star2city

When (not if) UND goes DI, the men's and women's basketball doubleheaders will be a thing of the past. Season ticket packages will be separate. That will likely hurt average attendance for both, but total attendance and revenue will increase. If UND was in a 12-school Big Sky, there would be a 22 game conference schedule, with conference games every Thursday and Saturday (alternating between men's and women's weekends) from early December to the end of February. Scheduling decisions as to which venue each team would play in will be more critical. More than likely, both the men and women would play the majority of all their games in the Betty, with rivalry games against NDSU and maybe Montana, Montana State at the Ralph. Until women's hockey attendance picks up, its probably very conceivable that many of their games would be moved to the Olympic ice to minimize scheduling issues with basketball.

Totally agree with this. In what line items did the MBB program get cut? Not in scholarships, not in salaries. I don''t have the budgets in front of me, but my bet is that game fees (expenses associated with having the games in the Ralph) and game guarantees (incentives paid to other teams to come to the Betty without a return game) are where the budget was cut. As far the the football program, they overpaid Ferris State in game guarantees for their two year contract. Now, almost all of their games are home/away series, so the budget should be down.

Under Armor normally gives sets of workout gear to DI teams for the publicity value, but rarely do they (or Reebok, or Nike) give them to DII teams. I'd be very surprised if the Under Armor clothing was anything other than a publicity gift, considering the stature of the UND hockey programs. When NDSU moved to DI, they were able to get these type of benefits, while at the DII level these companies wouldn't talk unless NDSU was a buyer. DI costs more money than DII. If the women's hockey team is not treated as well as other WCHA teams, recruiting would be that much more difficult.

Any idea of what fraction of last year's tickets in the Ralph were free or reduced? This year, has there been any reduced tickets at the Betty? Since tickets for all games may not be available for walk-ups - the net result should be an increase in season ticket holders for next season.

How much sense would it have made for a city to have a 12,000 seat arena (Ralph in BB config), a 8,000 seat arena for BB (Alerus configuration), and a 5-6,000 seat Betty just for basketball? It wouldn't have been politically possible or fiscally prudent for that matter. Most of the issues listed above can be fixed with a relatively minor $'s, buying a portable water cooler, and getting the REA staff to move out. Their website said $18 mill, which with steel price increase would have been $25 mill in 2004. Doubling the size of the original Betty would have more than doubled its cost.

This said one week before the Olympics, when women's hockey gets a worldwide audience. Some of Olympian women hockey players will one day, likely in Vancouver in 2010, be UND athletes. That is not shortsighted, IMO.

The ND Board of Higher Education authorized the building of the Ralph on UND (and therefore, state) land on the condition that no additional costs would be imposed on the state allocation to UND. Therefore, the Ralph has to be entirely self-supporting, with all staff, energy, improvements and etc. paid for by the Ralph's non-profit corporation. The Ralph 'pays' UND for services, such as steam, while anyone renting ice or court-time pays the Ralph. Ticket income goes to the Ralph, while seat licenses from the Fighting Sioux Club (which have increased significantly) go to the Athletic department. The Ralph's profits, after paying off the debt from the Betty, paying into a 'rainy' day fund, or financing other improvements, are returned to the athletic deparment as charitable donations.

That is exactly correct. Gene Roebuck was one of the prime advocates of a move to the Betty, so much of the complaints on this board ought to be directed to him as anyone else. It needs to be understood that the Betty was always intended as a PRACTICE facility and secondarily to entice recruits to come to UND. The Betty is a practice facility that has seating capacity. Does any current player prefer Hyslop to the Betty? If/when UND gets an indoor football/track training facility, people will be compaining here about the lack of seating capacity in it. A decent 5000-6000 seat arena that could serve dual purposes as a multiple-court practice facility would have cost in the neighboorhood of $30 million (compared to ~$8 million), as the cost of adding seats on an indoor building goes up exponentially when there is a need for concourses etc. It is possible that a replica of the BSA could have been built much more cheaply (say $16 million), but would anyone here seriously want such a building? It is also doubtful that the North Dakota Higher Education board would have ever given the UND / REA authority to build such an arena, when a 12,000 seat already sits on campus.

All the more reason that the playing and practice facilities have to be first-rate. If UND went DI, the capability of offering full scholarships will be a major help in recruiting Canadian athletes. Partial scholly Americans are eligible for other grants and aid. A partial athletic scholarship doesn't really help a Canadian athlete much - with higher tuition rates - unless he /she also gets an academic partial.

Based on this article, it was clear UND was after at least one receiver: http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2006/0...ts/sports02.txt Not saying this recruiting class isn't going to be great, but it does not appear to be as strong as previous years, where UND won many recruiting battles against NDSU and most vs. SCSU. This year, it appears the tables were turned. UND's DI study has been used by other coaches as a reason not to attend UND (this year's recruits may never see a playoff game if a DI move is made). Also have to wonder if Tibesar wasn't a big part of the recruiting success in this past.

NDSU and SDSU basketball appear to be on massively divergent tracks. Who would have thought that NDSU's claim to fame would be through their men's basketball team, while the SDSU men's team has now entered a nightmare scenario: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2314936 Not the kind of national publicity that is needed for a transitioning DI school. If they were DII, this wouldn't be reported nationally.

Bronson Property completely developed with a New Urbanism theme, with a Chipotle on the premises. Business competencies in aviation, avionics, biotechnology, environmental/meterological, educational software, fuel cell/wind, and food processing/nutrition supplement sectors, with multiple local companies in each. A dinky Dinky Town near UND. Quadrupling of number of downtown apartments/condo fueling an increase in number of businesses/restaurants. Resolution of the student seating issue at the REA, with an environment far exceeding memories of the Old Ralph. Pembina escarpement wind energy project a reality, with headquarters in GF. A high 8-figure athletic endowment for the Sioux. Additional attractions to the Alerus/Canad/water park complex: College Hockey HOF, museum, restaurant complex, and an adjoining office park. A major decrease in property taxes made possible by a growing, efficient city and in-filling of existing space. Distinctive architecture in each new or renewed section of the city. NCAA regional championships by the Fighting Sioux at the REA on a recurring basis. Smaller towns within a 60-mile radius and beyond revitalized based on Grand Fork's economic spillover. Gateway Drive actually reflecting kindly upon GF. Bioremediation of a huge track of alkali land west of town for housing, with man-made hills and lakes, allowing trees to flourish, birds to flock, schools of fish, and lake ice and interconnecting canals to skate on. Be an incubator for musical, writing, and artistic talent. Grand Forks as home to a Big Sky conference school. UND playing Ohio State and Notre Dame in men's lacrosse in the spring at the Alerus. A new airport terminal with an expanded flight schedule and destinations. The nickname Fighting Sioux celebrated by all people and understood as the ability of all Dakotans to overcome life's adversities. A population who believes the seemingly impossible is possible, and is thankful for what is just the beginning of a miraculous transformation of a city.

Any word on any school moving? There had been talk about UN-Kearney, Winona, St Thomas, and even Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. It would seem that the NCC has got to decide which direction (east or west) it will commit to. The NCC will need to to drop the requirement of a full voting member to play football. Schools like Montana St-Billings and Wisconsin-Parkside are on the geographic fringes of their conferences and would probably be interested in the NCC if they weren't required to add football. If the NCC committed to a westward expansion - UN-K and MSU-B might be enticed. If an eastward move was commited - maybe schools like St. Thomas, Winona, MTU, NMU, and UW-P would be more inclined. Since the more western tier of NCC schools are more likely to move to DI, it would seem Roger Thomas' only course of action is to consciously move the center of the NCC to the east by adding schools from that direction.

Sound like an innovative possibility. If this is feasible, why not expand the coverage to SD, Wyoming, and Montana - just kepp a few more baloons aloft for a longer time?

Finally found evidence in print that Wayne State (Mich) is looking at DI. Wayne State: $34.7 million stadium on horizon

Other than UT-Pan American, what other southern schools are possible? Tarleton State and/or Central Oklahoma? Sunbelt schools like UA-LR, USA and U-New Orleans would not make the jump. (Although UNO may have severe financial difficulty no matter what they do.)

Looks like there may be another school knocking on the door of the Mid-Continent conference: Oklahoma City University. OCU starts study of feasibility (registration required) Mid-Con schools like Oral Roberts and Centenary, needing closer rivals, may be lobbying hard for this school, which was formerly DI. There really is no other conference option for OCU, as the Southland Conference is "full" at 12 schools.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/13733137.htm Appears the decision to place UAVs at GFAFB is already paying off: With the growth of UAV's expected in both the military and civilian fields, it may not be unspeakable to consider the possibility of Grand Forks UAV offices not only for Lockheed Martin or Raytheon, but also for Boeing or Airbus.

Seems like tiny Presentation College of Aberdeen is way ahead of the curve on the indoor training field: http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeenne...ts/13684741.htm Still waiting for UND's proposal.

This proposal definitely makes a lot of sense. Only issue may be that the overhead scoreboard would be off-center, as well as the press box. As far as the basketball court hurting the ice quality, an REA employee stated on this forum that ice quality was due to underdesign of the piping system, not covering the floor. As for the games in the Betty, it would seem that the Olympic ice entrance should be used for season ticket holders to limit the congestion in the front lobby. Vendors could also be setup on either end of the Oympic ice arena to limit congestion.

Moderators: Can we please have this skippy banned? TIA

I have been a harsh critic of SU's move to DI, mainly because of conference and men's basketball issues. Clearly, Tim Miles has accomplished more than any AD at NDSU could have dreamed possible. With the redshirt freshmen that NDSU has, this team is almost certainly destined to be a top 100 and very possibly top 50 team in DI. Most importantly, with the RPI ratings held so dear by the mid-major basketball conferences, NDSU's likelihood of getting into a conference when they are fully eligible has gone from very likely to almost a certainty. An investment in "NDSU" (meaning Tim Miles and his current team) at this point could help turn a one-bid conference into a two-bid conference. That alone changes the minds of certain presidents as it means big dollars. Agree totally that Miles finds players with and further instills in his players a passion, which is a necessary ingredient for success. From a UND perspective, found it interesting that the Herald had a long article on McDermott and Jacobson at Northern Iowa. Perhaps its too late, but if UND could lure Jacobson back to a fledgling DI program, that might go a long way toward resurrecting some sort of passion in the UND program. If nothing else, the Bison win over the Badgers will wake up Sioux fans to what is possible, especially considering that UND's facilities are a step above NDSU's. In the long run, NDSU's win might be the wake-up call that UND's men's program needs.

The NDSU bison fans seem to think this is a great option for them!

Interesting that three life sciences companies may still locate in GF, even without the national biolab. With the energy potential of ND (coal, oil, wind, bio) starting to liven the ND economy, a biotech and aerospace presence in GF, and a Fargo economy that keeps growing, new UND grads may soon experience a level of opportunity in ND that seemed impossible just 10 or 20 years ago. UND foundation proposes new tech park

With that arrangment, there are a number of very awkward travel partners. If the Montana schools have to split up, this scenario makes more sense: West Montana - EWash Portland St- Sac St Weber St - N Ariz East UND-NDSU SDSU-UNC Mont St - Idaho St For any expansion to happen toward the east, the U of Montana has to force the issue with a near ultimatum: either get more Dakota flagships schools in the conference to enhance our rivalries - otherwise, adios, we'll go DIA football and join the WAC. If Montana left, Montana St would almost be forced into a quick stadium expansion and follow. Port St, N Ariz, and Sac St. would then flee a disintegrating Big Sky to join the Big West and play football in the Great West with Davis and Poly and SUU. Those three could all move if UND, NDSU, and SDSU get added or if Montana moves to IA. Net Effect: New Big Sky Montana Montana St E Wash Weber St Idaho St UNC UND NDSU SDSU USD (later) New Great West Sac St Davis Poly SUU N Ariz Portland St Western Wash (later)