jdub27

Point 1: I won't argue that, however it is no different that the BS spewed on bisonville about anything UND. We can agree it is what it is. Point 2: Your opinions (which are fine to have) don't seem to have a solid grasp of what the "plans" actually are or at least you haven't shared a concrete detail on them if you do. How did they shortchange themselves $1.5 million after only 2 years, which is almost 8% of their budget? They have been in the same conferences for almost a decade now and all of the sudden travel costs are almost tripling? That doesn't raise any red flags to you? Of course they are free to ask for more money whenever they want, but by choosing not to wait the 5 years and coming back after only 2, they opened themselves up to every bit of criticism they are getting.

It seems more like you continue to deflect (or muddy the waters) by bringing other schools into it. The rest of us are discussing why NDSU athletics suddenly needs an extra $1.5million from their students (over doubling what they are already contributing) just 2 years into a 5 year agreement with little information provided to the students on why the money is needed. Not to mention it is happening just a few months after they added $700K to their expenses by announcing FCOA. That has absolutely nothing to do with any other schools yet you keep bringing them into it. Any mention of a different school and what they do has zero to do with what NDSU is doing.

It didn't answer any of the questions the first time, not sure why you thought it might this time?

What's strange is that there is no publicly known or logical reason travel costs would almost triple out of nowhere. Maybe they are going to soon need the extra money to fly their football team to conference games in places like Boone, Statesboro, Troy, Jonesboro, etc...?

They were, but they won't be. NDSU's student fees will also make up a larger percent of their athletic budget than at UND after the increase. Not to mention NDSU already costs more to attend than UND. The real take away is that there is people getting some enjoyment out of watching a bunch of FargoU supporters with zero answers to relevant questions just a few months after watching them pound their chest about having an athletic department that is supposedly flush with cash that all of the sudden needs to over double the amount they are getting from their students ($1.4million increased to $2.9-3.0million). But don't feel bad that you don't have answers, the athletic representatives really didn't either. As for low hanging fruit, taking money from the student body "just because" is an absolutely terrible reason for increasing fees, not to mention when they are trying to do it 2 years into a 5 year agreement. It is the (lack of) reasoning and the timing that is the problem, not what they are actually doing.

Correct. I had fixed it my original post but after it got quoted a few times. Not sure how I got that confused because I literally had to click on UMass-Lowell to pull up the logos.

In their defense, it doesn't look like they use those, they actually ended up using this one: Which are better choices than the previous ones or these two....

Oh really? Well what if I showed you this version of it?

Which ever firm is hired is paid as an outside contractor doing "work for hire" and all rights, interests, etc are transferred to UND. I'd assume UND is free to come up with alternate logos in any manner they want in the future. The scope is pretty much all encompassing. Start from scratch and come up with everything. The RFP states:

That was kind of the all-around opinions I formed as well. If I had a vote, it would go to SME. Here's an example of Phoenix's interpretation of a hawk for UL-Monroe UMass-Lowell (Riverhawks)

Three finalists announced: Summit Athletics Media SME Inc Phoenix Design Works Fairly impressive portfolios. SME did the Big Sky and NAU rebranding among other things. Phoenix Design does a ton of college work. Summit seems to handle more specific events/things but do have a variety in their portfolio.

I've heard similar and early results are trending that way. Putting a lot of eggs in the basket of next year's class bringing in 7 scholarship players.

Noah Wanzek (6'4"-200) per SFI.

How is someone supposed to answer something that has never been presented as an option by anyone related to UND. Let's try this: What happens when NDSU comes back to ask for more student money again in two years? Since you can't seem to differentiate between discussing something that has actually happened (NDSU athletics asking for students to over double their fees just 2 years into a 5 year agreement) and something that not a single soul has mentioned to this point (UND changing their student fees), I guess it is fair to just speculate NDSU will keep taking more money from students every two years because it is apparent that they can't make a budget or prepare accurate projections.

I like UND's chances when the other team is reliant on their guards to score with the caveat that UND has been giving up a fair amount of decent shots or better from 3-point, however the other teams haven't been converting which is a partial credit to UND players closing on the shooter.

What peer universities are you referring to? Glancing at the policies for SDSU, USD, Wyoming, UNI, Montana, Montana State*, Iowa State, UofM**, Nebraska just to name a few, I don't see any of these exceptions you are talking about laid out. Can you point out what schools have this policy and where it is stated? *Any variation must include a written explanation **Any variation must be approved by someone at least one level senior

Let's make clear what is not speculation: NDSU athletics went to the students in 2014 and asked for an increase in fees that they stated would cover the next 5 years and it was granted. Less than 2 years later, they are back asking for over double the amount that NDSU students currently pay in fees citing increase in travel, equipment, supplies to the tune of $1.5 million/year or around 7-8% of NDSU's entire athletic budget. We are continuously told how NDSU's athletic department is flush with cash and making money left and right, yet they are apparently looking at a huge hole that needs to be covered from outside sources. The only details the athletic department was able to provide was that currently there is $1.4 million allocated for travel, equipment/supplies. For 2016-2019, that number is projected to skyrocket to $3.62-3.95 million (!!!), which is an absolutely absurd increase. Coincidentally, the only major expense that anyone can find that has changed in the last 2 years is that NDSU announced full cost of attendance just a few months ago, stating that it would be covered by private donations. Or maybe the athletic department saw the NDSU president flies business class everywhere so they feel it is OK for everyone in the athletic department to do the same? (But that part is just speculation on my end.....)

If they used the funds as you initially described (future projects/infrastructure) it very well could be illegal. What's so hard to understand about that?

Well, half of FCOA is supposedly taken care of for the first three years, not all of it. They don't have all of the the money in place for the rest. And if you're correct that they are looking for funding for future projects and infrastructure out of student fees, that is completely different than the excuse the athletic representatives gave when they were stumbling through in their answers to students not to mention possibly illegal so I'll chalk it up to you not actually having a clue what they really need the money for. If NDSU is so forward looking, how did they not see this coming 2 years ago when they asked for and received an increase in student fees that they said was going to cover everything needed from the students for the next 5 years? They somehow missed the need for an extra $1.5 million dollars a year at the time? That's 7-8% of NDSU's total athletic budget, seems like kind of a big deal. I'm not sure how you claim in one breath that peer institutions go to the well too often and don't have effective fund raising while defending NDSU from doing the exact same thing? I actually have no angst in what NDSU is doing, its the spin and half-truths being used to defend it that people are mocking, especially after hearing how NDSU is so flush with cash.

So athletics is coming back to the students two years into what was understood as a five year agreement to ask for money "just because"? What other schools do literally has nothing to do with the apparent $1.5 million hole in FargoU's athletic budget that no one saw coming or can explain.

What funding inequality is that? The legislature just redid the funding formula and DB supported it. Seems like an odd and irrelevant thing to bring up. If not FCOA, what else randomly caused NDSU's athletic budget to have a 7-8% hole in it? What are all these travel costs, equipment and supplies that are predicted to suddenly skyrocket in price? Just 2 years after requesting an increase that was supposed to cover the subsequent 5 years, the athletic department is back asking for more with very little in terms of specific answers. Does the athletic department not know how to do budgets and projections? Or maybe there is all of the sudden a little less money available to be allocated for those expenses because there is a new, large expense to account for? I wonder what that could be... I would say that raising student activity fees to compare with peers isn't something to strive for. But at least that soapbox is gone now.

So are you saying NDSU athletics doesn't understand how to make budgets/projections or that those bills magically went up $1.5 million/year and no one saw it coming?

Well, 2 years ago they stated the increase at that time was sufficient for the next 5 years. Now all of the sudden they need more money. What else has changed in that time frame?

At this point, UND's students subsidize a larger percentage of the athletic budget than NDSU's students (13.2% vs. 5.5% or 6.6% depending on what numbers you use). This increase would put NDSU's subsidy at a slightly higher level (~14% using current budget numbers). While I partially agree that student fees are helping subsidize sports that most don't necessarily care about, it isn't as simple as just shutting down those sports, most (but not all) of them are required by either the NCAA (Title IX) or the conference. The amusing part is that NDSU came out a few months ago and stated that FCOA was going to be fully covered through private donations. Now all of the sudden their athletic department is requesting an additional $1.5 million from student fees and citing that travel/equipment/supply costs are suddenly going to skyrocket even though they just requested an increase 2 years ago that they stated would be sufficient for the next 5 years. Strange coincidence.

Care to make any revisions on your prediction?