Re: UNLV To DI?
Zee Kahn lost every ounce of credibility the second he uttered this sentence after this paragraph:
Currently, ASU doesn’t play in any NCAA conference, as their schedule consists of facing off against both NCAA and ACHA teams from across the country, as well as a series of games against the University of Alberta. Though there are teams who compete in NCAA sports without a division, it seems as if the next big growth in college hockey is the addition of a Pac-12 division to the NCAA.
“I think that that’s inevitable, that the Pac-12 will come in,” Khan said in agreement.
That statement is utter nonsense and he has no real basis for making it. You are talking about a
minimum of 5 other schools starting programs. What, exactly, would be the impetus for this to happen and where is/are the money and facilities coming from? To say nothing of the Title IX issues this will cause at any and every school, no matter where it is, that is even thinking about this.
Then he goes on to new levels of asinine:
“I think that ASU kind of has a strangle hold (sic) on the Pac-12 as far as pushing them back a little bit. They want to kind of keep the Pac-12 teams away for a couple of years to let ASU have success, truly build their program, and watch them grow before the other teams jump in on it,” explained Khan. “Obviously, TV money has a little to do with that. Pac-12 TV is going to be televising a couple of their games this year as well, so we’ll see how that goes. The next team up is going to probably be a smaller school. We kind of have that perfect fit.”
Smaller school? What the hell does that mean? ASU has the largest enrollment of any public university in the United States. They are ALL smaller schools. There are no small schools in the Pac-12, anyway, if that's what he meant. Stanford has the smallest enrollment of any PAC-12 school and it is nearly 17,000 students. No other school in the entire conference has less than 21,000 students. 6 schools have enrollments north of 35,000.
Further, the notion that what any one hockey program's athletic department did would put some sort of "stranglehold" on what any other school might do is laughable when you look at the facilities wars that are going on in almost every sport at schools all over the nation. If a hockey program is somehow seen as financially possible, or, desirable, financially or otherwise, at any school, anywhere, they are sure not going to care about what their competitors down the street are doing.
Then, he goes on to imply that whether this might or might not happen will be influenced by TV monies from televising Pac-12 hockey games. Ask the Big 10 how that one is going, a conference that contains 4 of the most storied programs in the history of college hockey.
I'm sorry, but this guy is talking out his a**.
I'd be willing to make a bet with this guy and put up anything I own that a Pac-12 hockey conference does not surface in the foreseeable future. Certainly not one composed entirely of Pac-12 schools, anyway and I don't think they'd allow affiliate programs in hockey just like I don't think the Big 10 will ever do it in hockey, either.
As far as UNLV is concerned, if they do go D-1, I don't think Vegas can or is going to support that
and an NHL team. Whichever surfaces first (if either) is probably all Vegas is going to see.
