Gothmog

This is an odd comment coming from a UND fan. You seem to be saying that NDSU's recruiting advantage in DII was so large that, as long as they were offered a scholarship, players would come to NDSU to sit on the bench rather than go somewhere else, such as UND, even though they would have a much better chance of actually playing some football.

No, you need to pay closer attention. I never said anything of the kind.

What you're not getting is that only a very few tickets actually sell at $60 a piece. Most of the tickets are either student tickets (4,000) or are sold as part of season ticket package (12,000). The face value of a ticket makes no difference to either season ticketholders or students. Sideline reserved season tickets packages are $205, would it make any difference to season ticketholders if you said that the UND ticket was $200 and the other 5 were a dollar a piece? No, it's still $205. In the end, you're really only left with a relative handful of tickets that the "premium" even applies to.

So, is it safe say to we can add "but title IX" to "but hockey", on UND's list of irrelevant rebuttals?

It may be fair game to point that out. Nevertheless, it had nothing to with Bison06's original post.

I doubt many Bison fans would be confused, UND and Gopher fans just might be.

One of the arguments often made in favor of resuming the NDSU/UND football rivalry game is that it benefits the State of ND economically. How would it do so if it were to be played in Minnesota?

So what are you saying with regard to NDSU potentially sponsoring hockey? Which, of course, is the context in which that comment was made.

Of course there would be plenty of fans at an NDSU/UND game in the Twin Cities. The point is that it would seem odd and presumptuous to have two North Dakota schools playing their rivalry game in Minnesota. It doesn't make North Dakota look good, and, IMO, it would not be well received by most sports fans in the Twin Cities (non-NDSU or UND fans). BTW - of course NDSU would not play UNI in Minneapolis under those circumstances.

Who said that it was beneath NDSU?

I do live in the Twin Cities. I expect that most people in MSP, would scratch their heads over it, and, if anything, be mildly irritated by the idea.

NDSU doesn't want, or need, the distraction of a startup hockey program. Far better to continue to build up the football and basketball programs.

The problem is that it makes little sense to play a game between two schools that are in the same state, and only 70 miles apart, 250 miles away in a different state. At least, MSP is about mid way between NDSU and UNI.

Of course you're right. But that works both ways.

What wouldn't be on topic in a "dumpster fire thread?"

You'd think that someone is blowing it big time. The idea that there really are huge benefits to be had by sponsoring hockey is hard to reconcile with the fact that very few schools actually choose to do so. For instance, one wonders why more Big Ten schools aren't lined up to get a piece of that action.

Oh c'mon, you know better than that. There's a reason why only slightly more than 10% of all Division I schools even bother with a varsity hockey program.

Well, assuming that there are about 340 million people in this country, and that about 25% of them are football fans (which is probably conservative). That would mean that, by your numbers, Bison and Sioux football is only relevant to 85 people in the whole country. It's wonderful that UND has players in the NHL, and it's great that they're making lots of money. But, that doesn't change the popularity of either NCAA hockey or FCS football. The guys making all that money playing hockey aren't wearing Sioux jerseys anymore. Seriously, your point is not only ridiculous, but it only serves to denigrate your own school. It's hard to understand why anyone would say something like that.

Actually, I don't think that the trophy should be played for. What I object to is the attitude that UND "owns" the trophy and can unilaterally decide what should, or should not, be done with it. If NDSU agreed that the trophy shouldn't be played for, I have no problem with that. However, if it's not going to be "part of the tradition", what are we going to do with it? That's a question that both UND and NDSU need to decide. It should be displayed where it can be seen by everyone.

IMO, the idea that the trophy can't, or shouldn't, be played for because it's not an "annual" game is no more than self-serving nonsense. Those who say that should ask themselves if they would have the same attitude if NDSU currently had possession of the trophy, and was refusing to bring it to the FargoDome on Sept 19th. I highly doubt they would.

Are these are the comments you're referring to? http://www.inforum.com/content/no-nickel-trophy-wont-be-part-renewed-und-ndsu-rivalry If so, they seem pretty unilateral to me. "NDSU officials are aware that the Nickel Trophy won’t be on the line next season" and "the Nickel Trophy will be retired and likely displayed somewhere on campus." There's really nothing about NDSU agreeing to anything in that article, and, assuming that when he says "somewhere on campus", he means "somewhere on UND's campus," his comments are unacceptable. It's not UND's trophy. Brian Faison doesn't have the right to make any such decisions.

That's pretty much the definition of a traveling trophy. One side can't unilaterally decide to just keep the trophy. It's not theirs to keep. Do any of you have any evidence that NDSU, Blue Key, or any other party ever actually agreed that the trophy would only be contested in "annual" games, or that there was ever any agreement of the parties that UND's settlement with the NCAA affected NDSU's rights to the trophy in any way? If not, the terms are that the current holder brings the trophy to the next game and the winner of that game gets possession of it until they lose it on the field. If UND can't do that, it needs to work something out with NDSU. To my knowledge, it has not.

No, that's not the way it works. To keep it, you have to allow the other team to win it back. If the Nickel doesn't show up in Fargo this fall for the stated reasons, UND loses all rights to the trophy.

How many other contests that never happened do they not have memories of? NDSU players of the last dozen years arguably have better memories than any other group of NDSU players, despite not playing UND.

The two things are only very, very tenuously related, if at all. Do you think those chants would be any more or less prevalent if the Nickel Trophy were there? Or, do you think that you'd still be able to use the Nickel Trophy if NDSU had never used that chant?