Charger Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 If SDSU was considering playing hockey in SF I would not be for it. I don't like the idea of a team playing their home games an hour away from campus. We would still run into many of the problems I listed for USD, scheduling of the arena, marketing, and beating out the Stampede for patrons. Of course we wouldn't have to play all of our games in SF since Brookings has a rink that opened last year that holds 2500+. The fact that we have a rink already makes a huge difference though. You cut out most of the overhead cost which takes away much of the risk. I would still rather have the athletic department focus on basketball and moving up to DI. So I guess I would actually be against a hockey team at this time unless there was significant demand for it, which I haven't seen. Brookings is the best hockey town in South Dakota, hands down, and there is talk of us getting a MNJHL team, perhaps a farm team to the Stampede. If that team faired well for a couple of seasons then I would look at adding a college team. I don't mind a team from USD or SDSU playing a couple of games in SF, but not the majority of them. I know USD is trying to offset SDSU getting more fans from the SF area, but I honestly don't think the hockey team is going to fair to well. The Stampede has a larger following than the Sky Force at the time because they are winning. The Sky Force had a horrible season, and the Stampede have been the most successful USHL expansion team. They made the playoffs their first year of playing. When the Sky Force are doing well they will attract more fans. As much as I wish South Dakota could have a hockey team like UND, it's not going to happen. Atleast not at this time. If youth hockey and the overall popularity of the sport continues to grow in South Dakota, a team could be very successful in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charger Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Do you guys know if there is a minimum size the ice has to be in NCAA hockey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 The NCAA says the ice should be as close to 200'x100' (aka Olympic ice) as possible, but only 10 of 60 teams last season had it. Most play on something more like NHL (aka North American standard) ice (200'x85'). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 With this news release from USD on the hiring of Joel Nielsen as AD , are there still doubters that USD will be pursuing playing hockey in Sioux Falls? Nielsen is currently the AD at Colorado College. Notice who was quoted in press release: Roger Thomas – Athletic Director, University of North Dakota “I think the world of Joel (Nielsen). I think he will do a great job at South Dakota. We have coached against each other and I look forward to working with him in the North Central Conference. He is someone that has vision and perspective that will be important in the coming years.” USD's startup expenses, even with a practice rink in Vermillion, should be less than what NDSU and/or SDSU need to improve their facilities. Furthermore, the CHA will probably embrace USD immediately (and also maybe Missouri-St. Louis), so a conference afiliation should not be a hurdle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I've wondered why other schools with strong USHL franchises (and decent hockey facilities) in town haven't followed the "Omaha" model and started DI hockey. Examples: Sioux Falls -- Augustana or USD or SDSU Waterloo -- Northern Iowa Des Moines -- Drake or Iowa State Cedar Rapids -- U of Iowa The model shows that a school can fund a very significant portion of their athletic budget from hockey revenues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I don't think hockey would be that popular in Iowa. Believe it or not, wrestling is king down here, and is a very close second to basketball as the most popular winter sport. The wrestling coaches at ISU and UI have alot of influence and I don't think hockey would get a second look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I don't think hockey would be that popular in Iowa. Believe it or not, wrestling is king down here, and is a very close second to basketball as the most popular winter sport. The wrestling coaches at ISU and UI have alot of influence and I don't think hockey would get a second look. Yeah, that would explain the usually soldout hockey barns in Des Moines, Waterloo, etc. Iowa is a "football/wrestling/BB state", as is NoDak, but to presume that college hockey would not do well there simply on that basis, demonstrates the remarkable myopia of the Stream Yellow tradition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BisonMav Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Yeah, that would explain the usually soldout hockey barns in Des Moines, Waterloo, etc. Iowa is a "football/wrestling/BB state", as is NoDak, but to presume that college hockey would not do well there simply on that basis, demonstrates the remarkable myopia of the Stream Yellow tradition. USHL Attendance 3000-4000 attendance may be okay, they would probably have to add a women's team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't Iowa State have a pretty respectable club hockey team right now. They compete with teams from all over the place; minot state, penn state? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 ISU's club hockey is pretty good I think. I really don't know what their attendance is like though. There will be a blip about them in the student paper every once in a while though. Scott M. I really don't know what you're inferring to when you speak of myopia, but tell me why you think college hockey would be successful in Iowa. Based on the USHL attendance figures, I don't think 3000 fans/game would be a moneymaker for an athletic department after you figure the additional scholarships that would need to be added for womens sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Let's look at 3000 to 4000 people for a USHL game: Those are teams playing in a city with no real "connection" to the population (other than the occassional hometown player). The USHL is drawing 3000 to 4000 without deep roots in the community. Imagine a hockey team with strong hometown connections, like a team wearing the logo of the local university. Des Moines, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City: That's four in Iowa. Toss in "River City" (formerly Omaha, now playing across the river in Council Bluffs) to make five. That's five in a 12 team league and two more (Sioux Falls and Lincoln) are short drives to the Iowa border. But there's no hockey interest in Iowa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Looks like there is quite a bit of hockey interest in Iowa to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 There's so much interest that the Iowa High School Athletic Association doesn't sponsor it. But I guess I don't know anything since I actually live in Iowa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND92,96 Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 There's so much interest that the Iowa High School Athletic Association doesn't sponsor it. But I guess I don't know anything since I actually live in Iowa. I'm not sure that's an accurate barometer of how college hockey would do in a particular state. I suspect that the Nebraska High School Activities Assoc. doesn't sponsor high school hockey either, but it has done very well at UNO and the support for its USHL teams has been very impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 There's so much interest that the Iowa High School Athletic Association doesn't sponsor it. But I guess I don't know anything since I actually live in Iowa. That may well be the case, but it still doesn't refute this Des Moines, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City: That's four in Iowa. Toss in "River City" (formerly Omaha, now playing across the river in Council Bluffs) to make five. That's five in a 12 team league and two more (Sioux Falls and Lincoln) are short drives to the Iowa border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 [That may well be the case, but it still doesn't refute this Just as your previous post can't refute my statement. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I can't speak for the other regent universities, but the chances of ISU adding hockey are about as good as UND adding wrestling. They cut men's swimming and baseball two years ago, and just recently announced a cut of about $500,000 from the athletic department. Of course, when your athletic budget is about 28 million, that might not hurt so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 I'm not questioning the fact that ISU won't be adding hockey anytime soon, but it is obvious hockey is a lot more popular in Iowa and Nebraska than you are willing to admit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bisonfan1234 Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 I've cahnged my mind about hockey...it's a pretty fun sport to watch. It's just too expensive to start up a program from scratch. If you want to make money at it you have to have a nice arena,etc. ISU doesn't have an Englested to donate 100 mil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 I'm not questioning the fact that ISU won't be adding hockey anytime soon, but it is obvious hockey is a lot more popular in Iowa and Nebraska than you are willing to admit. Hockey may be more popular than I'm willing to admit, but it is not nearly as popular as college wrestling. I can't back this up with attendance numbers, but the media coverage around here is dominated with stories about Cael Sanderson etc. I guess it's possible hockey could gain that popularity if one of the universities added hockey, but I don't think that will ever happen IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 I'm not going to argue that it will ever be more popular than wrestling in iowa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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