Just heard the 1620 Omaha guys interviewing the Argus Leader reporter and he said UNO would probably be in the wrestling conference with Air Force, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Wyoming and Utah Valley.

Link

DI makes absolutely no sense for UNO. They are not a top tier DII athletic program. Nobody attends their events outside of hockey and their football program has not won a playoff game in over a decade. This is arrogance and greed at its worse. Ultimately the move will devastate their wrestling program. Look at the former NCC Teams UNC, NDSU and SDSU now that they are DI. They were all perennial powers in DII. They always had a few legitimate DI talent guys on the roster. That is not the case now. They are mere shells of the programs they once were. NDSU has one automatic qualifier for DI's, SDSU and UNC have 0. The same fate awaits a proud Maverick program if this move is made.

I would agree. Where are they going to get the athletes?
They mentioned March Madness in the article. The only hope they have of that is if Mike Denney really is a god and can eleveate the wrestling team that much more.
They are not a power in Bball...at least I haven't heard of them.
UNL has trouble bringing in quality guys...how is UNO going to?

This seems driven by something...maybe ego and arrogance. It surely can't be about money...how would they make any?

Athletic success < money.

They want to start to split some of the tv money and get some of those payments for going into stadium with 80,000 fans to get a beat down.

How does this affect the current wrestlers?

This is all Trev Alberts. None of the coaches at UNO want this. Not sure anyone wants this other than Alberts.

^^^You said it! Trev Alberts will be the demise of UNO athletics! What a shame. He has done nothing to support the wrestling program since he's been here.

So, in essence, those programs who travel to take a beat down are making money?
I would think not.
Perhaps I am wrong, but I thought there were only about half of the programs making money.

UCONN took a 2.5 million hit? going to the bowl against OU.

But you will notice in my post I mentioned nothing about football. UNO hasn't competed at DII nationals for years...what makes them think they can do it at DI or DIAA

It was a 1.8 million dollar hit for UCONN but that was because the BCS requires that school buy tickets. The reason they lost money is because no one bought there tickets from the school so they had to pay for them (that was a 2.9 million dollar problem.) Most fans don't buy tickets from the schools because there are other cheaper avenues. They also paid for the travel of spouses, 210000 for "comfort accomodations", etc. That would not happen for UNO going to play Indiana. They would just get a check for 400,000 and have to pay the normal travel costs and would not be required to eat any unsold tickets.

Quoted from an AP article--

"Through the Big East's revenue-sharing plan, UConn took home a little over $2.5 million of that number – a nice haul for the biggest game in school history, right?

Right. Well, at least until you add in the university's obligations to the Fiesta Bowl for unsold tickets and hotel rooms, and then the obligatory expenses for travel, lodging, food, alumni parties, etc. In that case, according to documents obtained by UConn's student newspaper, the bottom line on the trip was a $1.8 million deficit:

The university incurred total expenses of $4,280,998 at the Fiesta Bowl while only receiving a payout of $2,523,200 from the Big East. By far the largest expense the university incurred came from absorbed ticket sales. The university sold only 2,771 out of an allotment of 17,500 tickets, resulting in the university absorbing 14,729 tickets worth $2,924,385.

That expense completely soaked up UConn's revenue allotment of $2.5 million from the Big East all by itself. UConn's losses were then further inflamed by the costs of travel, meals, lodging and other bowl expenses.

Even by the usual standards of postseason losses, $1.8 million is a huge bath – and one born in part of the Huskies' large bills for travel ($685,195, or more than $1,200 per player, coach, administrator, spouse, band member and cheerleader), meals and lodging ($460,941) and assorted expenses to ensure a good, comfortable time ($210,477). But by far, the largest line on the bill was the 14,700-plus tickets the university was forced to buy from the Fiesta Bowl and couldn't sell.

It's not that UConn fans didn't make the trip: Official attendance for the game (a 48-20 Oklahoma win) was 67,232 – far, far more than 2,771 of whom were partisans for the Huskies. But only a fool (or a very generous booster) would get his ticket through the school, which is forced to sell at well above market price because it's forced to buy at well above market price from the bowl itself."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: You know,

In the past I have always been under the impression that the University regants only want one DI school in this state????

I don't know that UNO will compete well in the MIAA in football as is. It is one of the tougher football conferences in DII.

UNO also doesn't have very many athletic teams compared to most DI schools, don't have time to look at the number of programs those other DI schools in proposed conference have, but UNO could have to add some teams as most conferences have minimal teams a program must have to help with competitive balance (one school doesn't load all of its resources into football or basketball)

Upon further review you may be right..

http://www.usatoday.com/sports...school_payoffs_N.htm

But I still find it hard to believe they are going to come out ahead.

These numbers show profit and expense of just the football program.
Montana - $6.1M/$4.3M
JMU - $4.1M/$4.1M
UMass - $3.8M/$3.8M (one poster said that UMASS ran a 3mil deficit. that this stat wasn't right)
App State - $3.6M/$3.6M
UNI - $2.7M/$3.2M
Ga Southern - $1.8M/$2.2M

App state plays big names every year.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/Ge...InstitutionData.aspx

Yep, I read the article...thats where I got 2.5 mil from, just in the wrong direction.

I was just trying to show that most schools don't profit, even when successful.

It is indeed all Trev....he is pushing this.