$25M donation leads to program upgrade.
- Thread starter SinBin
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“Most definitely”
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Cuse or Pitt and I’ll barf.
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Rutgers would be worstest...
I’ll throw a vote towards Butch’s choice...
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UNLV is a good guess, as would be Illinois.
Edit: Also this:
Edit: Also this:
Last edited:
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There has been talk of Illinois for some time now along with Northwestern, Maryland (who does not have an ACHA team), and Rutgers in the B1G. I would guess Northwestern out of those three as Rutgers and Maryland have other messes to deal with while the optics would not look good at Illinois due to state budget issues. Out west, now that Arizona St has a team, UNLV and Colorado would not be surprises while Stanford and BYU could be wild cards as they have the funds while Washington could be in play as part of the effort to get an NHL franchise in Seattle. One of Duke, UNC, and NC State could also be involved, especially if the Hurricane's new owner, Dundon, is trying to make more inroads around RTP.
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There's a rumor from USF that Jeff Venic (Tampa Bay Lightning owner) will help upgrade their hockey club. Pasco County just build a sports complex with 3 ice rinks, Brandon, just east of Tampa, has an ice rink for a few high school clubs teams.
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Just a reference for some discussion points.
Ice hockey on campus? University of Louisville has 'preliminary' chat
Goal-Oriented: UofL ice hockey aims to reach Division I status
Ice hockey on campus? University of Louisville has 'preliminary' chat
Goal-Oriented: UofL ice hockey aims to reach Division I status
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I'd be shocked if UL goes D1. Kentucky is about as far as you can be from being a hockey hotbed. Yes, Nashville became one in the NHL, but TN is a different can of beans than KY where it's basketball, basketball, basketball, basketball, basketball, and basketball all winter long.
Throw on top that they'd need a large sum of money to build an arena and upgrade the current program to meet D1 standards. And they'd need the NCHC or WCHA to agree to let them join the conference.
From the article, ASU and Miami are bad comparisons. Both ASU and Miami don't have basketball programs that draw 100% of fans attention during the season. ASU is located in an enormous metropolitan area that had an NHL team already. Miami hockey is moderately successful but is also the only game in town during the winter. Even still, they draw 2-3K per night. Both schools do not draw the 4K/night the guy in the article quotes. Also, while they "turn away fans" for UK/IU games, are they going to be turning away fans when it's Lake State, Western Michigan, or Alabama-Huntsville in town? Heck, even Denver and North Dakota have zero name cache in Louisville.
USF makes more sense to me, given the success of the Frozen Fours down there and the popularity of the Lightning. That still wouldn't address the major hurdles of arena/conference. UNLV, locals out there LOVE the Golden Knights and would likely support another UNLV team in the winter. But same as USF (really, any new team) - arena/conference are the two big issues.
Throw on top that they'd need a large sum of money to build an arena and upgrade the current program to meet D1 standards. And they'd need the NCHC or WCHA to agree to let them join the conference.
From the article, ASU and Miami are bad comparisons. Both ASU and Miami don't have basketball programs that draw 100% of fans attention during the season. ASU is located in an enormous metropolitan area that had an NHL team already. Miami hockey is moderately successful but is also the only game in town during the winter. Even still, they draw 2-3K per night. Both schools do not draw the 4K/night the guy in the article quotes. Also, while they "turn away fans" for UK/IU games, are they going to be turning away fans when it's Lake State, Western Michigan, or Alabama-Huntsville in town? Heck, even Denver and North Dakota have zero name cache in Louisville.
USF makes more sense to me, given the success of the Frozen Fours down there and the popularity of the Lightning. That still wouldn't address the major hurdles of arena/conference. UNLV, locals out there LOVE the Golden Knights and would likely support another UNLV team in the winter. But same as USF (really, any new team) - arena/conference are the two big issues.
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Not to mention Louisville could be looking at cash flow issues if the NCAA decides to really go after their basketball team and that they have lost a major booster in Papa John. Plus, can you picture what the ACC football schools would do if Louisville announced today that the University was putting $25 million into the 'northern' sport of hockey after their football team went 0-8 in ACC play in 2018.
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If College D-1 Hockey expands, I would bet on schools out West and a schoosl lcoated in a few key cities down south where there are a lot of Northeast and Midwest transplants making the move followed by additional B1G schools, such as Rutgers, which has the local talent and interest, just no money, Maryland, Northwestern.