills. If the Hyslop and Old Ralph had to pay for utilities and support personnel, UND athletics would have continually run deficits. Live in the past if you choose, but the REA and the hockey tradition that now lies within it will take UND athletics, soon, to a place no one dreamed possible ten years ago.

Bison fans need to relax: NDSU is in. A conference like the Mid-Con needs as much exposure as possible: so they make individual trips to each city to make the announcement in full blown local press conferences so the Fort Wayne, Fargo, and Sioux Falls/Brookings media each have their day. The MidCon also wants to make the announcement as dramatic and tension-filled as possible - Bison fans are falling for it. I wouldn't be surprised if the NDSU MidCon announcement was at halftime of the tomorrow's football game - for added theatrical effect. Chapman loves his press conferences. If NDSU or SDSU wasn't in, that would have been announced today.

Agree a stadium is a ways out (if ever), but what would be the attendance with unlimited seating of: UND/NDSU game ? Would 30,000 be possible? UND/Montana game? 20,000? This would be a stretch, but what about, if the NCAA allows Canadian schools in, a UND/Manitoba game? If Winnipeg's proposal for their semi-enclosed, electrically heated-seat 30,000 seat stadium gets built, Mr Ledowhoski and Co. may be looking for additional tenants while U of Manitoba may be looking to keep up with UBC.

So is Steve Hallstrom going to do another expose' on UND's athletic department, like he did last May when he practically assured distraught bison fans that UND would not be going DI? It is a well known public fact that UND has been using tuition waivers for women's hockey. It is also known that UND, as an institution, uses fewer tuition waivers than NDSU. Consider also that UND's leadership has been open and communicative with the North Dakota University System. You and a few other sorry but fearful bison fans are just desperately hoping that some type of scandal will derail UND's DI move.

Haven't seen this posted elsewhere: Sporting News: North Dakota players share the time

Since UND outdraws NDSU in "bouncyball", apparently bison fans don't consider it a sport either. As far as UND fans going to DU/UND b-ball, I can think of five UND alumns (+ spouses / kids) in the Denver area who would be defintely go to Magness. (Most of them also go to DU/UND hockey). With the opening of the T-REX light rail system this fall, Magness Arena will be very convenient. If Bison and Jack fans only knew how credible Puck Swami is as a poster, they'd really shake in their boots. UBC/DU/UND to the Big Sky may be an dream scenario for UND, but the odds of it happening are growing more credible daily. This week, the NCAA may very well officially announce that Canadian schools will be allowed in the NCAA. After that, watch for an expansion announcement from the October Big Sky meetings.

Sioux goo: The tuition waivers that have been given out by the Sioux women's hockey have almost certainly exceeded 1/2 mill in the last five years. Is that the basis for your comments - accrued "loss" / tuition waivers?