star2city

Kind of find these attendance averages contradicting the long-held view that Fargo is not a hockey town. TOTAL GAMES AVERAGE Fargo Force 57,860 17 3,403 NDSU Men's BB 32,613 10 3,261 Granted, the Urban Plains is new, so the arena itself is a draw, but the Force hardly has built fan allegiance yet. NDSU, with probably has the best team in their history and the favorite to win the Summit and take the NCAA bid, draws less. (Granted, I'd love for UND to attract that average - if it was physically even possible with the Betty now). The BSA has to be a major part of the problem - or is basketball in ND just not the attraction it formerly was?

This early November Denver Post blog by Mike Chambers regarding expansion was generally trashed as non-sense at the time. Now, in retrospect, seems Chambers did indeed have good sources: Chambers' Blog

With 900 G's, buyout the Sioux Falls game as well as the Sept 5th Texas Tech game (was that only a 250 k? guarantee), as there are a number of D2 openings on that date. Rather play Michigan than Texas Tech anyway.

The Arizona budget deficits appear to be very real, but doubt NAU officials would be as negligent as WWU's and not give an opportunity for alumni to fund the program. In worst case, NAU could suspend a program with the promise of reinstating it, and the conference would likely make an exception.

How about Sasquatches - legendary existence, except for the odor, is entirely mythical - certainly come playoff time

Great West adds Northern Colorado and New York Tech as Baseball members NJIT - NYIT Utah Valley - N Colo UTPA - Houston Baptist UND - Chicago State Even if all the baseball independents (Dallas Baptist and LeMoyne) had also joined, the Great West would still lack six core core members to get the autobid after two years. (NYIT, UTPA, CSU, Dallas Baptist, and LeMoyne are all core members for the purpose of baseball - NoColo isn't a core member until like 2015.)

Sioux fans travel well to DU and CC games because so many live there. While I don't expect Huntsville to gain WCHA membership, a UND-UAH match in Huntsville would attract a reasonable amount of Sioux fans: just not from ND/MN but from alumni throughout the Southeast. Huntsville is about two hours from Nashville and four hours from Atlanta. Huntsville as a city is surprisingly progressive and has much more in common with Knoxville or Nashville than Deep-South cities like Memphis, Montgomery or Birmingham. While a NMU /BSU pair certainly appeals to old-time hockey fans, why would CC, DU, and UAA ever support a combo like that? They might support one remote back woods school, but not two. If the WCHA adds those two, the conference could just as well rename itself the Back woods hockey association, as the WCHA would be stepping back in time, not forward. Don't mean any disrepect to either program, but both would basically be on par with Michigan Tech and combined add the equivalent amount of hockey fans in the city of Moorhead. It would be all the more ammunition for Minnesota and Wisconsin to later jump ship. Add either UNO or UBC, and then take BSU.

UAH Huntsville Times: UAH to apply to CCHA, WCHA UBC UBC - attending NCAA hockey meetings in April (WCHA?) -

McFooley's Take

Guess you're Chapman's bodyguard on the message board circuit. If you actually could comprehend the comment instead of responding with a kneejerk defense of Chapman, there was no attack on Chapman. If UND and NDSU were to play again before the nickname is changed, NDSU's fans will cause a public relations issue for NDSU regarding the nickname - no reasonable person would think otherwise.

Forum editorial: UND logo threatens D-I move

Good Lord, actually almost agree with Bison Dan. Don't think Foss actually see's DI as a financial threat to hockey, but somehow he doesn't see DI as something that will even further benefit UND hockey. It's amazing that Foss quotes John Bjornson (JBB) of Wilmar (the infamous JBB), who along with Lakes and a few other Bisonbackers, spend their full days populating message boards and media blogs with anti-UND venom - often times masquerading as UND fans bashing UND. For the sake of Minnesota and the Department of Transportation, hope JBB actually has time for his job.

This again is all so much B.S. Your precious Gene himself has said he regrets he didn't call Faison just to welcome into the A.D. position when Faison started. Until Kelley became President, Faison calling Gene would have been counterproductive. Since then, Kelley and Chapman have met. If Kelley had any inkling that the series would resume, Faison would have been on the phone the next day. Chapman is the power behind the scenes at NDSU who determines if the series resumes. If the media really wanted a story, that's who it should be talking with. Of course, Chapman will eventually make Taylor the fall guy if the political *hi* hits the fan. Taylor's too ignorant to realize it.

Considering half the posters lately in the Football forum have been bison ones, there seems to be an unnatural interest in a "non-rival" you've long left behind. The adversity that UND will likely face with it's football situation over the next few years will have the opposite effect of what bison fans hope for. UND alumni will dig deeper and be even more committed to success.

Canadian politics probably wouldn't allow more than a handful of Canadian schools join the NCAA, and the NCAA would probably prefer it that way. Manitoba has never, at least publicly, expressed an interest in NCAA membership. Besides UBC, two others that had at least contacted the NCAA about more information were U of Alberta in Edmonton and Lakehead U in Thunder Bay. Alberta since has backed away from interest. Lakehead might still have interest, but it might have difficulty with finding a DII conference.

WSJ: Great West's NJIT ends epic losing streak

CC is grandfathered in. DU can't be grandfathered under current rules, because it wasn't a DIII school offering hockey scholarships at the time of the NCAA legislation. For DU, DI scholarship hockey depends on it staying DI in all sports (or going back to the DII RMAC with DI hockey - not going to happen).

This spring may well be the time when Denver's next conference will be known. If the MWC goes to 10 (or especially 12), Denver even without football would have to be a top candidate for WAC admission. If Boise St is accepted to the MWC, the schools likely to be considered for the WAC would be UC-Davis, Cal Poly, Montana, Sac St, and Denver. A 10 basketball / 9 football arrangement would be ideal and DU gives that option. The WAC would have almost no choice but to offer Denver if the MWC went to 12 (adding Boise and Fresno from the WAC, Houston or UTEP from CUSA, in turn, CUSA would likely take a third school from the WAC, La Tech). Even if the MWC does nothing, the Big Sky still must prepare for future WAC raids, and the only core member choice available is Southern Utah. In that case, a Summit membership would gain some level of appeal for DU, especially if UND was also added. DU-UMKC UND-NDSU USD-SDSU ORU-CC WIU-IUPUI Oakland-IPFW

Swami: Outstanding Blog!

USA Today: Early March: UBC declares for the NCAA. By late March, the WCHA decides whether or not to add two members for 2011-12 season (the earliest year that would limit impact on existing contracts), conveniently after the DI moratorium ends and when UBC would be a full DII member (UBC would need to be a full DII member before moving up its hockey team). If the WCHA does not vote in membership for UBC, UBC can withdraw their NCAA application before June 1st. Simon Fraser does not have hockey, so the lack of DII hockey does not enter into their decision.

Don't necessarily disagree, as Jacksonville St and Troy have about the same number of undergrads at their main campus. The difference is Troy has two other regional campuses (Montgomery and Dothan) and internet students that nearly triple their enrollment realtive to Jax St. Still, Troy had a difficult time getting into the Sunbelt (La Tech leaving for the WAC helped) as no one believed they'd have any success and their academic rep was scorned. Now, Troy is sometimes considered a CUSA candidate.

So which of the four GNC schools (CWU, WOU, Humboldt, Dixie) are now on UND's schedule? Southern Utah and Dixie St to play, finally

I'm not in favor of the legislature getting involved, but the argument that NDSU will be punished economically by playing UND is weak, to say the least. Playing UND does not preclude them from an FBS game in any year - it just makes their schedule more difficult without an Austin Peay or C. Conn St as a home game. For Taylor to say his schedule is full through 2012 is also disingenuous, as at last word, he was still looking for opponents for all three years. Schools routinely charge more for rival games: a UND-Minnesota hockey ticket is $40 vs $30 for Bucky or DU vs $25 for others. NDSU could easily gross 50% more in single-game sales and simultaneously raise the season ticket prices (and maintain their existing season base) if a UND game was on the schedule. NDSU could easily add nearly $150,000 more in revenue (16,000 non-student tickets x $ 9 / ticket increase in the UND game, season ticket price ) from UND than any other sold-out opponent. The bottom line is that an NDSU-UND game, with unlimited seating capacity, would have a 30,000 ticket demand (if for no other reason UND fans) for the first year, even if both teams were winless.

Proves the point: you can't trust Fargo media types for the true scoop McFeely: No Bison-Sioux legislation planned,

Jacksonville State Stadium Expansion Begins - Serious about IA Jacksonville State building a >15,000 seat stadium to move to IA would be comparable to Moorhead St doing the same.