Quote:Let's Play Hockey @LetsPlay_Hockey · 1h 1 hour ago

The University of Rhode Island recently completed a feasibility study on adding Division I varsity hockey.
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Let's Play Hockey, which broke the story about Ariz State, says URI has completed a feasibility study on varsity NCAA hockey.

URI has been rumored for years that it was leaning toward starting a program. The recent championships by Providence, Yale, and Union show that a school doesn't have to be a P5 to be a power in hockey.

Atlantic Hockey has been a rumored suitor. If the western AHA breaks off and forms its own league, URI could join a mostly New England AHA. If Notre Dame or UConn leave Hockey East, URI might be a replacement later. That would give Hockey East all the flagships schools in New England, assuming UConn stays.

I'm a fan of that. I'd love to be able to have UMass play URI in more sports...even though we're currently not very good with hockey.

I would have thought that basically everyone else who has been winning championships in hockey would have dispelled the power 5 thing though. Denver has won 7 championships, North Dakota 7, BU 5, etc.


College hockey is just a different world. Only 5 of the past 10 national champs have been from P5 schools, and 3 of those were all the same school (BC).

Good luck to them. Though I fear the start of hockey would mean the end of football, copying the Providence model, as it were.

(04-16-2015 04:36 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Good luck to them. Though I fear the start of hockey would mean the end of football, copying the Providence model, as it were.

I don't think it's that dire. CAAF may see them depart, but they will have options running a lean program. I still think CAAF might collapse, and wonder if AE could reapproach football sponsorship if it came to that, or some other configuration to emerge.

(04-16-2015 05:15 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 04:36 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Good luck to them. Though I fear the start of hockey would mean the end of football, copying the Providence model, as it were.

I don't think it's that dire. CAAF may see them depart, but they will have options running a lean program. I still think CAAF might collapse, and wonder if AE could reapproach football sponsorship if it came to that, or some other configuration to emerge.

URI might look at the NEC for football. Hockey has a lot of needs for scholarship money, and may be a better return than the CAA for URI. The CAA is not a good match for URI football. Slash football schollies for hockey and the athletic department may have more revenue.

If the western AHA splits off, we might have two leagues:

New AHA
Bentley
Holy Cross
Amer Intl
Army
Air Force
Sacred Heart
Navy (new)
URI (new)
Liberty (new)
Post or St Anshelm (new)

New CCHA
BGSU (from WCHA)
Ferris St (")
UAH (")
Robert Morris (from AHA)
Mercyhurst (")
Canisius (")
Niagara (")
RIT (")

Rhode Island is the only New England state not in HE. I hope they get a team and they're admitted to HE, but I don't think HE is expanding.

At one point, URI had actually announced that it was going to drop down to the 40 scholarship level and play football in the NEC. It only reversed course after the CAA added Albany and StoneyBrook for football. Midlevel college football in New England really took a hit when the old Yankee Conference ceased operations. Now it is is just about dead. URI's athletic department has been underfunded for years. If it does pursue hockey, I'd have to assume the scholarship money would come directly from football. Still that does not necessarily make that a bad move. Hockey is a bigger draw and revenue producer than football at most midsized New England schools. That is why BU, NEU and Vermont all dropped football, but kept hockey.

so what are the results of the study?

(04-16-2015 07:32 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  so what are the results of the study?

Presidents only do studies on things they want to happen. Case in point: UAB' President asking for a study by Carr Assoc for PR purposes to drop football.

(04-16-2015 06:59 PM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  At one point, URI had actually announced that it was going to drop down to the 40 scholarship level and play football in the NEC. It only reversed course after the CAA added Albany and StoneyBrook for football. Midlevel college football in New England really took a hit when the old Yankee Conference ceased operations. Now it is is just about dead. URI's athletic department has been underfunded for years. If it does pursue hockey, I'd have to assume the scholarship money would come directly from football. Still that does not necessarily make that a bad move. Hockey is a bigger draw and revenue producer than football at most midsized New England schools. That is why BU, NEU and Vermont all dropped football, but kept hockey.

Agree. The NEC would stretch the budget further and URI could offer M\W hockey and get an uptick in revenue. Later, they might get a bid to Hockey East. Why should URI spend money for CAA football, when they don't have the facilities to compete?

(04-16-2015 07:47 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:32 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  so what are the results of the study?

Presidents only do studies on things they want to happen. Case in point: UAB' President asking for a study by Carr Assoc for PR purposes to drop football.

didnt villanova do a study about bcs FB?

(04-16-2015 07:53 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:47 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:32 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  so what are the results of the study?

Presidents only do studies on things they want to happen. Case in point: UAB' President asking for a study by Carr Assoc for PR purposes to drop football.

didnt villanova do a study about bcs FB?

Big East football disintegrated, as no BE football school wanted any part of it. The Catholic Seven wanted it.

No, I don't know what the study says but I can guess.

(04-16-2015 07:53 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:47 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:32 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  so what are the results of the study?

Presidents only do studies on things they want to happen. Case in point: UAB' President asking for a study by Carr Assoc for PR purposes to drop football.

didnt villanova do a study about bcs FB?

Yeah they did. The study results were to put no money into moving up, play home games in at a little soccer pitch stadium 20+ miles from campus and demand to be made an equal partner in the conference.

(04-16-2015 07:53 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:47 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 07:32 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  so what are the results of the study?

Presidents only do studies on things they want to happen. Case in point: UAB' President asking for a study by Carr Assoc for PR purposes to drop football.

didnt villanova do a study about bcs FB?

It was so bad, you have some fans wondering if it wasn't intentional. I can only imagine the feelings at the top of that institution were mixed when they won that FCS championship...forced to readdress a subject they thought they put down a decade earlier.

The real embarrassing part of that was, some time later, their AD actually bragged that they spent a ton of money on the study. Don't take pride in that...especially when the venue in Chester is saying "uhh, we kept calling, but you wouldn't talk to us." Villanova was totally full of ****. And maybe that was their intention the whole time...blowing smoke up people's butts, even if they could easily be called out on it.

(04-16-2015 06:59 PM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  At one point, URI had actually announced that it was going to drop down to the 40 scholarship level and play football in the NEC. It only reversed course after the CAA added Albany and StoneyBrook for football. Midlevel college football in New England really took a hit when the old Yankee Conference ceased operations. Now it is is just about dead. URI's athletic department has been underfunded for years. If it does pursue hockey, I'd have to assume the scholarship money would come directly from football. Still that does not necessarily make that a bad move. Hockey is a bigger draw and revenue producer than football at most midsized New England schools. That is why BU, NEU and Vermont all dropped football, but kept hockey.

North Dakota, Nebraska Omaha, Denver U & Colorado College have also shown how hockey can positively affect an athletic department's income. Omaha dropped football when it moved from D2 to D1AAA. North Dakota benefits from a generous alumni base and the Grand Forks and North Dakota tax payers who have invested in the university's athletic facilities.

There are at least 130 D1A football programs along with about that many FCS programs. College Hockey will reach 60 with ASU starting it's program next year. College football is oversaturated with talent streched to fill the thousands of scholarships available. College Hockey has only about 1600 scholarships to fill and with more Europeans playing US College Hockey along with Americans and Canadians the quality of play is rising.

The Non P5 programs that have both Hockey and Football would be wise to see what investing in Hockey and disinvesting in football could do for them

(04-17-2015 01:47 AM)Policiious Wrote:  

(04-16-2015 06:59 PM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  At one point, URI had actually announced that it was going to drop down to the 40 scholarship level and play football in the NEC. It only reversed course after the CAA added Albany and StoneyBrook for football. Midlevel college football in New England really took a hit when the old Yankee Conference ceased operations. Now it is is just about dead. URI's athletic department has been underfunded for years. If it does pursue hockey, I'd have to assume the scholarship money would come directly from football. Still that does not necessarily make that a bad move. Hockey is a bigger draw and revenue producer than football at most midsized New England schools. That is why BU, NEU and Vermont all dropped football, but kept hockey.

North Dakota, Nebraska Omaha, Denver U & Colorado College have also shown how hockey can positively affect an athletic department's income. Omaha dropped football when it moved from D2 to D1AAA. North Dakota benefits from a generous alumni base and the Grand Forks and North Dakota tax payers who have invested in the university's athletic facilities.

There are at least 130 D1A football programs along with about that many FCS programs. College Hockey will reach 60 with ASU starting it's program next year. College football is oversaturated with talent streched to fill the thousands of scholarships available. College Hockey has only about 1600 scholarships to fill and with more Europeans playing US College Hockey along with Americans and Canadians the quality of play is rising.

The Non P5 programs that have both Hockey and Football would be wise to see what investing in Hockey and disinvesting in football could do for them

Plus it's a sport that can easily be made Title IX compliant.

I'd love for URI and QU to be added to Hockey East to round out New England.

(04-16-2015 09:07 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  It was so bad, you have some fans wondering if it wasn't intentional. I can only imagine the feelings at the top of that institution were mixed when they won that FCS championship...forced to readdress a subject they thought they put down a decade earlier.

The real embarrassing part of that was, some time later, their AD actually bragged that they spent a ton of money on the study. Don't take pride in that...especially when the venue in Chester is saying "uhh, we kept calling, but you wouldn't talk to us." Villanova was totally full of ****. And maybe that was their intention the whole time...blowing smoke up people's butts, even if they could easily be called out on it.

That sucks. I was rooting for Nova to upgrade in the old Big East, ala UConn.

Instead I guess they were content to pay the same costs as FBS football without any of the national attention.

(04-16-2015 06:49 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  Rhode Island is the only New England state not in HE. I hope they get a team and they're admitted to HE, but I don't think HE is expanding.

Goodbye Yankee football. Hello Yankee hockey.

(04-16-2015 05:15 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I don't think it's that dire. CAAF may see them depart, but they will have options running a lean program. I still think CAAF might collapse, and wonder if AE could reapproach football sponsorship if it came to that, or some other configuration to emerge.

If CAAF does collapse and AE picks up the sponsorship (meaning the Yankee would've gone from the A10, to the CAA and then to the AE), I hope they deny Delaware membership.

That would be called "getting the knife you used to backstab someone stabbed into your own back."