lets drop baseball and add hockey

[mgbison]

No doubt basketball is on a different level with the final four. However, we will never be on that level. We have finished 7th the past 2 years in a crappy conference. I wanna say I'll see the bison in the sweet 16 sometime during my life, but its probably not gonna happen.

[344Johnson]

Hockey is like what lakes said, Lacrosse for the upper midwest, and out east its for the guys not smart enough to go to a lacrosse school haha.

Don't sell out. Its more fun being the way we are. Making the news for what we do in RELEVANT sports.

You know how fun it is when the basketball team or the football team gets a short 2-3 minute story in espn is. With hockey, MAYBE we could get one of those if we won the national championship.

Stick with what we know, football and basketball. Don't invite hockey and pretend its important to the college athletics world.

[HerdBot]

I'm sure thats what Butler/VCU fans were saying...before they made the Final Four.

I agree. You only need 1 great player in basketball or a core of jr or Srs. If I had to make bets, I think we win a game in the tournament sometime within the next 5 years.

But we can do that AND add butt hockey.

[HerdBot]

it would take decades to become a money maker like und in hockey. im guessing und is one of the few that actually makes money

St Cloud State Nebraska Omaha make a killing on hockey and lost money on football. Were in a unique position because we make a ton of money in football and when the BSA is done we will gave a money maker in basketball as well. Hockey is a guaranteed money maker if you can fund the athletic department. We have a great facility in the scheels center.

Why can't we do well with all 3 sports without cutting funding? We would have 3 great facilities and 3 great teams. That's a good D1 vision.

Remember how everyone thought we could never fund a D1 budget? I guess they were wrong. Let's at least have discussions. Who knows maybe there are big donors out there.

[onbison09]

St Cloud State Nebraska Omaha make a killing on hockey and lost money on football. Were in a unique position because we make a ton of money in football and when the BSA is done we will gave a money maker in basketball as well. Hockey is a guaranteed money maker if you can fund the athletic department. We have a great facility in the scheels center.

Why can't we do well with all 3 sports without cutting funding? We would have 3 great facilities and 3 great teams. That's a good D1 vision.

Remember how everyone thought we could never fund a D1 budget? I guess they were wrong. Let's at least have discussions. Who knows maybe there are big donors out there.

That's a big ass if. I'm a hockey fan too.

[HerdBot]

No doubt basketball is on a different level with the final four. However, we will never be on that level. We have finished 7th the past 2 years in a crappy conference. I wanna say I'll see the bison in the sweet 16 sometime during my life, but its probably not gonna happen.

2 words: Northern Iowa. Nobody can convince me that we are that far away. Basketball is changing. Pure teams are winning consistently now. Butler, VCU, George Mason, UNI... its the norm now. A team of 3-4 year starters is the new formula.

[HerdBot]

That's a big ass if. I'm a hockey fan too.

Your right but it was also a big ass IF we could fund a D1 program too. We all know how that worked out.

Then they said even if we can fund it we wont be competitive. Of course we've easily been the most successful Summit Team and won a conference championship in damn near every sport.

Heck they said we couldn't compete with FBS programs. They said we would never make the playoffs. We would nevver make the NCAA basketball tourney either.

They said we'd never raise money for a new arena. Now were only 2 million away from the shac.

I think we've proven we can do more with less.

[skolbrother]

Does anyone have paid attendance #'s for the Fargo Force and for Bison basketball. You can question the legitmacy of anyone's paid attendance but at some point it's the best you have to look at the situation reasonably.

These #'s are pertinent to this discussion. The Force is a team I truly have no loyalty to unlike being a graduate of North Dakota State University. However, alot of UND people who live in Fargo may not attend Bison hockey games. Although, I don't believe that would be the norm as the many who have become my friends as adults just enjoy hockey.

[NorthernBison]

St Cloud State Nebraska Omaha make a killing on hockey and lost money on football. Were in a unique position because we make a ton of money in football and when the BSA is done we will gave a money maker in basketball as well. Hockey is a guaranteed money maker if you can fund the athletic department. We have a great facility in the scheels center.

Why can't we do well with all 3 sports without cutting funding? We would have 3 great facilities and 3 great teams. That's a good D1 vision.

Remember how everyone thought we could never fund a D1 budget? I guess they were wrong. Let's at least have discussions. Who knows maybe there are big donors out there.

Last year was the FIRST year that UNO got into black ink on hockey. They are dropping football and wrestling. I hardly think they are a GOOD example to use if you are trying to suggest we emulate them.

I said before but people seem to not understand that DII schools like St. Cloud have an easier time funding hockey and staying Title IX compliant. That's because they have 27 LESS football scholarships. That's enough to make it workable.

[HerdBot]

Does anyone have paid attendance #'s for the Fargo Force and for Bison basketball. You can question the legitmacy of anyone's paid attendance but at some point it's the best you have to look at the situation reasonably.

These #'s are pertinent to this discussion. The Force is a team I truly have no loyalty to unlike being a graduate of North Dakota State University. However, alot of UND people who live in Fargo may not attend Bison hockey games. Although, I don't believe that would be the norm as the many who have become my friends as adults just enjoy hockey.

http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/...&seasonid=5967

I can't find our stats but the season high was 4200. Some games were 2200. Average was probably around 3k. That's with an average to below average team in a crap BSA.

I can tell you I've been to more Force and Redhawks games than Bison Basketball and Baseball. Of course I haven't missed a football game in 10 years. I will go see more basketball games when the new BSA is done.

I had no desire to see the Force but my family wanted to go so I went and I've actually become a fan of the team. I know some friends that skip football games to see the Force. They are also big club hockey fans.

Its crazyhow the force built a tradition in 3 years without a history or fan base. You see NDSU and UND stuff at the games. NDSU has a legit fan base and a little history with club hockey. The arena is a big part of it. Its a very well run organization and we could take some tips from them.