2025 Non-UND FCS News/Scores Thread

[wheelsup]

Ndsu has to talk about football moving FBS..  because their enrollment has gotten so low pretty soon they are going to have to drop back to D2.  They do a great job fundraising and a poor job updating campus and recruiting students that actually want their majors. 
 

The Dakotas and Montanas need to stick together to keep football relevant up here and it would be nice if all of the mid teams that moved up over the last 10 years moved back down or we all moved up to make a great FCS again.. we could call its Division 1 AA.. 

i hate the idea of moving up to fbs.. I hate the idea of not playing our regional rivals more. 

[Johnny Five]

15 hours ago, JacksonW said:

Boise has sma population of 775,000 and student enrollment of 27,000. 

My bad...was meaning in relation to media market rankings.  It's something like 100 for Boise State and 115 for Fargo as far as that goes.  Nothing amazing for each but yes, I get your point, I will sit out for 2 minutes.

[Johnny Five]

16 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I have always said that the best way to move up is to have the 4 Dakota schools and the 2 Montana schools move up together. There is strength in numbers and along with those numbers, bargaining power.

I 100% agree with this.  I could care less if NDSU goes up or not honestly.  But if they do and do it without a regional rival, it's a mistake.  

[AJS]

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

[JacksonW]

41 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

My bad...was meaning in relation to media market rankings.  It's something like 100 for Boise State and 115 for Fargo as far as that goes.  Nothing amazing for each but yes, I get your point, I will sit out for 2 minutes.

Major penalty reduced to a minor after review

[homer]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

Well said. 
 

And again I would add aligning with the remaining Summit members that it’s off the table if they leave in their own.  Not sure how they do it but have to make it a challenge to move on their own.  Not having a bus league for Olympic sports makes it nearly impossible.   

[CMSioux]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

Seems like UND is setting records every year on fundraising....for academics and infrastructure. Not sure that is a bad thing. 

[gfhockey]

Ndsu focuses on fundraising for athletics while UND focuses on fundraising for buildings

 

and und about to get a cut in state funding due to Fargo legislatures demanding a change in fundraising after und smoked them by in enrollment

 

 

[AJS]

48 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

Seems like UND is setting records every year on fundraising....for academics and infrastructure. Not sure that is a bad thing. 

See @gfhockey response. I would say, why not both? I think there was a missed opportunity not adding let’s say $25 million to the new stretch goal for athletic scholarships.

Btw, I don’t think UND is that far off. I would argue as of 2025, they are doing all the really difficult things extremely well. Campus, uptick in enrollment, athletic facilities. 
 

I do think athletic scholarships is a big need. Build the athletic endowment (believe UND’s is less 1/2 of NDSU’s). 50 million to 110 million. I want to see some fire, self promotion. Fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.

[southpaw]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Well said. 
 

And again I would add aligning with the remaining Summit members that it’s off the table if they leave in their own.  Not sure how they do it but have to make it a challenge to move on their own.  Not having a bus league for Olympic sports makes it nearly impossible.   

Und needs a stable Summit because where does UND put its olympic sports if too many teams leave or get kicked out?  Plus, maybe one day UND moves up to football only FBS too. There's so much realignment happening, why do something that negatively affects your own conference and builds a bigger divide with your closest school? 

[homer]

22 minutes ago, southpaw said:

Und needs a stable Summit because where does UND put its olympic sports if too many teams leave or get kicked out?  Plus, maybe one day UND moves up to football only FBS too. There's so much realignment happening, why do something that negatively affects your own conference and builds a bigger divide with your closest school? 

There will always be a school willing to move up.  Maybe it’s an old NCC school but if we aren’t going to invest in those sports, why does it matter?  Attendance will always be the same.  

For the remaining Summit schools, any additional money NDSU gets from FBS football will filter to these Olympic sports   You are also competing for fans across the state, why make that easy   

The approach from the school needs to be you are competing for students.  NDSU isn’t going to do any favors so why make it financially easier? 

[Siouxperman8]

16 minutes ago, homer said:

There will always be a school willing to move up.  Maybe it’s an old NCC school but if we aren’t going to invest in those sports, why does it matter?  Attendance will always be the same.  

For the remaining Summit schools, any additional money NDSU gets from FBS football will filter to these Olympic sports   You are also competing for fans across the state, why make that easy   

The approach from the school needs to be you are competing for students.  NDSU isn’t going to do any favors so why make it financially easier? 

Not sure there will be extra money after expenses to filter down. Entry fee to move up is $5 million up front and costs can only be higher. 

[gfhockey]

52 minutes ago, AJS said:

See @gfhockey response. I would say, why not both? I think there was a missed opportunity not adding let’s say $25 million to the new stretch goal for athletic scholarships.

Btw, I don’t think UND is that far off. I would argue as of 2025, they are doing all the really difficult things extremely well. Campus, uptick in enrollment, athletic facilities. 
 

I do think athletic scholarships is a big need. Build the athletic endowment (believe UND’s is less 1/2 of NDSU’s). 50 million to 110 million. I want to see some fire, self promotion. Fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.

Only so much cash and und keeps hitting up same boosters