And a slight gradual market decline, including the rural areas, which includes Minot, Jamestown, Dictkinson, Williston, Devil's Lake, Wapheton, etc. (have to purposelly mispell it so its not "thingies") could mean that less and less extras would show up. Remember, the only two places in all of ND to be growing is Fargo and Bismarck, and plus Rollette County (which includes the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation). All of the remainder of the state is losing population. This includes NDSU support in this balance of the state area.



Yes, because as the state's population declines, so could NDSU enrollment, so could the state's tax base, which could lead to school cuts, which could lead to faculty being laid-off, which could lead to further enrollment decline, which could lead to less people at the games. Less enrollment due to declining tax base and declining population could lead to less people showing up to the games. It all relates.



I'm not going. You can leave if you want. But please stay.

How do you know that only people from Fargo go to a NDSU game? Is there some tracking or evidence that demonstrates where people are from?

Even if you go one county away, lets say to Richland, Traill, or Barnes Counties, you enter the zone of declining population. These places are within easy commuting distance to Fargo, and the 10K to 18K that you are talking about is like what most Division 1 bball schools get at their games. Those schools don't just draw from the immediate town or metro area for the game, they draw from within 50 miles on weeknights, and from within the states' boundaries on weekend games. Football is a weekend games, unless you are a D-1A mid-major team playing on ESPN on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday night.

So I don't necessarily believe they all come from Fargo, when NDSU is a statewide team, especially when you are still talking about 10K or more on a weekend which is comparable to D-1 bball.



What does Minneapolis have anything to do with NDSU? Its 250 or more miles away in the bordering state. Its the home of the 45K enrollment at U Minnesota.

A state as small as the size as ND has a lot of possibilities losing a number of things if its population decreases. 1.2% of its pop is ~7K. If it continues to drop like this, resources contract. The only other jurisdiction to be losing population is the District of Columbia, which isn't in any state. Many inner cities lose population. What that demonstrates is when population declines, tax base declines, services are cut. It can be a neverending cycle, because the resources are needed to help your state or city grow.

You should realize that I am talking long term if this trend continues. You may not see this right now, as it is relatively recent that ND has begun to decline in population. But it it goes on for a decade or two, the decline will began to make its affect known where you hadn't noticed it before.

Of course, it could be that all of a sudden ND begans to have net positive population growth. But even then, slight population growth sometimes might not be enough to sustain things the way they were before. But things could change. The 1990's saw ND with positive growth.

No, Fargo is the location of NDSU. Its the immediate location and market. Fargo, according to you saying there are UND allum and fans (and GF only being a short 1 hour distance to the north) is a relatively small, non-mid major reinforcing metro market for UND. The only reinforcing market for NDSU (as according to you there is hardly any support for NDSU in Grand Forks, home of UND), is the small metro market of Bismarck, located 200 miles to the west. But the bottom line is NONE of these three markets, including the small reinforcing market of Bismarck is mid-major in metro size. They are all small. Portland, ME is mid major at ~500K. Manchester-Nashua is mid-major at nearly 400K. Wilmington, DE is mid-major at 650K and Providence, RI is Major at 1.6 Million. There is no mid-major or major reinforcing market for North Dakota and its 250 miles from the Twin Cities, 500 miles from Omaha, and 650 miles from Des Moines.



Well, those schools individually may be interested, but they are not going to chop off and flake away Portland State, and Sac State and Northern Arizona. Portland State and Sac State are both major metro markets. Why flake them off to start a league with far-distant Dakota schools located in smallish markets, one of which is located in a state that is losing population?



If the Dakota schools could either join the present day Big Sky or the Mid-Con, that would be their best bet, short of joining the really optimal MVC. If they can't do that, I think getting UND, USD, SCSU, MSU-Mankato, and maybe UM-Duluth to form a new 1-AA North Central Conference. UN-Omaha wouldn't be a good choice, as Creighton is already in Omaha and having two Div. 1 bball teams in Omaha would be a bit overcrowded. Perhaps UW-Eau Claire or UW-La Crosse, or UW-Stevens Point, or look to Michigan Tech or Northern Michigan to make a move up for the 8th team. (I realize those UW schools are Div. III, but Wisconsin only has one 1-A school and only 3 1-AAA schools. Certainly 1 1-AA school located in the western part of the state of 5.6 million people is plausible, and Div. 3 is the only source to get a Wisconsin rep in this league -- but maybe an Upper Michigan move up is a better option). All of these schools are located close to one another in comparison to the Big Sky and the Mid Con. They are also all generally located in small markets and would all began their 1-AA history together. They would have this continuity.

Montana and MT St would be better served joining the WAC than taking up with this lot. Idaho St would make 12.