(12-02-2017 12:02 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(12-01-2017 09:58 PM)NoDak Wrote:  There is no question that the Montana, Dakota, Denver and Idaho Presidents find it academically attractive. Think they see it as athletically attractive too.

UND and NDSU fans absolutely hate each other.
Same goes for the Montana's and South Dakota's too but maybe not so much.
The Montana / North Dakota rivalry has always been strong especially in western ND and eastern Montana.
UND ties in Denver and Omaha by way of hockey, as that is the centerpiece sport for each of them and they want and need that in other sports. Montana and NDSU fb fans always seem to be talking about each other.
UND and NDSU have built budgets that dwarf the Montana's and Idaho but not overpowering like the MWC budget.
The Montanas are bound to each other.
SDSU will follow NDSU like a little lambs or rather like good bunny rabbits, as they always have.
USD needs SDSU and Omaha.
Idaho knows it needs the Montana's after its experience with Boise St, which has renounced their former rivalry.
EWU needs Idaho and the Montana's for attendance and relevance. EWU without them is almost unthinkable. Portland St would be a booby prize in comparison.

The only school left in the Big Sky that could roll with this group is Weber St.

The league is would be one of the most stable ones out there except the P5 minus the B12 and the Ivy League. Its just a matter of time and only one of IPFW, ORU, or W Illinois needs to leave so the votes are there. Its a slam dunk easy prediction. Yet Jacksfan still complains because Sioux Falls won't host so much.

I don't argue with the logic here, but you also say this has been in the works since the collapse of WAC football. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Idaho has not had anything to do with anything like this at least through 2016, and I don't have any evidence that Idaho leadership has worked on this project in 2017, and plenty of evidence that they remain as clueless and frozen as ever.

Maybe the Dakotas and Montanas have been working on this secretly and plan to drag Idaho in at the last minute. I don't know. But I really doubt it.

By the way, if I'm going along with this I don't really understand why you're so sure EWU is in. They're not a particularly good school, don't have much money, and are an afterthought in their state. Doesn't really fit the profile if a big part of the selling point is an academic affiliation. I get the travel partner thing but if that's the need then why not Seattle U?

Idaho moved from the WAC to the Big Sky to be with the Montana's and EWU when they could have stayed in the WAC and been Seattle's travel partner. That move wasn't about the Big Sky but about a subset of it they need to associate with.

EWU is desperately trying to raise funds for an FBS minimum stadium. That tells me a lot.

All of the football schools have taken steps in which FBS is more probable, except Idaho of course but associating with the Montana's and EWU again will make FBS more financially viable.