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http://www.grandforksherald.com/even...cle/id/220531/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;BISMARCK — Sen. Lonnie Laffen, R-Grand Forks, who earlier this year voted with the majority to give UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname the authority of law, will introduce the much-anticipated bill to repeal that law today at the start of a special session.
It will be a straightforward repeal of the law shephered through the regular session by House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, Laffen said Sunday.
If the state law is not repealed UND could lose their membership with the Big Sky that begins July 1, 2012.
So, here is what life would be like without a conference affiliation:
** First, one has to remember that schools schedule their conference teams. It’s the reason a school belongs to a conference. If UND has no conference, then the university simply has no one to play.
A week ago, the UND football team played a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team, which is two levels below NCAA Division I. The UND athletic department currently has to “buy” these NAIA teams to come here and play at a cost of $50,000 to $60,000. An independent, Division I FCS team costs $150,000.
A university simply can’t sustain an athletic program if it has to pay every team to come to play.
** Second, there are not enough independent Division I FCS schools to fill a schedule. There are currently 124 FCS schools, and 120 of them play in a conference. That leaves four independents (two in Texas, one in Georgia and one in Alabama).
Come January and February, the conferences’ basketball teams all will play their respective conference schools, and UND will find it impossible to fill its schedule. The Big Sky Conference gives UND eight football and 20 FCS basketball opponents every year in men’s sports alone.
** Third, many schools are lining up to exclude us. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa have policies that state that unless they are required by their conference, they will not play us.
Minnesota and Wisconsin both leave the WCHA hockey conference at the end of this year, so all three of these schools will prohibit play with UND starting in April.
** Fourth, under current NCAA sanctions, UND is not allowed to host NCAA playoff events on campus. That will likely impact UND in April when the women’s hockey team, currently ranked seventh in the nation, will begin playoff hockey.
