College Hockey Expansion

[Melvin]

1 minute ago, GFG said:

Notice Minnesota didn't have games like that this year? The fans were pissed about it so they allowed Minnesota to have their games on Friday and Saturday nights. I can guarantee that if UND wants Friday-Saturday at home they would 100% get it.

 

That was a very smart move by the Gophers. During B1G football games, moving from the football stadium to the rink is a short walk and you don't need to lose your buzz. 

[Melvin]

1 minute ago, SiouxScore said:

Yeah he has me believing. When he started the PJ Fleck thing I thought it was just a joke and somebody hoping it would happen but he was right on the money with pretty much everything that played out and he started putting out the information before the bowl game. I don't know who his sources are but they certainly seem to be pretty good.

 

What is this guys name again? Twitter feed?

[GFG]

Just now, Melvin said:

Making predictions in football are different than hockey. Don't you think that Schloss would've reported this if it was true?

I'd be shocked if Schloss had sources that deep inside the Big Ten conference. Schloss will write about it when it's official news, because as of right now this is technically still unofficial. The guy did say it would be officially in the media in the 2017 calendar year

[SiouxFanatic]

4 minutes ago, Melvin said:

Making predictions in football are different than hockey. Don't you think that Schloss would've reported this if it was true?

Schlossman/GFH didn't write anything about UND going to Summit/MVFC until it was for sure done deal. So if anything is going on behind the scenes, might guess is Brad won't write anything unless it's a slam dunk.

Edit: Ninja'd by @GFG

[SiouxScore]

Just now, Melvin said:

What is this guys name again? Twitter feed?

Can't remember for sure think it was Greg Flugaur. I know the Twitter name was shared on GopherIllustrated but he gives more information on there than on Twitter.

[GFG]

6 minutes ago, SiouxScore said:

Can't remember for sure think it was Greg Flugaur. I know the Twitter name was shared on GopherIllustrated but he gives more information on there than on Twitter.

Yeah, he was apparently told not to keep sharing his info on Twitter by the B1G so he uses Gopher Illustrated now. His account is @flugempire, but you won't be seeing him share much about that stuff there.

[bigskyvikes]

25 minutes ago, SiouxSherm94 said:

Who cares? Has anybody considered the economy of Grand Forks if this change were to go through? Their scheduling is different. While Fridays and Saturdays are a majority they play many more Thursday and Sunday games, which wouldn't bode well for the Ralph. 

This isn't going to happen.

Those game day changes I believe happen because of THEIR other big 10 sports. UND doesn't have any other big 10 sports! Away games....Maybe and who cares, it's guaranteed to be on tv.

You have no idea if this will happen or not..

...Just like me

[tnt]

I could see this as a possibility, as adding Notre Dame was good for Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State, as far as name recognition, North Dakota would do the same for hockey fans of Minnesota and Wisconsin.  If indeed other members of the NCHC would be asked if North Dakota turns the Big Ten down, then it could result in other moves that might not be beneficial to UND in the long run.  I would hope that guarantees would be part of the deal, especially concerning other Big Ten teams joining down the line. 

[southpaw]

15 minutes ago, SiouxFanatic said:

Schlossman/GFH didn't write anything about UND going to Summit/MVFC until it was for sure done deal. So if anything is going on behind the scenes, might guess is Brad won't write anything unless it's a slam dunk.

Edit: Ninja'd by @GFG

So this article by Tom Miller from November 5th about UND working on a deal with the Summit/MVFC doesn't count?

[jdub27]

The financial incentives and guarantees would have to make it more than worthwhile, especially considering the buyout from the NCHC is something like $1.1 million. The only exceptions the B1G has made for affiliate members are Johns Hopkins lacrosse and Notre Dame hockey. As much as I like UND, they are nowhere in the same class as either of those schools.

[SiouxFanatic]

1 minute ago, southpaw said:

So this article by Tom Miller from November 5th about UND working on a deal with the Summit/MVFC doesn't count?

@southpaw I stand corrected, totally forgot about that article.

[UNDBIZ]

Don't care about hurt feelings, moral superiority, or current conference power rankings, if the B1G came calling with a fair offer, UND should accept it.

[AJS]

5 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

Don't care about hurt feelings, moral superiority, or current conference power rankings, if the B1G came calling with a fair offer, UND should accept it.

Agreed

[GFG]

11 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

The financial incentives would have to make it more than worthwhile, especially considering the buyout from the NCHC is something like $1.1 million.

Obviously we have no idea how that would be figured out, but there's no way UND is making a lot of money in the NCHC. They literally ARE the conference. Even with revenue sharing from the Frozen Faceoff it's basically UND supporting everyone else. In the B1G they would be revenue sharing with schools that make much more money in hockey than most NCHC teams do. Between UND, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan alone...I would bet it would far exceed what UND is getting now to be the support beam for their entire conference. Add in that the entire conference tournament will soon be held at campus sites and it will basically guarantee sell outs for the tournament IMO. 

UND would also be able to keep any television deals they want. Big Ten gets first pick for their select games, but after that they can have Midco, Fox sports, NBC, CBS, FCS...whomever they want can broadcast their games not chosen by BTN. And basically every game is streamed on BTN2Go and/or Fox Sports Go. I suppose Watch ESPN occasionally since they do some B1G games. There's just so much more opportunity for money to be made and higher revenue to be shared.

Not only that, but they get their university associated with the Big Ten and can probably pick up more scheduling arrangements for basketball, volleyball, etc. with B1G teams. 

[tnt]

3 minutes ago, GFG said:

Obviously we have no idea how that would be figured out, but there's no way UND is making a lot of money in the NCHC. They literally ARE the conference. Even with revenue sharing from the Frozen Faceoff it's basically UND supporting everyone else. In the B1G they would be revenue sharing with schools that make much more money in hockey than most NCHC teams do. Between UND, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan alone...I would bet it would far exceed what UND is getting now to be the support beam for their entire conference. Add in that the entire conference tournament will soon be held at campus sites and it will basically guarantee sell outs for the tournament IMO. 

UND would also be able to keep any television deals they want. Big Ten gets first pick for their select games, but after that they can have Midco, Fox sports, NBC, CBS, FCS...whomever they want can broadcast their games not chosen by BTN. And basically every game is streamed on BTN2Go and/or Fox Sports Go. I suppose Watch ESPN occasionally since they do some B1G games. There's just so much more opportunity for money to be made and higher revenue to be shared.

Not only that, but they get their university associated with the Big Ten and can probably pick up more scheduling arrangements for basketball, volleyball, etc. with B1G teams. 

If UND went to the Big Ten, I would hope they would change the campus sites tournament and have the tourney at the "X".  I know Michigan, etc. wouldn't like that, but they didn't exactly show up in force at Detroit. 

[GFG]

1 minute ago, tnt said:

If UND went to the Big Ten, I would hope they would change the campus sites tournament and have the tourney at the "X".  I know Michigan, etc. wouldn't like that, but they didn't exactly show up in force at Detroit. 

If UND went to the B1G I'd actually be surprised if they didn't end up making the X the permanent site at some point...they would definitely know that UND/Minnesota together held the Final Five up. With them back together I feel like the other schools would agree to it because it would be a near guarantee to greatly increase the revenue made.

[cberkas]

Unless UND gets BTN money, John Hopkins and Norte Dame don't, UND is staying in the NCHC. Why leave the best most competitive conference to play in the B1G with no BTN money to go with it.

[Blackheart]

2 minutes ago, cberkas said:

Unless UND gets BTN money, John Hopkins and Norte Dame don't, UND is staying in the NCHC. Why leave the best most competitive conference to play in the B1G with no BTN money to go with it.

^^^THIS^^^

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Pros:

National TV exposure

Afilliation with top institutions (only CC is an elite school in NCHC)

Rivalries resumed

$$$ when we need it badly

Cons:

Fans in CO and further west get burned

Only one or two bus series

No history with half of the conference

No longer top dog calling the shots within conference

More subscriptions needed to watch games

 

The NCHC wasn't going to last in its current iteration forever. Denver and CC are getting calls as soon as UNLV and someone else out west starts a team.  Many of the teams stumbled out the gate for sure, but the B1G improved in a hurry. It'll pain me to see their conference logo on a UND jersey, but less so than anything that isn't the Sioux logo

[Big Green]

I don't see this as a good move for UND.  Only chance to increase revenue is BTN money.  I doubt UND would get much if any of that money.  Hockey seems to be filler for the BTN, not sure they would benifit from giving any to UND.

 

[SiouxSherm94]

37 minutes ago, GFG said:

Notice Minnesota didn't have games like that this year? The fans were pissed about it so they allowed Minnesota to have their games on Friday and Saturday nights. I can guarantee that if UND wants Friday-Saturday at home they would 100% get it.

Minnesota doesn't make up the whole conference, pal. And, just as the initial post said, a majority of the games were played between F/Sat, however ALL teams but UMinn had games on Thursday against either conference or non-conference opponents. With exception to the annual exhibition game against Manitoba, UND in recent years has only played a couple of Sunday games, one being last season at MSU, another in Omaha a few years ago, and the stray playoff tiebreaker against CC back in 2014, which is a special circumstance. Sure, we can make requests all we want, but the point that I'm still trying to convey is that there are many different perspectives that need to be taken into account here. 

[The Sicatoka]

54 minutes ago, GFG said:

I'd be shocked if Schloss had sources that deep inside the Big Ten conference. 

That I believe.
Schloss probably doesn't have anyone that 'inside' unless he and Happy (of USCHO fame) are really behind-the-scene pals. (Doubt it.) 

[GFG]

13 minutes ago, cberkas said:

Unless UND gets BTN money, John Hopkins and Norte Dame don't, UND is staying in the NCHC. Why leave the best most competitive conference to play in the B1G with no BTN money to go with it.

The NCHC is getting raided either way...if UND doesn't go it's either Duluth or Omaha and I can probably tell you which one they would push to make Minnesota fans happy. Would UND fans like the NCHC as much without Duluth? UND knows the NCHC is going to keep expanding west and if there are teams that start up out there it's almost certainly going to be power 5 schools with no hockey tradition or anything. If you're UND and you know you'll eventually be sharing a conference with Power 5 schools wouldn't you rather be with the B1G where you at least have some traditional hockey powers? The money will be figured out.

And the B1G looks like it's on the verge of becoming a very good conference. If you add UND and Notre Dame to it I think you'll have the new power conference in college hockey. Wisconsin is resurging, PSU is actually pretty good, the pairwise supports that. OSU has shown strides and if they can at least keep where they are will be pretty good. Michigan will obviously improve. Michigan State will forever be garbage until they fire Anastos.

[bigskyvikes]

"they better get this" "they better get that" "this needs to be figured out" "perspectives need to be figured out". Holy cow, some of you think you're the only ones wanting to protect UND! You think maybe UND may want to protect UND? Nobody knows anything for sure and people are having melt downs, this is exciting speculation and I can't wait to hear what comes of it, if anything...

[Blackheart]

6 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

That I believe.
Schloss probably doesn't have anyone that 'inside' unless he and Happy (of USCHO fame) are really behind-the-scene pals. (Doubt it.) 

You mean they aren't the same person?