MplsBison

Well, there you have it. UND fans are just as sensitive about their hockey team as NDSU is about its football team.

Yeah, who wouldn't want to watch UND lose to Alaska Anchorage. Who else are they playing this season? Lake Superior State?

They will go to the Mid Con as soon as there is room.

Here's how it will all play out: S Utah to the Big Sky UND and USD to the Mid Con

That's a shame, because UND and USD will get there just before SIUE will. UND and USD to the MidCon. If there's room left, throw in SIUE too.

Boise is also helped by weak instate competition. Idaho State is marginal at best and Idaho just sucks. They both have crappy facilities. Idaho may be the state flagship but Boise is getting all the support in the state.

The only thing that UNO has to hang its hat on is the hockey team. And that's already DI. Crieghton has big attendance at the Qwest center for bball and obviously no one in the state gets attention for football like Big Red does.

Even if they had pushed, at most only the Dakota 4 and No. CO would've gone DI. The MN schools and Augi can't afford it. UNC probably still would've moved to the Big Sky which leaves the Dakota 4, which I think will end up together anyway. Hopefully in an all sports conference (either Mid Con or Mizzou Valley).

The reason conferences expand is to increase their market coverage. Pacific does nothing for them here. Adding the Seattle and Denver markets makes a big improvement.

Seattle and Denver to the WCC. Pretty much slam dunk.

The times won't line up. Sac State is going to move to FBS, but it won't be for 10 years. UND will long be in the Mid Con and probably whatever football conference NDSU is in by that time.

Is there a "Dakota nation" to oppose or support it?

Isn't Dakota the name of a tribe also?

What has NDSU duplicated?

Well, in the spirit of avoiding duplication between the 2 schools, UND should have hockey and NDSU should have football. Seems fair.

I know Sioux is very important to UND fans and losing Bison would suck very badly, but is being known simply as "UND" the worst thing that could happen to the university?

Well, at the least, it's nice to see the rivalry is not dead!

I guess my point is that UND is not a football school the way Montana or NDSU are. They didn't need to move DI to keep their main sport doing what it has been doing for a while now. But since they are moving DI, I was just thinking that would be a way to help basketball reach a Gonzaga type level.

There's no doubt that hockey will always be the most popular sport in Grand Forks and at UND. They have their Taj Mahal in the Engelstad complex. No one can compete with that. And it's on campus. And basketball can certainly use that when they need and also the other smaller Engelstad arena. Seems like with those facilities, UND could become a mid major basketball power and continue to be one of the top national DI hockey teams. Those typs of things do take money. Lots of it. The Alerus is off campus and when UND hosted the 1st round of the playoffs, they only drew 5000 fans. Is there any possibility that UND could add quality to the other programs by cutting the football team?

Lets say UND wins the lawsuit and the NCAA says you can use Sioux and host playoffs, etc. Then, would not being able to play Minnesota in football, basketball, etc. be a big deal to you guys?

Donny! You're out of your element! Seriously though, with Mankato's facilities (http://www.msumavericks.com/facilities.php), they could be DI without football if they could find more money. Maybe if they have some success they can find a way to bring football back.

Mankato is interesting. I would've though Saint Cloud would be too, but they're not even going to try it. As far as participation goes (which is what title IX looks at), Mankato actually has more females participating than males by about 20. Not sure if they offer the full 36 now or how offering 63 would change participation levels. But they look good for title IX. As far as money goes, they spent about 1.1 million on football and 0.4 million on MBB. FCS teams from the autobid conferences probably average somewhere between 2 and 3 million for football and 0.7 to a million on MBB. I also think they're considering dropping football, which I suppose is an option.

The one bill is being pushed by the Southland for the sake of Central Arkansas, which is good enough to win the Southland and, thus, receive the auto bid. If the bill passes, I would be interested to know if it only applies to schools that apply for DI after the passage or for schools still in transition. It would be cool if NDSU could be selected for an at large for the 2007.

That's not true. They're only voting if they're going to add the 12th game.

They're voting Jan 6th on the 12 game schedule. Playoff expansion could follow. So to answer your question, it's just my opinion.