nodak651

My point wasn't necessarily that it should be used for that, more so that it should be used... somewhere, or let profits flow back to UND. Perhaps it could be used toward a basketball practice facility, or they could finance a basketball practice facility, which is stated as a need in UND's master plan, and it would be attached to the REA complex, which is within their purview.. A reserve fund makes sense, but I don't see how it's necessary to continue to build on the current balance, which is now well over 4 million dollars, while not allocating anything to UND that past couple years. Sure a nice reserve account is nice, but is it beneficial to UND to continue allocating resources to it while UND struggles covid related revenue losses? Maybe some of that money could go back to UND to help pay basketball guarantees, which could earn back in basketball ticket sales. There's just no investment in most of our sports right now, and the HPC isn't that new any more. Source?

Is that the best strategy when our athletics programs are failing and we are seeing massive inflation in construction, while we are also struggling to finance facilities improvements? With the delay in starting construction on phase2 of the HPC, inflation/increased construction costs essentially just ate up that fund within the last year alone. Not the best strategy if that is actually the plan, especially when UND can't technically finance facilities or facilities improvements, and the Ralph currently can. I don't think that is actually the plan, though, as the Ralph is generating enough cash flow annually to pay for any needed maintenance and repairs. Maybe some of it will be used for larger priced maintenance items, but it seems to be used mostly for arena enhancements, such as the new scoreboard, (where UND will only get 1/3 of the new ad sales it generates).

It's not obvious, at least under Kennedy it wasn't. He was publicly shamed for trying to rework the usage agreement with the Ralph. Those negotiations got some pretty large headlines and Kennedy spoke the truth about the situation. Without access to the cash flow that UND produces, we will are stuck with the status quo. Can't expect an athletics department to operate at a high level with donations alone. The Ralph is unjustly stashing money, and until I see anything that indicates otherwise, or an official comment that suggests the Ralph's stockpile of money will be spent on something like the basketball practice facility, found on UND Athletics Master Plan, I will continue to beat this drum.

The NCHC tourney makes too much money to move and rotating the tournament takes away any chance there is of building the Frozen Faceoff up to emulate the Final Five, especially if MN schools are added. I don't see much benefit in adding ASU, to be honest. If it's not broke don't fix it. Would losing Miami and WMU cause us to lose our CBSSN games as well? If anything, adding St. Thomas and Either Mankato or BG is the only thing that makes sense, but not until St. Thomas has a better arena situation and not now, IMO. I would hate to strand Bemidji alone in the CCHA if Mankato joined with Bemidji. Pros of Mankato and Bemidji joining is that the Frozen Faceoff would have more local interest, but again, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Having MN schools in a seperate conference also allows these teams to schedule cheaper non conf games (less travel).

I mean, if Chaves was going to extend his contract after a 5-6 season, at a point in time when Bubba still has two years on his contract, why didn't he just give him a longer contract from the get-go? Not that either are good ideas.

And didn't he just get fired?

That was a great game.... got Rudolph fired.

I doubt anyone who thinks they are a d1 player looks at our roster and thinks they arent good enough to play.

moot point. after next season he would have had another year, no?

Ahh. Didn't notice Vaugn running out there. Would be nice to have a normal camera angle... lol

57 seconds mark.. Not sure I'd call that a trick play, and I'm not really so sure that's his Weah's fault. Looks like the defense bit on the fake with Otis and UND would have had a first down, if not a TD, had the players executed. His other fumble after that, a vanilla run play, Otis got hit by like 4 guys at the los and the TE just randomly stopped blocking the guy who knocked the ball out.

Maag being injured was also a big deal, as he was pretty much our only deep threat in the spring, and he wasn't 100% for pretty much the entire fall season.. We need more receivers that can get open down field.

Better investment/resources increases the margin for error. And after all, we're still only looking at about a one score (or less) difference in each of our losses this fall. I guarantee you that NDSU didn't have the best coach in the country this past year, but they won the championship anyway, didn't they? Investment makes a difference. And if anyone wants to talk about culture, the two go hand in hand. Bubba is nearly a perfect reflection of the investment in our football program. He's probably better than most, but there are still obvious issues that need to be addressed.

Freund has the personality, which is huge in this day and age.

Seem to be spot on. From their 2019 990: That's enough to pay for FCOA outright.

That's disappointing to hear. Especially with Playmakers inside our own football venue. Say a hypothetical restaurant was built in the hypothetical South end zone, do you think UND would be interested in getting involved if the opportunity arose in a new location like that, given that it wouldn't be "taking" an opportunity away from anyone? If you want to avoid hypotheticals, what I'm asking is if it more about the principle of gambling than anything else? It just seems odd to me that anyone would be offended by it, since UND is a huge part of the community and the athletics department is starving for money. Curious what the local regulations are, so I'm gonna do my best to look them up when I get the chance, but this just seems like a huge opportunity that UND is missing out on, and it helps to explain the huge teammakers revenue that NDSU gets. Not participating just seems like negligence imo.

You trying to brag or something?

A big deck? That would be really cool. They could add a bar/restaurant between that deck and the arena, which could be accessible during the pregame tailgate and potentially during games (could also potentially be reserved for people with club seats or people with seating in high donation champions club areas, or not). If gambling is ever allowed in ND, it would be cool if you could place in-game bets there also... Speaking of gambling, does UND get any of the money from playmakers gambling? If not, what charity does that money go to? And if not, does UND or NDSU get any money from local gambling, besides 50/50 drawings?

Found this pic which is interesting enough that I thought I'd share it. Looks like the South end zone would 100% work if an expansion were needed. That said, it looks like the roof did collapse without any support there so I don't know what, if anything, was changed to prevent the roof from failing again. Surprised I haven't ever seen anyone mention that the roof collapsed during construction.

I grew up in the 90's before the Wild came to town and being from the cities, I was a huge Gopher fan. I remember playing knee hockey and watching the Gophers on FSN almost every weekend. They had a pre game show and everything at the time. Losing the consistency of FSN games and having to compete with the wild was the biggest factor, IMO. Though, the Big Ten is at fault for the TV issues. Having to compete with the wild and losing the consistency of TV games is just killer. I doubt I would have known how or cared to find the gopher games on Big Ten + if that's how I had to find them back in the day. The gophers still had strong ticket sales after the wild came to town, so I agree with you that losing games like UND was also a huge deal. Losing the in-conference rivalry games probably pushed it over the edge.

Gopher Puck Live files a FOIA and writes about this every year for the gophers. They really do a great job here: https://gopherpucklive.com/gopher-mens-hockey-scanned-attendance-numbers-increased-in-2018-19-season-will-it-continue/

Its always tickets sold.

Pretty sure that's a rhetorical statement, but with Bubbas track record and with his contract expiring in two years, I think it would make the most sense to see how next season plays out. My prediction is they move on if he doesn't win a playoff game.

So is the goal consistent success or championships? If championships are all that matter, overweighting recruiting classes is kinda the way to go... Too bad Berry wasn't a better coach though, otherwise he would have gotten a better seed last year and the team would have had a chance to rest the night before their 5OT loss to Duluth.

I.e. A team that can win a conference championship gives you better odds. I never said it was all luck. Wrong. I'd rather put my money down on a coach that has consistent success than hope a coach gets lucky. You would think that if the Yale, Union, and Providence championship-winning coaches weren't lucky, they would have had more success in recent years. I'd take a guy like Hak over any of those coaches if I had to put my money down on which coach could lead a team to the next championship. Providence didn't get lucky by hosting their regional the year they were the 16 seed and won the natty? Nattys obviously matter, but just because someone catches lightning in a bottle it doesn't mean they will be able to repeat it.