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Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
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C2__ Offline
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Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.
08-05-2017 12:45 PM
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billings Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 12:45 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.


Hawaii pays travel subs to pay the cost of travel to the island for big west members. Doubt alaska FB would do that.
08-05-2017 12:48 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Won't happen but wish it would. Anchorage has a history of beating D1 teams plus Great Alaska Shootout.
08-05-2017 12:50 PM
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C2__ Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 12:48 PM)billings Wrote:  
(08-05-2017 12:45 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.


Hawaii pays travel subs to pay the cost of travel to the island for big west members. Doubt alaska FB would do that.

They don't play football. Anyways, it's not a major stretch. Is Montana all that much further from Northern Arizona as they are from Alaska? If so, then it is not by much I'd think.
08-05-2017 01:01 PM
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Native Georgian Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 01:01 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Is Montana all that much further from Northern Arizona as they are from Alaska? If so, then it is not by much I'd think.
I don't have all the exact #s, but I know Seattle is a shorter, faster direct flight to Phoenix/Sky Harbor than to Anchorage/Ted Stevens.
08-05-2017 01:11 PM
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Rube Dali Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
[Image: 3NLJs6.gif]

In all seriousness, no.
08-05-2017 01:47 PM
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Hammersmith Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 01:01 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  
(08-05-2017 12:48 PM)billings Wrote:  
(08-05-2017 12:45 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.


Hawaii pays travel subs to pay the cost of travel to the island for big west members. Doubt alaska FB would do that.

They don't play football. Anyways, it's not a major stretch. Is Montana all that much further from Northern Arizona as they are from Alaska? If so, then it is not by much I'd think.

Quite a bit further. Roughly 820mi from Missoula to Flagstaff vs. 1725mi from Missoula to Anchorage. Best Missoula/Flagstaff flight times are around 7 and 11hrs using commercial or 2hrs using charter. Missoula/Anchorage is around 6hrs commercial and 4hrs charter.

(of course the commercial times come from current airline connection schedules and could easily change in the future)
(This post was last modified: 08-05-2017 01:57 PM by Hammersmith.)
08-05-2017 01:55 PM
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Stugray2 Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 01:01 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  
(08-05-2017 12:48 PM)billings Wrote:  
(08-05-2017 12:45 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  Seems like a good fit imo. The Big Sky doesn't exactly have a tight footprint like the Big West, so why not go outside the lower 48? That's exactly what the Big West does anyways by going to Hawai'i.


Hawaii pays travel subs to pay the cost of travel to the island for big west members. Doubt alaska FB would do that.

They don't play football. Anyways, it's not a major stretch. Is Montana all that much further from Northern Arizona as they are from Alaska? If so, then it is not by much I'd think.

Have you ever considered using google? Distances in the west are much greater than you seem to realize.

It's a 1,000 mile, 15 hour drive from Missoula to Flagstaff
It's a 2,450 mile, 45 hour drive from Missoula to Anchorage

I feel for the equipment truck driver.

Charter flights are about 850 miles to Flagstaff (~2 hrs, 15 min), 1,750 miles to Anchorage (~4 hrs, 40 min). So cost in fuel, crew time, and travel time about double. Round trip you'll spend over 9 hours or more in the air. Pretty expensive even before considering weather issues of Alaska Basketball in January and February.

Montana is almost the best case for UAA. Consider is the travel costs for even farther away Sac State, SUU, NAU, and NoCo. The travel subsidy the Big Sky would likely demand would certainly be more than Hawaii pays the Big West.
(This post was last modified: 08-05-2017 02:10 PM by Stugray2.)
08-05-2017 02:09 PM
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C2__ Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Yes I have. I prefer not to use Google every time I have a question as it sucks the fun out of life.
08-05-2017 05:33 PM
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MplsBison Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Keep in mind that UAA and UAF (Fairbanks, which is the flagship campus) are already in a DII conf. So those teams are in fact already flying there.

Commercial service is readily available to both from Seattle and probably other western hubs (SLC, etc).

Would be great if the Alaska schools started football and/or moved DI. But the fact that they haven't already, in all this time, means basically that the private money isn't there, the state won't fund it, and/or the state won't allow the schools to charge additional fees for it.

I think that's stupid. Alaska is, and has been for some time, sitting in a lot of oil money. They need to cut off the dividend for starters. Then take some of that money and heavily invest in their universities.
08-05-2017 06:32 PM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
I think the Alaska schools to DI is a no go. He Big Sky does not admit non-football schools in the lower 48 so I am doubtful that they would add one from the Final Frontier.

The Alaska schools already have what they want: DI hockey
08-05-2017 06:55 PM
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
There were major cuts in the UA system.

Consolidating the sports programs at Anchorage and Fairbanks to a single was one alternative looked at, but did not move forward.
Alaska appealed to the NCAA to waive DII requirements to sponsor 12 sports for Alaska schools. That appeal was denied. Anchorage and Fairbanks have to fundraise to keep at least two of their sports programs funded.
Dropping hockey was looked at too, but both UAA and Fairbanks consider it their jewel. The WCHA require some travel allowances, so the program is expensive for Michigan and Minnesota based teams.
The WCHA is now looking at adding two western teams to have a western 4 team division for the Alaska teams, so all the 8 others would only have one Alaska trip. Simon Fraser is supposedly interested, but Arizona St isnt.

There has been many threads on the WAC board about UAA tieing in with Seattle travel for a new member. Anchorage is two time zones west of the Pacific, so not a good tv or logistics move, even if they could afford it.
(This post was last modified: 08-05-2017 07:34 PM by NoDak.)
08-05-2017 07:10 PM
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Wolfman Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Alaska has money. They could fund travel subsidies as a tourism booster the same way Hawaii does. The question is there enough local interest? I remember really small crowds for the Alaska Shootout. I have no idea what high school sports are like there.
08-05-2017 08:46 PM
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NoDak Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 08:46 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  Alaska has money. They could fund travel subsidies as a tourism booster the same way Hawaii does. The question is there enough local interest? I remember really small crowds for the Alaska Shootout. I have no idea what high school sports are like there.

The Alaska oil pipeline flow is slowing to a trickle of what it once was so the state is no longer brimming with revenues. Even college hockey struggles with small crowds as most players don't want to be in has been programs. Recruiting would be a major hassle and cost, especially for basketball.
08-05-2017 09:14 PM
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MplsBison Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Anchorage is NOT two timezones West of Pacific, only one.

Plenty of hockey talent that grows up in the city ... then leaves to develop elsewhere, in juniors programs wand then NHL or top college programs.

Some decent football talent in the state. Enough for an FCS team. Would likely have to be all Alaskan players. It would be fun to see, but don't think the state wants to pay for it.
(This post was last modified: 08-05-2017 09:29 PM by MplsBison.)
08-05-2017 09:23 PM
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NoDak Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-05-2017 09:23 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Anchorage is NOT two timezones West of Pacific, only one.
Well there used to be a Yukon Time Zone. That was abolished in Canada and most of Alaska was moved to that former Yukon Time Zone. Alaska used to be spread over four time zones, now only two, as the Aleutian Islands share one with Hawaii.
(This post was last modified: 08-05-2017 09:31 PM by NoDak.)
08-05-2017 09:30 PM
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Either Alaska school starting football would be a scheduling issue unless they built a dome. Otherwise, they'd almost certainly have to play the first half of the season at home, because late October and November football in Anchorage and in particular Fairbanks sounds like a no-go (the state high school playoffs wrap up in October, for example)
08-05-2017 11:59 PM
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
https://www.adn.com/sports/2016/08/18/un...rosshairs/

Just one year ago the Alaska schools were considering dropping athletics completely due to declining oil revenue. The Alaska economy may be a little better now but all the costs associated with a D1 move would still be a nightmare.
08-06-2017 12:34 AM
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MplsBison Offline
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RE: Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
Thanks for the link cats.

Absolutely pathetic, how terribly funded that system is, relative to how much money Alaska has for its population. I would guess it has far more money than South Dakota, which is able to support multiple public four-year schools, including two FCS football programs with budgets far higher than the <$2M budget of UAA hockey.

State needs to be heavily investing in its universities. And if it means getting rid of the dividend to fund that, so be it.

But Alaska is a deep red, conservative state. Their answer to declining revenues: slash programs. Terrible
08-06-2017 02:00 PM
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billings Offline
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Would the Big Sky ever consider Alaska Anchorage?
(08-06-2017 02:00 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Thanks for the link cats.

Absolutely pathetic, how terribly funded that system is, relative to how much money Alaska has for its population. I would guess it has far more money than South Dakota, which is able to support multiple public four-year schools, including two FCS football programs with budgets far higher than the <$2M budget of UAA hockey.

State needs to be heavily investing in its universities. And if it means getting rid of the dividend to fund that, so be it.

But Alaska is a deep red, conservative state. Their answer to declining revenues: slash programs. Terrible


heavily funding a university does not always mean more money for sports. Alaska has a smaller population then South Dakota. most land is public so no property tax revenue. Alaska would have been smart to follow wyo and only do one four year university


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(This post was last modified: 08-06-2017 02:34 PM by billings.)
08-06-2017 02:33 PM
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