Re: Arizona State Moving To D1
I think ASU's success is inevitable, and will come relatively soon. Face it - they're a mega-school from one of the "Big 5" conferences.
Until when or if they build an on campus facility that also includes practice ice (if it is a multipurpose building) then "success" (defined by me as competing for conference and/or national championships) is a practical impossibility. It
won't happen until that occurs. And, as things stand
right now, there are ZERO concrete plans for such a facility.
Since that process has not even yet begun there, you are looking at probably 4-6 years for this to be in place and that is IF the process began,
today.
You have to raise the money, design a facility along the lines of the funds available, obtain the land (something that would require state approval even if they have available space on campus they already own), and then build the facility. And, as mentioned earlier in the thread by me, the going rate for something along these lines (about the cost of both PSU's and UNO's new arenas) is 90 million dollars,
minimum. There will need to be a clear-cut consensus in the student population, the ASU fanbase/boosters, school administration, and the state legislature to make all this happen.
At this juncture, I don't think anything is "inevitable" at ASU. They can get all
this accomplished, even, and it's hockey success still isn't inevitable. The necessary facilities are only one piece of the puzzle. There is then the little matter of the players and coaches needed that are capable of delivering that "success". That is already an issue since they have absolutely
nothing, really, to recruit to at this very moment and that will continue to show up in their recruiting until this is definitively addressed.
ASU may end up being a factor at some distant time, but not in the
today's foreseeable future.