Big Sky "Very Likely" Announcing Additions on Monday

[SLCBengal]

According to various media reports, Southern Utah University, the University of North Dakota, and possibly the University of South Dakota will be announced as all-sports members on Monday...

...the Big Sky Conference will be making an announcement on Monday and it is "very likely" they will be announcing "additions" to the D-I (FCS) conference, according to Big Sky Media Relations Director Jon Kasper.

WDAZ: UND Cancels Summit Conference Site Visit; Big Sky "Very Likely" Announcing Additions

 

[bengalcub]

Great news! I am not sure how conference members will be able to afford the travel, but I'll bet they have that figured out.

I am excited about having all three come aboard!

 

[biobengal]

Am I wrong to assume Montana or Montana State will be leaving? Otherwise, why make it tougher to get to the NCAA tourney in basketball and why carve up a small pot of $ by bringing on SUU as an all-sports member?

 

[Skippy]

Boy, bio, so many mixed signals on this one. I've heard, for example, that the two Dakotas are coming in at Montana's insistence. The Griz are giving in on Southern Utah in return for the addition of two "academic peers." The new Montana president's recent interview is also interesting -- he makes it clear that UM isn't going anywhere without MSU. Is MSU ready to go? They haven't even been mentioned by the WAC at this point. So predicting which way this one will go is really tough.

ISU got about $500 K from the Big Sky last year in revenue sharing -- playoffs, NCAA tournament, television, etc. With 12 teams (Cal Poly and Cal Davis will be football only members so I would think they wouldn't share in NCAA tourney revenue), that would be closer to $350 K, unless the conference can find other ways to generate more revenue. One might be through television -- almost all of the BSC's TV money came from the stations that pay to broadcast Montana home games. If the Dakotas have local broadcasts, they might be required to share some of that revenue.

 

[Siouxfan]

As a UND fan, have to believe that Montana used it's clout to gain UND and USD admission. Montana and Montana State have long wanted us in the conference, and it seems Montana used it's leverage with the WAC to gain what it has long wanted: academically similar schools from the Dakotas in the Sky. UND is a Tier 1 school with extensive research and many graduate programs as well as law and med schools. USD also has law and med schools.

As far as television revenue, it will be interesting if something else is up. All three of UND's major venues are linked up to it's own satellite system - for viewing in any bar or home with a satellite dish. UND doesn't rely much on local commercial stations, but has it's own cable network in ND, SD, and parts of Minnesota that carry it. UND also has a national contract with Fox College Sports, so all events that are carried on the cable network are also televised nationally. It will be interesting with Fox College Sports, if Big Sky events may now be more national rather than regional with Altitude. Fox Sports doesn't pay anything substantial, but a high % of the advertising is originated from UND marketing partners.

North Dakota and Montana have a lot of historical and economic ties. In football, we've played both Montana and Montana State about 30 times - mostly in the 50's - 70's. The western part of ND, which is experiencing a major economic boom from oil, is going to be very excited about renewing those rivalries.

 

[Skippy]

Thanks for the perspective, Sioux fan. BTW, did you get get your "nickname issue" resolved?

 

[bincitysioux]

BTW, did you get get your "nickname issue" resolved?

It was "resolved" about a year and a half ago. This current season will be our last as the Fighting Sioux.

Anybody care to take a stab at how the division lines are going to be drawn?

For football, I'd like to see:

North/East
Eastern Washington
Montana
Montana St.
Idaho St.
Northern Colorado
North Dakota
South Dakota

South/West
Portland St.
Weber St.
Southern Utah
Sacramento St.
Southern Utah
Cal Poly
UC Davis

Weber and Idaho St. could be assigned as permanent rivals, ala Pac 10/12 with their 4 CA schools.

Will there be 2 or 3 cross-division games? 2 would provide an equal number of home and away conference games each year and allow an extra non-conference game. But 3 would allow for more conference competition which could help sort out the conference champ with 9 games rather than 8. I think I'm leaning toward 3 cross-division games.

Will they go to divisions for basketball and other sports? I hope so. If they do, move ISU into the South/West division. With divisional play for basketball etc., we'd have 10 divsion games, and 6 cross-division games for a total of 16, which is what the current Big Sky plays now. Travel would basically be the same for all the current members, and probably greatly reduced for ISU, Weber, SUU, and NAU. This would also allow for lots of OOC scheduling flexibility for the Pacific schools to play Big West and WCC teams, the Mountain schools to play WAC and MWC teams, and the Dakota schools to play Summit , MVC, and Horizon teams.

Non divisional play in baskeball etc. would fill out the schedules nicely, but I think this is where travel would become a real burden for virtually everybody, much moreso than in any football alignment.

 

[Old Skool Cat]

Am I wrong to assume Montana or Montana State will be leaving? Otherwise, why make it tougher to get to the NCAA tourney in basketball and why carve up a small pot of $ by bringing on SUU as an all-sports member?

Believe me bio, we ain't goin' anywhere! I know alot of people have us tied to Montana if they make a move to the WAC, but it would suicide if we were to jump up. We do not have near the resources or moxie like UM has to survive a move up. I don't think Montana moves up this year, but wouldn't be surprised to see them move up sometime 3-5 years from now.

 

[sasquatch]

What's the new mascot for UND, or has that been decided yet? Idaho has its fair share of high schools which have mascot names like "Indians," "Redskins," and "Savages," so we don't have much room to judge.

My guess is that each division will only encompass two time-zones, rather than all three. If that happens, it's an East-West division, and it keeps the 4 charter members of the Big Sky in the same division.

East
Montana
Montana State
Idaho State
Weber State
North Dakota
South Dakota
Northern Colorado

West
Eastern Washington
Portland State
Sacramento State
Southern Utah
Northern Arizona
*UC Davis
*Cal Poly

If the divisions are kept in basketball as well, I think you see Weber or ISU moved to the west. Hopefully a little creative scheduling would still keep a home and home in effect each year though.

 

[Skippy]

Big Sky will issue a news release today at 2 p.m. MT, with a news conference scheduled at 5 p.m. tonight.

 

[boisebengal]

I think it's stupid that you had to change the nickname 'Fighting Sioux', because I see nothing derogatory about that at all. If anything I think that the name shows respect for the heritage of the American Indian. What will your new mascot be called?

 

[bincitysioux]

After this season, the assumption is that we will go without a nickname for at least a year, perhaps even two. During that time there will be lots of PR work, suggestions, meetings, probably even contests resulting in fans submitting names to be trimmed down to a few for leadership, stakeholders, and students to vote on. Early favorites thrown around from fans are Cavalry and Roughriders. Personally I'd like to just forever be "North Dakota".

One of the two tribes that we needed to get permission from to keep the name voted in favor of it by 67%. The tribal council of the other never allowed its people to vote on the subject, but was widely believed they would also have come out in support.

It was a small minority of Native American activists, UND faculty, and PC correct Board of Higher Ed. with little backbone that was the demise of the Fighting Sioux nickname.