Conference Realignments - Take 2

[forksandspoons]

7 minutes ago, cberkas said:

They didn’t say. 

Care to elaborate on who “they” might be? A UND source?

[forksandspoons]

10 minutes ago, AJS said:

Very good post.

Here's one thing I'll say about the financial piece. Look at a school's endowment for a fair look into their fundraising power. From an article two weeks ago.

I can't find NDSU's #'s, but would suspect that their current endowment is higher, but not significantly higher (498 million at end of 2024). If you look at facts, they will tell you that UND can hang financially with NDSU.

 

*UND is also on the backend of their Forever UND campaign*

 

Fundraising momentum is very strong right now and I’d expect the endowment to balloon over the next couple years. 

[jdub27]

10 minutes ago, AJS said:

I can't find NDSU's #'s, but would suspect that their current endowment is higher, but not significantly higher (498 million at end of 2024). If you look at facts, they will tell you that UND can hang financially with NDSU.

Accurate.
Difference is NDSU currently has the donors who are willing to funnel fistfuls of money directly into FBS football/athletics. Not sure the appetite quite there for UND for that right now. And honestly, if things break right, they may not need to be. NDSU did what they felt was necessary, which is outbidding the biggest loudmouth in the room (Sac St). Don't blame them for doing it given the position they were in, but again, the facts are that they will shortly have a new president, the previous president made their financial situation better but it is nowhere near fixed and the state is eyeing around 10% budget reductions next year. Not a lot of room for error.

There is likely a scenario in the future where the landscape changes drastically and UND (plus other peer schools) end up where they need to be without paying 8 figures.

[cberkas]

11 minutes ago, forksandspoons said:

Care to elaborate on who “they” might be? A UND source?

It’s is at the bottom of this press release. They never say a thing unless the school does first of any of the studies they do. (They also have done 25 NHL feasibility studies.)
 

The NDSU FBS feasibility study was started in 2021. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

would guess

tarleton sdac and montanas

[bison73]

15 hours ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

augie then...minot state....

you got any better ideas mr fenton?

I  never thought it would happen but we have a new Sioux Volley. Wow

[GeauxSioux]

9 minutes ago, bison73 said:

I  never thought it would happen but we have a new Sioux Volley. Wow

I cannot believe that you are coming over to SiouxSports to denigrate a former member here, who passed away suddenly a few years ago.  I found SiouxVolley to be a thoughtful person who spent a lot of time thinking through scenarios that would benefit UND.  Some of his ideas were really out there and some made a lot of sense. I always enjoyed reading his posts.

NDSU has made their move and now it rests on the other Dakota schools to look ahead to their own futures.  Move along and don't let that door hit you on your backside.

[SIOUXFAN97]

16 minutes ago, bison73 said:

I  never thought it would happen but we have a new Sioux Volley. Wow

i'll take that as a complement

[bison73]

https://www.captiongenerator.com/v/2314696/hitler-reacts-to-ndsu's-fbs-move

[petey23]

21 hours ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

imo going forward 1a and 1aa are donesey....they figure out scholly's numbers max min and whatnot and if your d1a or 1aa right now...it's all d1 and cfp will just do the top 16 or 24 ranked football teams regardless is your mwc pac12 ivy or meac....so....maybe fenton could

und, st thomas, usd, sdac, and omaha join the mvc.....makes 16

 

und/st thomas

usd/sdac

omaha/drake

bradley/northern iowa

 

uic/valpo

siu/illinois state

murray state/belmont

evansville/indiana state

 

merge the mvfc with the mvc=8 football schools (eyes on drake and st thomas moving fb from pioneer to mvc =10)

und, usd, sdac, niu, siu, isu-red, isu-blue, and murray state

 

mvc brings in und, st thomas and omaha as hockey members and adds affiliates of

denver, air force, arizona state, western michigan, miami, and bowling green with an opening for a current mvc school or 2 to add hockey....NIU? UIC? Belmont?

conference tourney for hockey and basketball in st louis

 

mvc gets 4 men's swimming and diving schools (they have 4 affiliates) (omaha, st thomas, usd, sdac)...

mvc gets 2 more men's soccer team (they have 3 affiliates)...(omaha and st thomas)

mvc gets 4 more women's swimming (they have 2 affiliates )...(omaha, st thomas, usd, sdac)

 

make it happen fenton

your welcome

And when St. Thomas goes to the Big East in a few years?

[jdub27]

28 minutes ago, bison73 said:

https://www.captiongenerator.com/v/2314696/hitler-reacts-to-ndsu's-fbs-move

Seems like a whole lot of concern on what UND fans think about this.
Makes it tough to buy the whole "we've moved on" charade...

Half the comments are just trolling NDSU fans at this point and fishing is good.
Some of the other ones sound like the outlandish things that have been tossed around by NDSU fans the last decade.

But carry on and you do you.

[SIOUXFAN97]

3 minutes ago, petey23 said:

And when St. Thomas goes to the Big East in a few years?

imo i don't think they are a viable candidate for them anytime soon...starters...built their arena too small.

mvc is where they will be and will be for a long time....(maybe a10 sometime..maybe)

[homer]

1 hour ago, jdub27 said:

Seems like a whole lot of concern on what UND fans think about this.
Makes it tough to buy the whole "we've moved on" charade...

Half the comments are just trolling NDSU fans at this point and fishing is good.
Some of the other ones sound like the outlandish things that have been tossed around by NDSU fans the last decade.

But carry on and you do you.

Make the announcement and run to opposing message boards…….makes sense 

[AJS]

Good article by Miller. I'm of the opinion that the media can play apart in this type of thing. It's nice to see this as the top story currently on the Herald.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/miller-und-should-be-leery-of-next-domino-at-fcs-level-following-bison-move

[AJS]

4 hours ago, jdub27 said:

Accurate.
Difference is NDSU currently has the donors who are willing to funnel fistfuls of money directly into FBS football/athletics. Not sure the appetite quite there for UND for that right now. And honestly, if things break right, they may not need to be. NDSU did what they felt was necessary, which is outbidding the biggest loudmouth in the room (Sac St). Don't blame them for doing it given the position they were in, but again, the facts are that they will shortly have a new president, the previous president made their financial situation better but it is nowhere near fixed and the state is eyeing around 10% budget reductions next year. Not a lot of room for error.

There is likely a scenario in the future where the landscape changes drastically and UND (plus other peer schools) end up where they need to be without paying 8 figures.

I'll follow up by asking, did the NDSU donors go to Cook x Larson proposing this scenario (we have X amount, get us a conference), or did NDSU officials go to donors? I would guess the latter. We don't know if UND donors would or wouldn't. Main point was conveying that if you look at the fundraising, there's no reason to believe that UND couldn't afford something that NDSU could. 

Some other schools.

• UND - 510 million (Current)
• NDSU - 498 million (FY 24)
• USD - 338.6 million (FY 25)
• Montana - 289.6 million (FY 24)
• Montana State - 287 million (FY 24)
• SDSU - 260.7 million (FY 24)

[gfhockey]

That’s school endowment

 

teamamker is funding this move

 

thing from their school endowment

 

whats our champions club endow meny

[Ndamukong_sioux]

1 hour ago, gfhockey said:

That’s school endowment

 

teamamker is funding this move

 

thing from their school endowment

 

whats our champions club endow meny

How does our Champions Club compare against their Teammakers?

[forksandspoons]

22 minutes ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

How does our Champions Club compare against their Teammakers?

CC raised $4 million in 2024. I can't find 2025 numbers. The Champions Ball alone raised $450K in 2024 and is held every other year. The 2026 Champions Ball is coming up. Hopefully everything going on will motivate UND CC members to give more and non-members to join. 

For comparison, SDSU's Jackrabbit Club raised $2.7 million in 2025. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

i do wonder if the mwc was alway looking to add 4 to 6 more schools regardless and that they pimped out ndac to set the bar and und, sdac, usd, montana, msu, tarleton, and idaho are either gonna sit pat and watch the fcs die or pony up too but at a stupid high number bc the dipshits in fargo overpaid for the impala.....

[siouxweet]

28 minutes ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

How does our Champions Club compare against their Teammakers?

They just gave a $6.5 million check to NDSU on Saturday. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

Just now, siouxweet said:

They just gave a $6.5 million check to NDSU on Saturday. 

didn't they say they are paying off that money in installements?

[AJS]

6 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

They just gave a $6.5 million check to NDSU on Saturday. 

If Teammakers vs CC is 6.5 vs 4, that's actually closer than I would have thought. A lot of work to do, but still. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

9 minutes ago, AJS said:

If Teammakers vs CC is 6.5 vs 4, that's actually closer than I would have thought. A lot of work to do, but still. 

ummmm don't we know someone that knows something about gambling and how to get rich from it.....ummmmmmmmmm leme see....

 

[SIOUXFAN97]

2 hours ago, gfhockey said:

That’s school endowment

 

teamamker is funding this move

 

thing from their school endowment

 

whats our champions club endow meny

do we have the right guys doing this nil stuff with cheesy pickles and long islands?  

walowiack seems like a guy that could raise some money?

[SIOUXFAN97]

18 minutes ago, AJS said:

If Teammakers vs CC is 6.5 vs 4, that's actually closer than I would have thought. A lot of work to do, but still. 

so the difference is the e tab machines...seems like an easy fix to me...but chavez might htink otherwise