IrishSiouxFan

I stand corrected.

I believe the county of Grand Forks is estimated at a little over 65,500.

$40??? Not even close. I have student tickets and I've been selling those for anywhere between $50-$75 depending on if they're lower bow or upper, and they sell out within minutes of being posted on underground. General admission tickets sell out the second they are posted and are scalped at around $150-$300 easily. The Sioux/Gopher series is a hugely anticipated draw at the REA, it's almost like homecoming of sorts. You can rag on UND football attendance all you want but when it comes to hockey there's no bigger draw in the entire state. FACT.

I'm calling BS on this one! UND hockey is huge in North Dakota, this is about as ridiculous as saying that Oxford, Ohio is a bigger hockey town than Grand Forks. Absolute none sense!

I support UND 100%, but until they come out with some good looking merchandise that doesn't have the Sioux logo on it I will continue to wear my Sioux gear. But I'm ready to move on and am looking forward to where UND athletics is heading!

I wonder if it would be cheaper to build a partially enclosed stadium like they have in soccer? I think that would be a reasonable compromise.

It says a lot about our recruiting, program, and potential that a recruit of Joe's caliber was willing to come to UND as a walk-on instead of taking a scholarship at another school. I wish him nothing but the best and if it doesn't work out at UW definitely come back to UND.

I wonder if he said that to boost season ticket sales? Maybe Muss should start a rumor about UND joining the Big 10? Actually, I don't think that will be necessary for this year. Anybody heard numbers regarding tickets sells this far or is that under wraps?

I wasn't around for the Dan Hammer era, but I'm sure he'll do a great job. With that said, my family and I have thoroughly enjoyed Pat Sweeney and I'm sad to see him go. Pat will be missed.

Absolutely, it's bad enough being in a hockey conference with the likes of St. Clown State. I definitely wouldn't want to be in a football conference with Liberty, Jacksonville, and God knows who else.

JMU would be a solid pickup, Jacksonville not so much. I know there are a lot of people on this board that are content with staying FCS, but I wouldn't mind seeing UND moving up to FBS now if it was done with UM, MSU, PSU, UI, NMSU, and JMU. Even NDSU and USD, and SDSU would be a nice fit. I feel that would give us and the rest of the FCS move-ups the room to grow and adjust to the next level of play. I wonder if now is the time ti take advantage of a FBS opportunity.

It would seem to me that UM, MSU, and UND would have some branding appeal that would appeal to UI, NMSU, Seattle, and Denver. Not to mention the similarities in academic standards and mission statements. PSU would also be another ideal addition to such a conference, they have a good size student population and are located in a media market without a professional sports team (their academics are not to shabby either). I wouldn't mind seeing UND move up to D1A prematurely if they were in sound company, I would hate to think that we would replace Idaho as having the worst football facilities in all of FBS.

I hate that we don't have the facilities to make the move up, the Alerus was poorly planned.

That actually makes me more nervous than excited. I know Jackson State is hinting that they might be in the WAC fold but what if it's some of the bigger members of the Big Sky minus UND? Pretty scary stuff.

I think the SunBelt wants to pick up App State, it would add a very good football program and fanbase to the conference. Unfortunately for GA Southern many schools in the Belt recruit heavily out of Georgia and wouldn't want the extra competition for talented athletes, they do have a good program and an excellent fanbase. I think it's time for Idaho to admit they screwed up by not improving their facilities and not making more bowl appearances and that it's time to come back to the Sky.

With the SunBelt saying no to both Idaho and NMSU, does Idaho finally say it's time to head back to the Big Sky? http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/19134749/sun-belt-wont-add-idaho-new-mexico-st-fcs-the-next-step

So if we're not eligible for a home playoff game then we shouldn't have a IPF??? As long as we have a viable conference to play in an IPF is a huge recruitment tool, I hope we get to retire the nickname but if we don't we shouldn't give up on improving our facilities.

That's a crap deal and you know it! I think it's hilarious that UM is acting like their doing a huge favor by cutting the crusts of the turd sandwiches they're feeding the other Minnesota schools. Have fun filling your arena with Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Penn State fans

The question remains whether they will play those games in the other teams arenas or insist on playing only at home. The only thing that the other Minnesota teams will miss about plaing UM is the revenue from the ticket sales.

Honestly, I'm ready to move on. I am absolutely sick hearing about this over and over, I hope it is finally over and put to rest this summer so we can focus on building a fierce athletic tradition in sports other than just hockey.

This survey can't be accurate it doesn't mention NDSU Que Bison trolls in 3...2...1...

These lists are ridiculous. We are lucky to have the Alerus, but it was certainly poorly thought out. Who builds a $100 million facility that lacks the ability to grow to meet the needs of university it was designed to cater to? What will happen to the Alerus once UND outgrows it? I can't believe they didn't think this far ahead.

So far we have ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Root, and a slew of other sports networks you have to wonder how much programing of interest is really out there to meet the demands of these networks. Surely tv executives have to be at least considering the possibility of picking up college teams with the tradition, facilities, and fan base to breathe life into their programming. My one big complaint about NBC's coverage of college hockey is that they picked teams who play in crappy arenas in front of virtually no fans and expect their viewers to get excited about college hockey. Where as if they had came to the Ralph they would have seen an electrifying specticle of what college hockey could be with the fans, facilities, rivalries, and traditions.

College hockey has not been marketed properly and I believe has so much potential. Of course I'm not suggesting college hockey has the potential to overtake football but Fox is going to be looking for programming that's not already snatched up. I believe they already own a portion of the Big 10 Network and could opt to expand their FSN coverage to teams like UND, Denver, and Miami. It's early days but it would be nice if someone would give the college hockey the marketing it deserves.

Has anybody heard about this? Hopefully they will want to pick some college hockey! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/news-corp-said-to-plan-u-s-sports-network-to-rival-espn.html