siouxfan123

Flights from Phoenix were dirt cheap that weekend so I decided to take a long weekend off of work to go to San Diego for the game. Anyone wanting to have a sports filled weekend shouldn't have a problem as the Padres are home that weekend vs. the Rockies (night game Friday, day games Saturday and Sunday) and the Tennessee Titans take on the Chargers on Sunday afternoon.

There is a pretty easy explanation why you don't see Bison gear anywhere. NDSU grads don't have any money because they went to a horrible school.

Thanks for the updates!

Sioux Falls needs to get a new arena before I would even suggest them hosting a regional. The arena was built with basketball in mind and only added ice in the 90s I believe and has a very awkward configuration for hockey. I am not sure how to add a picture, but here is a link to show what the hockey configuration looks like.

It was either the Summit League or kiss athletics good bye. The current business model wasn't working for UNO and when a business model doesn't work you either need to adapt to the market conditions or die a slow death. While the cuts were painful, they were necessary.

I think how UND and USD found football homes this past fall put the final nail in the coffin for UNO football. I doubt UNO wanted the expense of being in the Big Sky as a full member (that is a lot of airplane tickets and charters to buy) and Douple probably told Alberts he pulled his last string with the MVFC to get USD to stay, plus Douple knows that UNO wants to be D1 and he holds the coveted conference admission (which lets him demand UNO to start other Summit sports). With those facts in place, and no Great West football, UNO would probably have to be an independent in FCS football for the foreseeable future and we all know how awesome that is. Finally, I have a feeling big payout FBS games are going to become few and far between in the next few years as the big schools are finding they are better off playing other FBS schools for that kind of money. Take all of that with the 2,000 fans they get to show up to the games now and you do not see a formula for success.

Interesting tidbit, Trev Alberts, UNO's AD, is attending the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls. Confirmed: Nebraska-Omaha athletic director Trev Alberts is at the Summit League basketball tournament. — Terry Vandrovec (@TerryVandrovec) March 5, 2011

All I have to say is that I am glad we decided not to go with the Summit League but Independent for football route. While part of the problem may be that we cannot guarantee return games due to the future move to the Big Sky, the other part of the problem is that FCS college football has changed in the past couple of years that focuses on more conference games, the big payout game vs. bowl schools, and the need to balance out the few NC games you have left. The current landscape is just a recipe for independent disaster.

I will add my $.02 to the mix, which is probably the exact value of my opinion. I think there is a combination of things that is hurting college basketball. 1. March Madness - Everyone will admit that the tournament is hugely successful but it has become such that the regular season means very little for most teams. Every year on the selection show CBS has a graphic on the at-large bids granted to schools from "mid-majors" and in the past couple of years they have only gotten a couple of the tournament slots. This means that for the mid-major schools the regular season does not matter, the only way to get into the dance is win your conference tournament. For the major schools it means play a relatively weak non-conference schedule, clean up on those games, go .500 in conference and you are in the tournament. 2. Non-conference match ups - Major schools are making sure to schedule their non-conference games to maximize their ability to get an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. This means they are not willing to travel to good mid-majors, they play several cupcakes and are willing to only play one or two tough out of conference games. This also hurts the smaller schools because they have no chance of getting a big name at home which would create excitement for the smaller schools. 3. Many of the compelling non-conference match ups are not on campus - Watching what very little basketball I have this year it seems like all of the good non-conference games are played at the endless holiday tournaments that occur at this time of year. This prevents student/fan ownership of the teams. If you can get one or two good OOC match-up on campus I think you would have better attendance all around. 4. Random scheduling - It is hard to keep track of when your team is scheduled to pay. One of the great benefits of WCHA college hockey is that you know the games are going to be on Friday and Saturday night, with little exception. 5. TV - There is just so much basketball on TV I am already getting burned out (this is getting to be a problem with football too, IMHO). I remember back in the 90s (when ESPN 2 was fairly new) getting a pocket schedule in Sports Illustrated that listed EVERY game ESPN and ESPN 2 were showing that year, needless to say I am sure it was less then what those two networks have already broadcast. 6. College Students - College students today are different then college students of yesterday. They have many more entertainment options, they have more demands for their time, and they have a wide variety of interests. Many times sports just doesn't fit in. 7. The Product - I don't know about you, but I just don't find the product to be very good, let alone good enough to warrant the prices some schools charge.

I watched part of a UND Football game on FCS the other day and they are their own commericals as far as I could tell. They are mostly the types of commericals you see late at night (ie. workout equipment and other junk for you to call in and buy).

If USD defects back to the Summit/MVFC does anyone else think it would be wise for Brian Faison, Trev Alberts, and Doug Fullerton to get together in Omaha November 19 and 20? Trev can bust out his plans for a new hockey and basketball(?) arena and Brian and Doug can casually talk about how great of a conference Big Sky is and how they would love UNO in the conference, all while enjoying a well played hockey game. UNO wouldn't by the flagship university that the presidents in the Big Sky wanted, but it does add what I think is a much better market and a rapidly advancing athletic department. (UNO could distinguish themselves in the Omaha market with the western focus of the Big Sky, whereas Creighton and UNL have more of an eastern focus with the MVC and Big 10 respectively).

I would think that the Athletic Department would have some sort of contract with Delta that would allow them to lock in the fares for the year. Considering how many airline tickets the department buys and the schedules being set in stone a year in advance it would be possible to know how many tickets are needed each year/week/trip. Granted there would be variations (1 or 2 either way here and there) but I would think it would be mutually beneficial for the university and Delta to have an agreement. But then again maybe UND has a ticket consolidator that they have had pretty good luck with.

Could it be possible that we have scheduled an agreement like we did with BC and Northeastern? If I remember right BC first came to Grand Forks for a weekend series. Next, UND played a weekend series in Boston, playing BC one night and Northeastern the next. Then Northeastern came to the Ralph for two games and to finish out the contract we went to Boston to play BC and Northeastern one last time. I liked this arrangement and went to the final game at BC (where the 3rd period got fogged out) and Northeastern and had a great time.

While the WCHA would love to have Michigan and Michigan State, this move would make the BTHC more of a reality. Ohio State and Penn State would not want to be in a conference where they were the only Big Ten Schools. The current set up is the best way to keep the Big Ten Conference out of the hockey business (if that is the goal). I think Michigan and Michigan State like the arrangement because they get to play the MI schools along with some other big names like Miami, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Ohio State and Penn State should like the agreement because they get some big names like Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Miami while willing to play the "other" schools for the ease of scheduling and keeping travel costs down. On the WCHA side from what I understand Minnesota likes being in the WCHA by getting to play all of the Minnesota schools along with the likes of Denver, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan and Michigan State once a year. Wisconsin on the other hand seems to be the one school that is not happy with the arrangement, but having one school displeased with the status quo is much easier for the Big Ten to stay out of college hockey, two schools on the other hand, not so much.

This is all speculation on my part, but fun none the less. In your previous post you said Tim can bowl 184 out of 300 (pretty good score). 300 is the common number between that post and this one. It sounds like whatever the announcement is, it revolves around 300, more than likely $300 million. Now what about 184? I think we have $184 million out of a $300 million project in hand to build something pretty sweet. Maybe the $184 million is what we need to build phase one? Tim used the word "big" in quotes in his write up, so if we are building something, its going to be big. The OP talked about scholarships, maybe we have found funding for all athletic scholarships to be competitive and Title IX compliant?