U of Illinois to decide on Hockey/Arena.... eventually

[razor ray]

 

[Hadoop]

Lived in Champaign-Urbana from 2012-14. Really enjoyed watching the Illini when I was down there, whether it was bad B1G football, mediocre basketball or elite women's volleyball (watched the NCAA tennis championships there and attended a hockey game or two as well). They'll be in tough against some of the other Big Ten teams, but I think there enough of a fan-base to make it D-I hockey viable in Illinois for sure.

 

[joelef]

this never happened

 

[razor ray]

this never happened

I wondered if this Twitter account was BS.

 

[BOS358]

Haha...no way. If it's on Twitter, it must be true!

I'm pretty sure that twitter feed is owned by junior hockey "expert" Stephen Heisler, who tried, and failed, to start a college equivalent of his junior hockey crap site.

 

[GindyDraws]

Unrelated to Illinois, but it looks lik the Twin Cities is getting another DI team in a couple years.

St Thomas will likely be evicted by their DIII conference the MIAC and may be forced to move up Divisions.

MIAC rivals plot ouster of St. Thomas

St Thomas owns a rink that they use for DIII that only has one side for seating - 1400 - and if the more than double seating that would suffice. DII doesn’t have hockey so they would be forced to DI.

St Thomas used to be in the old North Central Conference with the Dakotas and Creighton, so they are one of the MIAC schools that have played at a higher level. Recently, the campus has been building more dorms and adding majors and it is close to the new MLS stadium, so their admin appears to have bigger athletic plans.

St Thomas has been written about be previous MSP sportwriters that it should be MSP’s Marquette twenty years ago. Maybe that finally happen.

Minnesota now has five DI hockey schools while Massachusetts has 11. What’s one more?

On an update, St. Thomas was kicked out, so keep an eye on this.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

On an update, St. Thomas was kicked out, so keep an eye on this.

They're not moving from D-III to D-I because they got kicked out of their conference.

 

[MNNumbers]

Actually, there is quite a bit of talk that St Thomas might move its entire program to D2. In which case, hockey would play up to D1.

 

[razor ray]

Whitman: 'Big questions' remain before green-lighting UI hockey

 

[LadyStanley]

Sounds like UNLV might be getting into division 1 hockey in a couple of years or so.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

Sounds like UNLV might be getting into division 1 hockey in a couple of years or so.

Looking unlikely. Players are still paying around $3,000 annually to play, there’s no big donor anywhere, and the school isn’t interested. While they’re getting a big buzz at the ACHA D1 level, there’s a whole lot that needs to go on to get NCAA status. They’re short an interested athletic department and roughly $25 million, and there’s no sign of either changing anytime soon. Rumors from a year back point to Bill Foley putting down the money but that was quickly squashed and there’s been nothing since. Look at the state of the push for Illini hockey and you’ll see what it takes. UNLV isn't anywhere close.

 

[BOS358]

Illinois hockey is just days away...perhaps about 1000 of them. All they need is somebody to throw $50 million at them. How hard can that be?

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Illinois hockey is just days away...perhaps about 1000 of them. All they need is somebody to throw $50 million at them. How hard can that be?

The football program is in the dumps [one season above 7-6 since 2002, and it got routed by USC at the Rose Bowl that year], the basketball program isn't fantastic [no NCAA appearances since 2013, not above .500 in the B1G since 2010], for all the money that was thrown at the baseball program it's had sporadic success and has only gotten out of the regionals once, ... the most successful sports right now are women's volleyball, men's tennis, men's gymnastics, and men's golf - none of which roll in big-dollar donations by any stretch. Illinois is basically a feeder school for actual major programs when it comes to head coaches.

I'm sure men's hockey would be different, though.

 

[razor ray]

Here are the latest reads from the last couple months on the topic:

Process to add hockey at UI ‘time intensive’

Illinois is in ‘the red zone’ for adding a Division I hockey program. And for top area players, it’s an if-you-build-it-we-will-come scenario.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I'll get excited for the Illini making a varsity hockey program when they actually announce a varsity hockey program. This is the latest, and most blatant, example of it being a near-immediate sure thing that just drags on to obscurity until the next announcement of it being a near-immediate sure thing.

 

[jiggsawpuzzle35]

How long has this process taken to land a D1 hockey program? I've heard that UC Irvine may be getting a D1 Hockey team to play at the new Great Park Ice Five Point Arena. They are already going to host Harvard vs ASU twice in December.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

How long has this process taken to land a D1 hockey program? I've heard that UC Irvine may be getting a D1 Hockey team to play at the new Great Park Ice Five Point Arena. They are already going to host Harvard vs ASU twice in December.

As soon as you can come up with $100mm to build the rink and endow the program, it’s a matter of 2-3 years.

 

[jiggsawpuzzle35]

As soon as you can come up with $100mm to build the rink and endow the program, it’s a matter of 2-3 years.

Well we already have a new facility with 4 ice sheets with a 2,500 arena that opened this year and cost over $100 million. Heading in the right direction then.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

Well we already have a new facility with 4 ice sheets with a 2,500 arena that opened this year and cost over $100 million. Heading in the right direction then.

ASU had a father of a player who had passed through the club program cut a check for $30mm and the AD gave the green light.

Endowments towards a program don’t count towards title IX spending.

 

[TheLegend]

ASU had a father of a player who had passed through the club program cut a check for $30mm and the AD gave the green light.

Endowments towards a program don’t count towards title IX spending.

However because scolarships were offered, ASU had to add another women's program to balance the numbers.

Penn State had a similar mechanism right before that and the donated money ($102 Million) included funding an arena, the mens program and a women's program (of the school's choice) for Title IX balance.

This is a rather long article but it explains the genesis of both programs.
How the Sun Devils became a Division I hockey team

 

[BOS358]

Illinois is in the "red zone" for starting a hockey program...and so far it's looking like every time the football team is in the red zone as well. Don't hold your breath.

 

[razor ray]

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Here's hoping, but...

I'll get excited for the Illini making a varsity hockey program when they actually announce a varsity hockey program. This is the latest, and most blatant, example of it being a near-immediate sure thing that just drags on to obscurity until the next announcement of it being a near-immediate sure thing.

... I'll stand by this skeptic stance until proven wrong.