Top assistant -- gone

[Siouxtimestwo]

Amen. Marketing for football and basketball has been practically nonexistent, especially last year and especially outside of Grand Forks. A beefed-up advertising campaign -- and better utilization of FSSN -- will be crucial to success in the transition, IMO. And we need STATEWIDE coverage!

I agree about the FSSN. The only reason basketball games aren't currently shown is money. WDAZ used to televise men's and women's basketball games once in awhile back in the 90s when both programs were successful, but UND just doesn't think it can get enough people to tune in to cover the cost of the broadcast. Some of you are probably students or new to the area, so it's difficult to understand if you come from a part of the state or country where no one cares about hockey compared to basketball. The fact of the matter is the Red River Valley is hockey country. It has been for years and years and will continue to be 50 years from now. Hockey is more popular than basketball in Grand Forks/Fargo and Grand Forks/Fargo is UND's target audience because that's where all the people are and those people have the ability to buy tickets on a consistent basis.

UND has done a good job marketing football, just as much as hockey in years past when I was back in North Dakota, though I can't speak to this past year. Men's basketball is a difficult thing to market right now. How many NAIA schools has UND lost to the last 5 years? No amount of marketing will be greater than a couple of wins against good Div. I programs in the next couple of years. If UND goes out and beats a name school, that's all the marketing it needs. If UND goes out and continues to lose to Minot State and gets hammered by the big name DI schools on the schedule, then no amount of marketing is going to overcome what happens on the court. Good programs market themselves. Look at NDSU. Ten years ago, men's basketball in Fargo was in the same situation as UND. The women's program was good and the men weren't that great. Now, basketball is nearly as popular as football. That turnaround had nothing to do with marketing, it had to do with better teams. In ten years, they could just as easily be in a downswing and NDSU will go right back to caring only about football and not about basketball. That's why it's a football school. When UND's men have increased success, it will rise in popularity, then will come right back down to Earth when it ceases to have success. That's why UND is a hockey school. We're not the only school that has this problem. Every campus in the country has this problem with some of its programs.

Trust me, I hear your pain. One poster mentioned people going to hockey games because it was the thing to do, and he/she is partially right. I was a basketball player in high school who had never played hockey, but when I attended UND I was at the hockey games, and that was in the old Engelstad, before the thrill of the new stadium really did attract non-fans, but now that affect has minimized, or so I hear. I'm sure the same thing happened at the Betty for a few years. I think it has more to do with the success of the program though. More people did go in the past, and would go now to basketball games if the team was more successful. Nobody has any fun going to a game and seeing your alma mater get beat by 20. That voice in the Iowa cornfield was only half-right. If you build it they will come, but if you win they will come back again.

[new2sioux2]

You are wrong. They do announce basketball scores at The Ralph over the PA. I can't imagine there are too many hockey games where the hockey game ended before a basketball game was over and the score was announced at The Betty.

I said I could be...and I'm glad to hear it. Eventhough the hockey game may not be over, the score is announced periodically during the basketball games, I think they've even announced scores when the hockey team is away and basketball is home. It's especially nice if UND is ahead because it gets the crowd going even more.