NHL Sponsored Feasibility Study Shows U. Illinois Should Add D1 Hockey

Mike in MN

Mr Bandgeek
Nov 25, 2008
206
13
Gunflint Trail
Oh, I know about NDSU, but that's not to say things can't change in 10 years. Minn State Moorhead is more likely, and they couldn't pull the trigger a few years ago.

Realistically, the best bets are gonna by P5 schools or small, rich privates
 

NoDak

Registered User
Feb 15, 2017
35
13
Look at ACHA Div 1 for schools that may have interest in moving up.
There are rumors that Alabama will build a rink and it happened to move up to ACHA DI.
UNLV has also had some tweets that it is considering moving up to varsity and it just moved to the top level in club. There are a number of rinks available in that city.
Toledo and Buffalo have made much more subtle moves. Toledo just moved to the ACHA top level.
Colorado has a rink nearby and they play Club D1 now. Don’t discount other PAC 12 teams. On another board, a Utah poster said there were tentative plans, but Utah made a decision to start men’s lacrosse first and it will be the westernmost DI men’s lax school. Stanford sponsor nearly all sports but men’s lax and hockey. USC or UCLA have existing rink options as does Arizona.
DII schools could make the jump to DI, as Minot St only moved from NAIA to NCAA DivII so it could upgrade its high performing club team. U of Mary in Bismarck may have long term plans too, as it will start a D1 club team next year. The WCHA won’t get existing DI teams long term, so it must look at DII to backfill. Simon Fraser in Canada has expressed interest.
A small number of schools are doing the NHL sponsored feasibility studies anonymously, so their might be some surprises.
Expect that there is a movement to start a new D1 hockey league around Lake Erie. Bowling Green, Oakland, Buffalo, Toledo, Canisus, and Niagara could be the starter contingent.
 

SCBlueLiner

Registered User
Dec 27, 2013
327
100
Oh, I know about NDSU, but that's not to say things can't change in 10 years. Minn State Moorhead is more likely, and they couldn't pull the trigger a few years ago.

Realistically, the best bets are gonna by P5 schools or small, rich privates

You are correct. It will be P5 schools the resources looking to expand their offerings, or just having a place to spend the rapidly increasing millions they make in TV revenue, these are non-profits after-all. The other move-ups will be small rich privates that are looking to find a niche and make a name for themselves. Impossible to do that in football. Basketball, difficult but doable. Hockey, much more attainable.

NDSU is focused on funding their relatively young D1 program and sustaining their football program. Hockey would suck up too many resources.
 

TheFacePainter

Registered User
Nov 12, 2017
362
263
Hopefully if it goes well in Illinois and provides revenue like at Penn State, Rutgers could potentially hop in on B10 hockey too. NJ has relatively strong youth programs so it’s a shame that Princeton is the only D-I program in the state.
 

uhlaw97

Registered User
Jun 8, 2011
182
35
Katy, TX
I have a Master's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

I would LOVE for them to build a Division I college hockey program!

As it stands now, I don't have a college hockey program to cheer for. Let's hope that this happens!

OSKEE WOW WOW!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: FirstRowUpperDeck

BigBadBruins7708

Registered User
Dec 11, 2017
13,578
18,344
Las Vegas
URI is another that should be D1 hockey...there's a long story there.

basically for 15 years URI mens and womens hockey has been killing the club level.

the women's team has 9 ECWHL titles in 19 years
the men's team won in 2006 and had a long, heated rivalry with now D1 Penn St

The school back in the early 2000s built the Boss Arena as part of the plan to move to D1, but the money/plan was abandoned mid stream.

The school carries a complete dead weight football program (D2)...only 3 winning seasons since 1985, 166-275-3 since 1970, and play in a trash stadium.

There's been a grumbling among some alumni that football should be dropped and both hockey teams elevated to D1 in its place.

Its a simple move...they either go into Hockey East, or go into ECAC for a few years and move up
 

SCBlueLiner

Registered User
Dec 27, 2013
327
100
Rhode Island has Division 1 football. It's an FCS program and not an FBS program. They are in the CAA, which is one of the better FCS conferences in the country, so just because they have a poor record does not mean it is a trash program. That would be akin to calling Rutgers football program trash. Well, maybe not a good example, but like Rutgers, I would say they have a decent football team but just play in a tough conference.

If you dump the football program there will be a ripple effect of negative consequences. It isn't that simple to just drop football and add hockey. They should be looking at how they elevate the performance of their football program AND add hockey. I don't understand the world today, always looking at cutting things just because they are difficult instead of trying to achieve greatness.
 

BigBadBruins7708

Registered User
Dec 11, 2017
13,578
18,344
Las Vegas
Rhode Island has Division 1 football. It's an FCS program and not an FBS program. They are in the CAA, which is one of the better FCS conferences in the country, so just because they have a poor record does not mean it is a trash program. That would be akin to calling Rutgers football program trash. Well, maybe not a good example, but like Rutgers, I would say they have a decent football team but just play in a tough conference.

If you dump the football program there will be a ripple effect of negative consequences. It isn't that simple to just drop football and add hockey. They should be looking at how they elevate the performance of their football program AND add hockey. I don't understand the world today, always looking at cutting things just because they are difficult instead of trying to achieve greatness.

trust me, I went there. The football team is crap. And it wont have negative consequences at URI.

URI is a basketball school, not football. Basketball gets the attention and donor base going. Football is an economic anchor for the athletic dept.

They only draw ~4k per game and its been at that level for ages. The conference is not why the program is awful, 3 year over 500 out of 30 is a program wide issue. Especially since they were doormats in the old Yankee and A10 conferences too.

Really, if the current AD Thorr Bjorn wasnt such a big football guy the program may already be gone
 

CHRDANHUTCH

Registered User
Mar 4, 2002
35,232
4,218
Auburn, Maine
trust me, I went there. The football team is crap. And it wont have negative consequences at URI.

URI is a basketball school, not football. Basketball gets the attention and donor base going. Football is an economic anchor for the athletic dept.

They only draw ~4k per game and its been at that level for ages. The conference is not why the program is awful, 3 year over 500 out of 30 is a program wide issue. Especially since they were doormats in the old Yankee and A10 conferences too.

Really, if the current AD Thorr Bjorn wasnt such a big football guy the program may already be gone

the above is what killed the Big East Conference, BBB, EVER seen Requiem for the Big East, WHY DID Boston College, and later Syracuse bolt to the ACC, Syracuse was a founding member, mind you... it's because Football (no matter what level, FBS/FCS) IS 1000 X more profitable than collegiate basketball, as that is what the Big East was...

Didn't URI lose its basketball coach to UCONN in the last 2 weeks?
 

chizzler

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Jan 11, 2006
13,206
6,235
A downtown arena in Champaign would be needed but that is being worked on as well:

A new arena in downtown Champaign?






We are excited to share the results of our feasibility study and continue advancing our efforts to bring Division I hockey to Champaign-Urbana," said Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman. "This is one of our most ambitious and potentially impactful projects in recent memory. Adding Division I hockey and building the new arena it would require would be transformative for the sport of hockey in the state of Illinois and for our university, our athletic program, and, importantly, for the Champaign-Urbana communities. We are grateful for the partnerships we have developed with the Chicago Blackhawks, the National Hockey League, and College Hockey, Inc., all of which have become true champions for this cause. We look forward to engaging with more people from across the state to generate the support necessary to make this project a reality."

Is this the same NHL that thinks hockey in Arizona is feasible?
 

NoDak

Registered User
Feb 15, 2017
35
13
Liberty recently expanded the ice arena to seat several thousand. They sponsor teams at all the five club hockey levels and have the financial means. Only wonder why Atlantic Hockey hasn’t taken them in. Navy and Rhode Island and maybe Delaware would be good adds too. Atlantic Hockey has really upgraded their rinks. Bentley has a new one, Sacred Heart is fundraising for a new one, American International plays in Springfield’s Mass Mutual Arena.
 

NoDak

Registered User
Feb 15, 2017
35
13
You are correct. It will be P5 schools the resources looking to expand their offerings, or just having a place to spend the rapidly increasing millions they make in TV revenue, these are non-profits after-all. The other move-ups will be small rich privates that are looking to find a niche and make a name for themselves. Impossible to do that in football. Basketball, difficult but doable. Hockey, much more attainable.

NDSU is focused on funding their relatively young D1 program and sustaining their football program. Hockey would suck up too many resources.
NDSU has a nice 5000 seat arena in town but they won’t consider hockey because UND already owns the fan base. NDSU would get in the WCHA, but that is second class compared to the NCHC, so NDSU won’t attempt something that they can’t be better than UND.
 

nickschultzfan

Registered User
Jan 7, 2009
11,558
908
PAC hockey could be a lot of fun, especially since a lot of those northern schools arent basketball schools.
 

cptjeff

Reprehensible User
Sep 18, 2008
20,381
33,935
Washington, DC.
Sorry about that. I should know better, since BU did visit ASU for two games.

Here:

Hockey_d1.png

Just wanted to thank you for fixing the Clarkson-SLU(_) mixup in the first map.
 

Teemu

Caffeine Free Since 1919
Dec 3, 2002
28,752
5,227
Illinois Fighting Illini athletics director Josh Whitman 'increasingly confident' in adding Division-I hockey program

The Illinois athletics director said during a media roundtable on Wednesday that he hopes to green-light a program by the end of the calendar year. Whitman said he is “increasingly confident” that Illinois has a feasible funding project and that he has received several “seven-figure” commitments for a downtown Champaign arena project that could cost $50-60 million.
 
  • Like
Reactions: razor ray

No Fun Shogun

34-38-61-10-13-15
May 1, 2011
56,091
12,747
Illinois
Whitman's been a breath of competence for an athletic department where that hasn't been the norm, so this has definitely felt like something that he's been working towards. We'll see where it goes from here though, as there are a lot of areas where a project of this size could fall through.
 
  • Like
Reactions: razor ray

Teemu

Caffeine Free Since 1919
Dec 3, 2002
28,752
5,227
Whitman's been a breath of competence for an athletic department where that hasn't been the norm, so this has definitely felt like something that he's been working towards. We'll see where it goes from here though, as there are a lot of areas where a project of this size could fall through.
Yea, that's the most promising thing I've ever heard regarding Illinois D1. Seems like he sees this as his legacy.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
30,706
16,238
Toruń, PL
University of Illinois hockey hype chat

Colin Likas wrote on August 17, 2018 at 12:08 pm

Hello, University of Illinois athletics fans. Welcome to the first of what could be many chats about Division I hockey in Champaign-Urbana.
We haven't had a true, official update on the sports's D-I future at Illinois since the March release of a feasibility study from Collegiate Consulting. But last night, we learned Josh Whitman met with potential donors at Urbana Country Club to discuss moving forward on the plan of establishing a D-I men's hockey program.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->