Summit Expansion?

[Western4Life]

Maybe Lindenwood moves towards the Pioneer League? I know the PL just bumped up to 12 teams, I am not sure how expansion would work for them but it is a good idea. LU is like many of those schools and in metro STL they can recruit enough quality players IMO. It may help them with the scholarship costs and other cost increases to go D1. They have the financials to do as they please so I hope we tug them along. Minn St. and UND are enough of a namesake to pull the MVFC into agreement. The MVC is better off with a SL IMO so hopefully it works out.

[KSBisonFan]

^^^^THIS

I would be fine with Minnesota State Mankato joining the SL. Lindenwood and Minn St. would make nice additions for the sanity of all. On a side note having Minn St., Omaha, DU, could open a door for UND. LU has D1 women's hockey and the men's club is nationally ranked with eyes toward upgrading men's too. A lot of hockey in that mix which helps rivalries etc. Adding two football teams to the MVFC would be required IMO for any SL additions. If we are talking Minn. St. and St. Cloud there after which could drop football easier? Hate to ask but it is a tough situation.

If possible to adding Minn St., LU, UND the three together would offer long term stability with two joining the MVFC and one dropping football (obviously that is between LU & Minn St).

Lindenwood is in the process of transitioning their athletic teams from NAIA to Division II. They joined the MIAA conference which includes Pitt St and NW Missouri St (2 teams familiar to Bison fans). The league was happy to add Lindenwood for the St. Louis market because the majority of the schools in the MIAA are in medium to small cities. I don't see Lindenwood being anywhere near ready to make another move up at this time even with the St. Louis market as bait for poachers. Correct me if I'm wrong, Western.

[Western4Life]

Having visited their campus and seeing facilities etc they are prepared as of now IMO if they invest on a few projects. It would take them less to compete for SL championships at this point than WIU. I think they realized to market LU sports were going to be their best tool and it has shown since.

Lindwood has a chance to take over a great arena and all other sports have nice D1 set ups aside from football. The endowment is very large (over 100 million) and they have another campus on the IL side that is going to maintain a smaller division sports affiliation. St. Charles, Mo. has a standing offer to swap the Family Arena http://familyarena.com/family_arena_info.html for a combo of the facilities LU now uses. More pics here http://mvc-stcharles.com/FamilyArenaPhotoGallery.aspx It would immediately put them in the top tier of the SL. LU would use Family Arena (renamed obviously) for D1 hockey and basketball. I know they were NAIA but they were fully funded and a complete monster. The DII move was to gauge NCAA regulations and prep for an eventual DI transition (heard of a 2020-25 projections) that I would like to see expedited.

I would hate to have to compete against them and honestly see their rise as eminent. It would be far more appealing than SIUe IMO.

[tjbison]

I just don't see the MVFC expanding anymore unless someone leaves, those schools are tight as hell, it's really sad they penny pinch like that, but I also realize they need to, but they also have to keep the private BBall schools happy

[NDSUstudent]

I just don't see the MVFC expanding anymore unless someone leaves, those schools are tight as hell, it's really sad they penny pinch like that, but I also realize they need to, but they also have to keep the private BBall schools happy

Well if you add two more and move to divisions travel doesn't change much.

Summit
NDSU
UND
SDSU
USD
WIU
MN State/SCSU/UMD

Valley
UNI
SIU
ISUR
ISUB
MSU
YSU

[tjbison]

Well if you add two more and move to divisions travel doesn't change much.

Summit
NDSU
UND
SDSU
USD
WIU
MN State/SCSU/UMD

Valley
UNI
SIU
ISUR
ISUB
MSU
YSU

UND isn't leaving the Big Sky, St Cloud St isn't moving up especially with FB, UMD neither, the financial mess that is the State of Minnesota will not allow any of these to move up, I also don't the U of M would take kindly to it either

and I for one don't want to be stuck in a division with only SDSU as a good team on the schedule regularly either the Summit division in your post is terrible, but that's just my opinion

[NDSUstudent]

Well all I can say is that something has to happen. The Summit can't survive with 8 schools, scheduling in every sport would be brutal and of course baseball would be short on members. I'm not exactly confident that the HL or MVC will take us in anytime soon.

I think UND would join the MVFC/Summit in a second, there is no way they like traveling all over the western half of the US. I do think you are right that going DI and moving football up would be too much for the MN schools, they would likely have to do what Omaha did.

[Hammersmith]

Filbert from SDSUfans has brought up an interesting thought a couple times. If you're dead set on considering a Minnesota school, why not Concordia(St Paul) or one of the other privates? Bet they'd have a more dedicated fanbase than SCSU or Mankato. Pioneer for football and let them focus their money on basketball. CSP would be the most likely since they already offer scholarships at the DII level, but maybe one of the bigger MIAC schools might consider it. Something to consider.

Personally, I don't like the idea of any MN school. But if needs be, maybe the above is a decent option.

[tjbison]

Filbert from SDSUfans has brought up an interesting thought a couple times. If you're dead set on considering a Minnesota school, why not Concordia(St Paul) or one of the other privates? Bet they'd have a more dedicated fanbase than SCSU or Mankato. Pioneer for football and let them focus their money on basketball. CSP would be the most likely since they already offer scholarships at the DII level, but maybe one of the bigger MIAC schools might consider it. Something to consider.

Personally, I don't like the idea of any MN school. But if needs be, maybe the above is a decent option.

CSP would be good for BBall, forget about them but again they compete for time with the Gophers could they gain market share in Minneapolis?

[NDSUstudent]

Filbert from SDSUfans has brought up an interesting thought a couple times. If you're dead set on considering a Minnesota school, why not Concordia(St Paul) or one of the other privates? Bet they'd have a more dedicated fanbase than SCSU or Mankato. Pioneer for football and let them focus their money on basketball. CSP would be the most likely since they already offer scholarships at the DII level, but maybe one of the bigger MIAC schools might consider it. Something to consider.

Personally, I don't like the idea of any MN school. But if needs be, maybe the above is a decent option.

Well St Thomas is probably the school with the most potential because they have a massive endowment($557 million) but I thought the DI transition rules were changed to make it harder for DIII schools to move up.

CSP is interesting. Not sure how big their endowment is though, I guess I never really considered them before.

For the record I'd rather not add a MN school to the MVFC but I think a MN school would be good for the Summit.