The reaosn new conferences haven't been formed is because of NCAA restrictions in regards to automatic playoff berths.

The Dakota schools are hoping for the Mid-Con. But if enough schools upgrade to Division 1, eventually there will need to be a new conference with schools like Utah Valley State, etc, that are current'y homeless.

The best bet for a new league would be for a few things to play out:
1) NDSU and SDSU join Mid-Con and have success
2) North and South Dakota upgrade and find some success as independant teams
3) Other D2 schools upgrade to 1A

If these play out then perhaps some schools like NDSU, SDSU, Southern Utah could make a push for a new league with a better geographic fit: think of an America East to the A10 - a good conference that hopes to be as good as the A10...this new confernece owuld be the AE in Big Sky country.

As for Denver...doubtful they would even leave the Sunbelt for a new league. Big Sky? Maybe. But not a new league.

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I dont think the sun belt wants denver any more and I cant picture the big sky letting them in. I also agree the mid con will take ndsu, sdsu, and ipfw

That's incorrect, according to the 2004/2005 OPE numbers

UAA- 16,261 students, 4,777 full-time undergrad students
UO- 20,296 students, 14,414 full-time undergrad students
OSU-19,153 students, 15,713 full-time undergrad students
UW-39,199 students, 27,732 full-time undergrad students

With less than one-third of UAA's students being full-time undergrads, it's clear that UAA is more of a commuter school.

What if Alaska-Anchorage join in the Big Sky or the Big West?

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The big west would be very hesitant to take someone from out of california, let alone alaska. i doubt the big sky would add a non football school and if they did it would be denver, however if alaska anchorage adds football then the may be considered.

They would need a domed stadium and an indoor practice facility. The high school season in Anchorage has already played 3 weeks. They end in Oct.

If you could get the Municipality to build the facilities and some how find room in the budget for 60 scholarships, salaries for coaches, and air/hotel for every away game then you could start talking about the women's sports you'd need to add for title IX.

And I don't think UAA has the required number of sports to be DI.

They only have M/W bball, M/W xcty/track, vball, and men's hockey.

It may work in hockey since both schools are in the same division of the NCAA, but that becomes more of a burden when you're talking about both schools' entire athletic programs. Division I schools, generally speaking, can't play Division II schools and have them count as regular season games (I realize hockey is different, since there is no Division II hockey championship anymore).

One question. Why the Mid-Con? The Mid-Con is supposed to be an athletic conference affectiving the Midwestern states of the U.S. like the Horizon or the Missouri Valley. I doubted that UAA would join the conference. Otherwise, UAA should be independents or try to join with other recent independents to form a new athletic conference (something similar to Conference USA).

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