FSSD

Nice post, I agree let this play out and make the decision based on facts in court.

Is the coaching staff going to shuffle the line i.e. Right Tackle to Left Tackle now that UND has a right handed QB? I thought that I had read that they switch positions this fall because the QB was left handed. Not sure how much this disrupts the O-line.

I would rather have Central Arkansas. I like the idea of having a ranked "true" out of conference team visiting GF. Plus beating them would help the conference overall come playoff time.

When I checked on the PSU game the video was working but no sound. I believe that you should be able to watch the game via on demand on BigSkyTV. I might check it out later.

Jason, Just a quick thanks to you and the UND athletic department for all the hard work. But, please understand how frustrating this is for all the out of region fans. I would appriate it if you would keep us updated periodically.

I think that is why they have a hard time finding a conference. That said, I would like to see Denver and Seattle in the Big Sky. Denver is putting resources toward it's basketball teams and Seattle is really building a nice program. Plus, both schools fit the general footprint of the Big Sky.

Buning era was a mess... it took 2 or 3 years to get the scheduling fixed.. well, I guess 4 because we had the Idaho game last year.

Really, I think the largest FCS payouts are around 400K to 600K... I would think that would be a tough offer to refuse.

I think USD was a 2 or 1..

First that I have heard about that - I had heard they had discussions with Hawaii but nothing finalized. What was the contract payout?

his choice - you really believe that..

Anytime, Any Place, Anywhere - I can respect that.. Now it's - no Oklahoma, no UND, and only cupcakes like Priarie View A&M (one of the lowest funding programs in FCS football) or Robert Morris (are they even fully schollie?) in Fargo.. App St didn't duck Michigan... Please do what is best for NDSU but quit the excuses..

I am going with no injuries... because we have had two years of the QB hex..

Agree - Champions Club and Season Tickets best way to support the cause. The growth of the Champions Club from 2000 to 2010 is impressive: 2000 1,156 members raised $860,000 2010 2,334 members raised $2,200,000

I agree - then if you think about the mix of size and speed at receiver it gets really interesting. I can see Miller and Garman being mixed with Townsend and Jackson to create mismatches on the edge as large receivers on small corners and Miller and Garman matched with LBs. Plus, Townsend and Jackson raising hell in the secondary with some devestating blocks. WR can get some serious angles on LBs and safeties. I am really looking forward to seeing the formation and personal package combinations this year.

I have got season tickets section 215 and I am ready to go,,, I just need the tickets. I know, I know they should be sent soon.

I am disappointed if it is true that UND has ended the relationship with FCS this year. I could have dumped my extended sports package in May. I didn't because I am waiting to hear what is going on the TV contracts and I understand the need to be supportive of the new hockey conference. But, FCS was nice because I had one place to go to watch all UND sports. Now, it is all over the place and I don't live in the ROOT sports or Midco coverage areas. The only choice that I have is with SiouxInsider... big step back.

I wonder how much of this is going to impact recruiting non qualifying student athletes.

I see that single game tickets go on sale Wednesday. Does anyone know when they sending out season tickets?

The City of Grand Forks sold the naming rights to Alerus Financial. It is up to Alerus Financial to allow the logo. Sorry I was not clear about that in my previous post. NOTE: I added some detail to my previous post to make it more clear.

I know that many people have been on Alerus Center for not allowing the UND logo. But, Grand Forks got a nice deal with the Alerus Center naming rights. The new arena in Lincoln, NE just signed Pinnacle Bank's to a $11.25 million, 25-year naming rights deal. I believe that they will be hosting Husker basketball. The Alerus Center deal with Grand Forks is $7.2 million for 20 years. I would like to see the logo, but that is strictly a decision for Alerus Financial. I believe that Alerus Center naming rights runs through 2021. Here is a list of other deals per http://journalstar.c...720f1535aa.html: 1.35 m/y - KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.: $13.5 million for 10 years 1.25 m/y - Comcast Center, Maryland, $25 million for 20 years 1.00 m/y - Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates, Ill.: $10 million for 10 years 0.93 m/y - CenturyLink Center, Omaha: $14 million for 15 years 0.76 m/y - Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, N.H.: $11.4 million for 15 years 0.56 m/y - Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa: $11.5 million for 20 years 0.50 m/y - United Spirit Arena, Texas Tech, $10 million for 20 years 0.50 m/y - Cox Pavilion, UNLV, $6 million for 12 years 0.46 m/y - Colonial Life Arena, South Carolina, $5.5 million for 12 years 0.45 m/y - Pinnacle Bank's, Lincoln, NE, $11.25 million for 25-year 0.36 m/y - Alerus Center, Grand Forks, N.D.: $7.2 million for 20 years 0.35 m/y - Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kan.: $8.75 million for 25 years 0.31 m/y - Werner Park, Omaha, NE, $1.525 million for 5 years 0.30 m/y - Sovereign Center, Reading, Pa.: $9 million for 30 year NOTE: The City of Fargo/Gate City deal is field naming rights for $1m. As part of that agreement, it must have allowed the NDSU logo. I am sure that the deal with Alerus Center included field naming rights and I don't believe that the UND logo has ever been at midfield in the Alerus Center. I believe that they allowed the Sioux name in the end zones and I believe that are allowing North Dakota in the end zones with the new field. But, adding the NDSU logo at midfield is new this year for the Fargo Dome. Naming rights can get very interesting here are a series of articles about the recent Lincoln, NE naming agreement (NOTE: Pinnacle deal does not include Court naming rights): http://journalstar.c...c7550fa3b5.html http://journalstar.c...7eb83e8006.html

Thanks for the information - so the WAC would need to keep baseball and add soccer, hockey or lacrosse. Not sure how the WAC makes it...

Not sure the Big Sky is driving this - all the talk is coming from Idaho and WAC... I think the Big Sky is waiting for Idaho to drop down and simply listening at this point.

A conference must have seven active Division I members that sponsor men’s and women’s basketball and the conference sponsor a minimum of six men’s sports and six women’s sports. NOTE: A conference must have 6 teams to sponsor a sport (I think?). http://www.ncaa.com/...t-wac-auto-bids I believe that the limiting factor is going to be Men’s sports because most schools do not sponsor a wide variety of men’s sports. The WAC sponsors 7 men’s sports one more than required. They are: Baseball, Basketball, Cross-Country, Golf, Tennis, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track. The outliner men’s sports when comparing Big Sky and WAC are Golf and Baseball. So, the WAC would be looking for programs that offer Golf and Baseball. The Big Sky has three schools that offer those sports: UND, UNC and Sac St. If the WAC drops Baseball and just maintains the minimum number of sports. The Big Sky would have 5 programs that offer Golf: UND, UNC, Sac St., Weber St. and SUU. On the surface, it looks like UND, UNC and Sac St are the major pieces in play. Again, any school can add sports, but those are the schools that are in play without adding sports. Not sure how excited Sac St is about this because they would like to move all Olympic sports to Big West.

Here is the quote that I thought was interesting: The Big Sky currently has 11 all-sport members. The WAC has four, not including Boise State, which is trying to get into the Big West. The plan would be to create two eight-team leagues. Here are the schools Big Sky PSU Sac St Weber St EWU UM MSU ISU UNC NAU UND SUU WAC Denver Seattle NMSU UI Other BSU What are your eight for the WAC?