Big Sky Conference

[star2city]

according to this (which is a really good post and a must read)

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46630&sid=711126abeab87d39eeb89930bdc31198

immeidate sharing. 250000 buy in plus 50000 to 60000 buy in to the conference equity

7. "We are working on some television initiatives." Markets being brought in have tv interest. Everything will soon be online.

10. (It) Wasn't a mistake not to add the other two Dakota schools previously. Things have changed since that time.

21. Basketball will likely involve 9, 10 or 11 conference home games. The CAA, ACC, Big East and now Pac-12 have uneven scheduling within the conference.

22. Want to leave enough OOC scheduling room for teams like Montana to have well-attended home games and other schools to have FBS money games.

[RD17]

What a great day for the University of North Dakota!

Despite the direction the other local schools took in regard to conference membership, I have always regarded the Big Sky as the dream league for UND. I have a feeling that we will see amazing growth in UND's athletic department over the next decade and much of that will be attributed to being in such a fine conference. To go from no conference options when the transition started to being accepted into a true destination league is incredible and we all have to give credit and thanks to Kelley and Faison for pulling this off.

[dakotadan]

http://bigskyconf.com

http://goeags.com

http://isubengals.com

http://montanagrizzlies.com

http://msubobcats.com

http://nauathletics.com/

http://www.fightingsioux.com/

http://uncbears.com

http://goviks.com

http://hornetsports.com

http://www.usdcoyotes.com/

http://www.suutbirds.com/

http://weberstatesports.com

http://www.gopoly.com/

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/

This is a very nice collection of universities and some nice looking athletic websites.

[GeauxSioux]

What a great day for the University of North Dakota!

Despite the direction the other local schools took in regard to conference membership, I have always regarded the Big Sky as the dream league for UND. I have a feeling that we will see amazing growth in UND's athletic department over the next decade and much of that will be attributed to being in such a fine conference. To go from no conference options when the transition started to being accepted into a true destination league is incredible and we all have to give credit and thanks to Kelley and Faison for pulling this off.

I feel the same way about what happened yesterday. But I don't think it stops with just the athletic department. I think the whole university was just launched forward and that we will begin to see growth that we couldn't imagine just a few years ago.

Great job by Dr. Kelley and Mr. Faison!!!

[GeauxSioux]

Oh, the irony. Big Sky quickly ends UND's wait

During the summer of 2007, UND first publicly stated its wish to join the Summit League.

The school waited for 40 months, tried to appease the league office and watched peer South Dakota get an invite in 2009 while UND was left out.

Ironically, on the day that the Summit League was finally supposed to visit UND, school leaders stood in front of a large crowd in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center

[SiouxMD]

USD hunt for league edges near Big Sky - ArgusLeader.com

"The dealing between the conference and USD is done. We've agreed to the terms," he (Fullerton) said. "The letter is signed by the Big Sky and waiting for the (USD) president's signature.

...

"Independent football is the same as the death penalty," Meierkort said. "Scheduling would be a nightmare - our schedule would look like it did in our first season of Division I - and it would be a recruiting disaster that the program would be hurt by for a long time. Look at Notre Dame. Not even they can win as an independent anymore."

...

"Nothing that we're doing now is based on the hope that something can be done with the Missouri Valley Football Conference," Sayler said. "They've made their decisions. There's no debate going on here."

Ed is always entertaining...

[The Sicatoka]

7. "We are working on some television initiatives." Markets being brought in have tv interest. Everything will soon be online.

Seems to me that a three time zone conference could be of benefit in one way. The BSC can offer "full day" programming to a network.

Football:

You could have BigSky football triple headers.

Start a game at 1 pm in the Central time zone, then start a game at 3:30 pm Mountain (4:30 pm Central), and then start a game at 6:00 pm Pacific (8:00 pm Central).

Basketball:

You could probably do basketball all Saturday long ... start running games at noon Central and just keep moving west.

[The Sicatoka]

UND canceled that (Summit) site visit on Friday after President Robert Kelley signed on with the Big Sky.

Congratulations to Dr. Kelley for getting that one right.

[The Sicatoka]

"Independent football is the same as the death penalty," Meierkort said.

Sometimes Meierkort is right.

[homer]

Seems to me that a three time zone conference could be of benefit in one way. The BSC can offer "full day" programming to a network.

Football:

You could have BigSky football triple headers.

Start a game at 1 pm in the Central time zone, then start a game at 3:30 pm Mountain (4:30 pm Central), and then start a game at 6:00 pm Pacific (8:00 pm Central).

Basketball:

You could probably do basketball all Saturday long ... start running games at noon Central and just keep moving west.

This is a great idea and would give the BSC even more exposure that would cover a huge area and wouldn't even cost much to get going. Everything is already in place. This has been my thought on regional recruiting argument, sure the trips may be longer but the tv capabilities are so much better with the BSC its a huge plus for kids and families.

[Risky]

Faison did say yesterday that we should be able to tie into their television package. Combine that with our television/Fox College sports package and it makes for a real positive for national exp[osure.

[UNDvince97-01]

Seems to me that a three time zone conference could be of benefit in one way. The BSC can offer "full day" programming to a network.

Football:

You could have BigSky football triple headers.

Start a game at 1 pm in the Central time zone, then start a game at 3:30 pm Mountain (4:30 pm Central), and then start a game at 6:00 pm Pacific (8:00 pm Central).

Basketball:

You could probably do basketball all Saturday long ... start running games at noon Central and just keep moving west.

^^^THIS^^^

So awesome.

[Shawn-O]

Tremendous, couldn't have asked for a better outcome! Some great road trips ahead, I think!

[Hambone]

Correct. No mention of specific teams only that the 2011 schedule is complete.

You know, I'm having a feeling that the home schedule, other than Poly and USD, is not going to be very good in 2011. We know of Sioux Falls (unless it has been bought out), but other than that and the two away FBS games we know nothing. You'd think that we would have heard something through other teams schedule leaks, but nothing so far........

I am really looking forward to the 2012 Big Sky schedule. Add in a home game with Central Arkansas and at San Diego State, it should be a great schedule. Also, 2013 will see SDSU coming to the Alerus on top of the Big Sky schedule, so we are going to have some good schedules the following years, which actually could have given us incentive to get a few home games for next year as the front end of home/home agreements (since we already have one good home OOC game scheduled for 2012 and 2013). Maybe next year won't be as bad as I'm anticipating......

[Dagger]

Next years schedule isn't going to be very good. Going to have to habg in their for one more year. It will be worth the wait.

[Dagger]

Sorry about the mistake. I mean to say we need to hang in there.

[SooToo]

USD hunt for league edges near Big Sky - ArgusLeader.com

Ed is always entertaining...

The comments following the article are "entertaining" as well; a great example of the pettiness I hope we're leaving behind.

[JackJD]

The comments following the article are "entertaining" as well; a great example of the pettiness I hope we're leaving behind.

Congrats to UND.

After reading the above post, I took a look at those comments (I try to avoid newspapers' article comments). You're right: petty. I hope you're right that UND and USD joining the Big Sky will cause some of the pettiness to go away.

[star2city]

Sacramento Bee: Will Sac Stay or Go?

Will Sac State stay put, or look elsewhere?

"We're always looking at opportunities to enhance our program," said Terry Wanless, Sac State director of athletics. "If that takes us to a different level sometime in the future, we'll give that consideration at that particular time."

So, looks like Sac State is still interested in moving up. Other schools with bigger stadiums were just more compelling for the WAC.

Today, the Big East announces it will add two football teams at season's end. With the candidates being TCU, Houston, UCF, Villanova, and Temple (if Villanova says no), the trickle down could effect the lower leagues. If Sac State goes to the WAC (as a results of TCU going to the Big East and the MWC backfilling for TCU from the WAC), the natural addition for the Big Sky would be Nebraska-Omaha. There's also reports that the MAC wants four eastern teams (UMass, Delaware, James Madison - plus Temple which is already in).

[Matt]

Sacramento Bee: Will Sac Stay or Go?

So, looks like Sac State is still interested in moving up. Other schools with bigger stadiums were just more compelling for the WAC.

Today, the Big East announces it will add two football teams at season's end. With the candidates being TCU, Houston, UCF, Villanova, and Temple (if Villanova says no), the trickle down could effect the lower leagues. If Sac State goes to the WAC (as a results of TCU going to the Big East and the MWC backfilling for TCU from the WAC), the natural addition for the Big Sky would be Nebraska-Omaha. There's also reports that the MAC wants four eastern teams (UMass, Delaware, James Madison - plus Temple which is already in).

Did Wanless' programs' chances of winning BSC championships just get better or worse with the addition of UND, USD, and SUU? Wanless knows the answer.

[star2city]

NCAA volleyball RPI

88 UNC

105 UND

143 Portland St

162 Idaho St

169 Sacramento St

201 SUU

203 Montana

229 N Ariz

241 USD

246 E Wash

268 Montana St

294 Weber St

[star2city]

Women's Soccer RPI

111 NAU

175 UNC

194 Portland St

239 Sac St

253 Idaho St

281 Weber St

285 Montana

290 SUU

291 E Wash

299 UND

300 USD

Montana State apparently has an exemption from offering women's soccer: they offer women's skiing instead.

[star2city]

Northern Arizona has a killer of a cross country team: NAU is ranked 7th nationally. The 7000 ft altitude and cool nights make a rather ideal training ground. Montana State appears to have a Top 40 squad.

[Smoggy]

Sacramento Bee: Will Sac Stay or Go?

So, looks like Sac State is still interested in moving up. Other schools with bigger stadiums were just more compelling for the WAC.

Today, the Big East announces it will add two football teams at season's end. With the candidates being TCU, Houston, UCF, Villanova, and Temple (if Villanova says no), the trickle down could effect the lower leagues. If Sac State goes to the WAC (as a results of TCU going to the Big East and the MWC backfilling for TCU from the WAC), the natural addition for the Big Sky would be Nebraska-Omaha. There's also reports that the MAC wants four eastern teams (UMass, Delaware, James Madison - plus Temple which is already in).

My only fear in all this are the still coming conference realignments. It really seems like the west is where all the action is happening. So hopefully teams are staying (would love to see UNO move up). It will be an interesting time and I appreciate the work you put into updating us star.

Oddly enough the best thing that may happen for the xDSU's would be the summit starting to crumble due to the realigning and the mvc finally giving a crap about what's happening around them.

[dmksioux]

My only fear in all this are the still coming conference realignments. It really seems like the west is where all the action is happening. So hopefully teams are staying (would love to see UNO move up). It will be an interesting time and I appreciate the work you put into updating us star.

Oddly enough the best thing that may happen for the xDSU's would be the summit starting to crumble due to the realigning and the mvc finally giving a crap about what's happening around them.

I do recall Fullerton talking about the Big Sky possibly getting to 16 teams before the Pac 10. Any chance the Big Sky goes after the XDSU's?

According to a poster on USD's board, an announcement concerning USD to the Big Sky could come as early as Thursday or Friday. The same poster also states that the MVFC option may not be totally dead...