I call it the Quilted Northern Conference. Full of pooh

(05-04-2018 01:43 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 01:14 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the Dakota 4, Omaha, and Denver are a united front and they see the future of the Summit leaning Westward they could conceivably push out PFW, WIU, and ORU in favor of the Montanas and Idaho but are they really going to reciprocate? What's in it for them? On the Summit side, is it really worth it to trade football games with their MVC friends for trips to the Rockies? All for an FCS league?

No, the super secret plan is for an FBS conference. Otherwise, it would be ridiculous...

And what makes it all the more outlandish is that the U_Ds are no where close to FBS ready

(05-04-2018 03:41 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 01:43 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 01:14 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the Dakota 4, Omaha, and Denver are a united front and they see the future of the Summit leaning Westward they could conceivably push out PFW, WIU, and ORU in favor of the Montanas and Idaho but are they really going to reciprocate? What's in it for them? On the Summit side, is it really worth it to trade football games with their MVC friends for trips to the Rockies? All for an FCS league?

No, the super secret plan is for an FBS conference. Otherwise, it would be ridiculous...

And what makes it all the more outlandish is that the U_Ds are no where close to FBS ready

Since the rules say that you have to have an average of 15,000 in attendance, only NDSU surpass that marked. They could be easily be an FBS school than some who are already in FBS.

(05-04-2018 11:58 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 07:39 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 12:32 AM)Stugray2 Wrote:  psst, the Great North already exists:

Montana, Montana State, Idaho, Idaho State, Weber State, Eastern Washington and Portland State are in a conference together, and they even pulled in Northern Colorado. All those schools north of Denver and SLC, in the Mountain and Pacific timezone. You might have heard of it, it's called the Big Sky.

Big Sky fails the Great Northern test on two counts.
1. Inclusion of too much "deadwood"--directionals like NAU, SUU, EWU, UNC. Cal States and Portland States are borderline--on the one hand, icky poorsie commuter schools ew, OTOH Portland and Sacramento are first class cities, and Cal Poly sounds kind of impressive.
2. Exclusion of half of the flagships-and-landgrants in the big flat empty zone between Minneapolis and the Rocky Mountains--the Dakota 4.

The whole idea of the Great Northern is for the flagships-and-landgrants of the empty quadrant between Minneapolis and the PAcific (or Rockies) to not have reputation-cooties from association with the directionals and commuter schools.

NOTE: A lot of the appeal, on paper, of the Great Northern idea is that it lets Montana upgrade its conference neighborhood and peer group while being a LOT easier than clearing all the hurdles to make FBS happen. Sort of like America East but for the Great Plains area.

You mean the deadwood like NAU with three times the enrollment, second largest endowment, offers 25% more scholarships than any of those mentioned, plus academically equal or above those schools?

Not too mention the only school that actually wins National Championships in Division I?

OK...

Yes, that NAU. From the POV of a university administrator, the purpose of athletics and your athletic conference is to advertise the school in a certain way. It really doesn't matter what NAU's enrollment or endowment are, and how you perform on the field and on the court means less than that--still a "directional school" like Southern Utah or Eastern Illinois or Northern Iowa.

(05-04-2018 01:14 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the Dakota 4, Omaha, and Denver are a united front and they see the future of the Summit leaning Westward they could conceivably push out PFW, WIU, and ORU in favor of the Montanas and Idaho but are they really going to reciprocate? What's in it for them? On the Summit side, is it really worth it to trade football games with their MVC friends for trips to the Rockies? All for an FCS league?

Nobody gets "pushed out" of a conference that they sponsor the sports for. Affiliate members get kicked out occassionally, but full members don't get kicked out.

What's in it for them? You can't push out Fort Wayne, WIU and Oral Roberts, but if you bring in the Montanas and Idaho, then FW, WIU and ORU start looking like outliers in a flagships-and-landgrants conference. Which makes UXD and XDSU look a little better to applicants from Chicago and Minneapolis and KC and Denver.

The simple reason of economic interest is being overlooked. The biggest county in North Dakota, on the Montana border, is currently having billions in nat gas processing plants built, never mind the billions in oil activity. Montana and No Dakota share that huge interest, as the Bakken economic interest extends into Montana too. Billings and Bismarck both have major economic interest in the Bakken, and if Billings and Bismarck do, all the state schools do too. Ethane is a major byproduct of Bakken nat gas, and it is the beginning of a chemical industry with ethyene and nearly all chemicals and polymers being produced from it. The value of ethane is being wasted in the methane stream now. An ethane to ethlylene conversion plant (cracker) is being discussed there, and with the Missouri River, there is plenty of water for major development. Pittsburgh has won a cracker plant, and that has huge ramifications for it. A Great Northern conference, a western version of the Summit, is a no brainer.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gener...orter.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...l-nears-70

MSU-B will be a huge addition for the GNC.

(05-04-2018 10:05 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  MSU-B will be a huge addition for the GNC.

They make a bridge to the Dakotas. Why not South Dakota mines and Black Hills State? Both in western part of South Dakota.

(05-05-2018 01:01 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 10:05 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  MSU-B will be a huge addition for the GNC.

They make a bridge to the Dakotas. Why not South Dakota mines and Black Hills State? Both in western part of South Dakota.

Because to the extent that the Great Northern makes any sense, its to separate the U of (State) and (State) State U's from the Northern STate U's. If MSU-Billings and SDMU and BHSU were Division I, they'd be exactly teh schools that the flagships would be trying to get away from.

(05-05-2018 01:01 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 10:05 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  MSU-B will be a huge addition for the GNC.

They make a bridge to the Dakotas. Why not South Dakota mines and Black Hills State? Both in western part of South Dakota.

Quit posting nonsense.

(05-05-2018 09:54 AM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(05-05-2018 01:01 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 10:05 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  MSU-B will be a huge addition for the GNC.

They make a bridge to the Dakotas. Why not South Dakota mines and Black Hills State? Both in western part of South Dakota.

Quit posting nonsense.

What or who is a black hills state?

Black Hills St was a former normal college located in Spearfish that now has slightly more than 4000 students. In no way shape or form, can it go DI. It has less than $20 million in endowment. There has been talk they an ice hockey arena would be built near campus, but even that is iffy. But that is the only way that it could afford DI for a sport.

SDMines only has < 3000 student and has an almost $50 endowment. It may have more support potential because it is in Rapid City. Again, hockey is the only sport that could be DI. The RMAC wouldn’t take it for years when it moved to DII. Rapid City has attempted to get its voters to approve a domed stadium which would help SDMines, but it has failed to pass. ND has a school of mines written in its constitution also, but it is located within UND, which is why UND has an engineering school.

MSU-Billings does not have anywhere near the students to support DI (< 5000). The student are older than average and predominately female. The school has an endowment of less than $20 million. They had a study to determine if they should add hockey, but when the results came back, the Metra Civic Center pulled out their ice making capability.

Montana Board of Regents posted the agenda for the meeting on May 23-24. Nothing about a new conference affiliation or FBS by MSU or UM. Next meeting will be July 12-13.

(05-16-2018 05:19 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  Montana Board of Regents posted the agenda for the meeting on May 23-24. Nothing about a new conference affiliation or FBS by MSU or UM. Next meeting will be July 12-13.

FBS won’t be until 2020 as will the conference change. July 1st in still intact. Approval can be in stages.

Both ND’s just applied to their board to authorize $30 something million practice facility upgrades. UND will build offices, locker rooms, and workout facilities next to their existing enclosed 300 meter track. NDSU will build a fb only enclosed facility with locker rooms and a separate indoor softball field Guess they already have an enclosed 200 meter track.

(05-16-2018 05:19 PM)NoQuestion Wrote:  Montana Board of Regents posted the agenda for the meeting on May 23-24. Nothing about a new conference affiliation or FBS by MSU or UM. Next meeting will be July 12-13.

It is all part of the plan. A stealth move to throw the rest of the BSC not in on the plan off the scent. Sneaky sneaky!!

Seems there are some conspiracy theories being thrown around out here. I just do not think there will be a Great Northern Conference forming. If any of the schools going to FBS? They have to either wait for the WAC to form a football league, a MWC or MAC to invite them.

This is really just a vast conspiracy by the P5 schools to bring in enough new members to FBS that the P5 would be justified in breaking away from the NCAA completely. The tipping point isn't all that far away already.

Then the P5 wouldn't have to share football or basketball revenues with the G5 (and the rest of the NCAA D-I), and the entire NCAA could do away with athletic scholarships entirely. Think of the billions that would save our cash strapped universities!

Funded entirely by member dues, the NCAA staff would be cut to the bone, and nobody would notice. Thrilled at the return to purely amateur sports, fans will flock to NCAA arenas and stadiums by the hundreds. What a great day for college sports!

Strange that there is now a WAC-Summit basketball challenge scheduled for every year. A WAC-Big Sky challenge would make more sense, but if the Montanas and Idaho leave, that changes things.

The new Summit League could rely on the WAC for affiliated FBS bids, so they would have to work closely together.

(05-17-2018 05:12 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Strange that there is now a WAC-Summit basketball challenge scheduled for every year. A WAC-Big Sky challenge would make more sense, but if the Montanas and Idaho leave, that changes things.

The new Summit League could rely on the WAC for affiliated FBS bids, so they would have to work closely together.

Do you see the WAC Slummit challenge as a good thing for the Great Northern, or a bad thing?

(05-17-2018 05:12 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Strange that there is now a WAC-Summit basketball challenge scheduled for every year.

Link?

(05-17-2018 06:53 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(05-17-2018 05:12 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Strange that there is now a WAC-Summit basketball challenge scheduled for every year. A WAC-Big Sky challenge would make more sense, but if the Montanas and Idaho leave, that changes things.

The new Summit League could rely on the WAC for affiliated FBS bids, so they would have to work closely together.

Do you see the WAC Slummit challenge as a good thing for the Great Northern, or a bad thing?

It shows an interdependent working relationship. The WAX can annoint any FCS team to FBS.