They used to "fix" the game program with an update "insert," but that may be gone with the rest of it.

Like a lot of other people, I bee-otched over the water/concessions fiasco at the Wyoming game, even tossing in a "how-come" about not hooking up with the Lions big local car show fund-raiser the same day.

But going back, looking ahead, scoping the overall landscape, I have shifted into ok-now-I'm-kinda-worried mode.

In a continuing financial crisis, marketing/promotions/advertising are the first to go. You see cuts of non-essential programs (band ... since restored ... and cheerleaders, Silverettes shifted to self-funded club status). You see consolidation (e.g., recreation now under athletics). Lots of people get bigger titles than actual salary/benefit increases (lot of assistant ad's in there now). Big facility plans get whittled down (see from 2014-15) to just administrative, program and operations "improvements" (diversity, student-athlete mental health) and socio/politics (STF appt to national FBS diversity council).

As it worsens, the basics start slipping (Wyoming game). A really bad sign. Ignoring the car show = nobody is even looking around for opportunities. They're locked in survival/self-preservation mode. To come out of that, some resources are tapped. If not, it's because there's nothing to tap.

Like it or not, without some kind of big infusion, or incredible glorified success, this is where NIU is at for at least a while. Reality can bite.