Where College Hockey Stands With Expansion

Answer: It's a Mixed Bag

by Jashvina Shah/Staff Writer

Within the past five years, three new Division I men’s hockey programs have sprung up, with another one on its way. But within the past two years, three programs also shut down.

Last year, Long Island University joined. This year it was St. Thomas. and in two years it will be Augustana. Add to that Arizona State and Penn State, which began playing in 2015 and 2012, respectively. Hockey has grown, and other new programs may be on the way. But it's also going through tough times in other places.

Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage have been in murky waters because of a state budget crisis. Alaska-Anchorage shut down its program before a fundraising attempt revived it. Alabama-Huntsville went through a similar situation.  Robert Morris also shut its program down. In 2009, Bowling Green was also in danger of cutting its men’s hockey program.

How can so many programs be starting while others are failing?

Well, it depends.

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It has been interesting to see schools either start or announce programs during COVID, as it forced budget shortages across the country. Augustana, however, was able to make it work because of a large donation it received.

“We had this opportunity last spring then to present one of the leading philanthropists in our region with some giving options and and his eyes lit up at men's hockey,” Augustana athletic director Josh Morton said. “From there it just, man, it just snowballed into such excitement from others.”

Augustana had always been considering hockey. It was actually something the president brought up to Morton when he was hired. The school has always looked for ways to differentiate itself, and bringing the first D-I men’s hockey program to South Dakota is different indeed.

“It’s not like it just popped up out of nowhere. But it fits into what as a university we're trying to do in our community. So to have the opportunity to to get a lead gift just solidified it,” Morton said.

The community is a prime ground for a D-I program. Augustana’s home, Sioux Falls, is home of the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. A program in South Dakota taps into the state’s hockey fandom and also opens up more border rivalries between schools like Minnesota and North Dakota.

“We created a season ticket interest list right away, and we publicly announced that on October 5,” Morton said. “I got a bunch of names already right away. That was really cool. But behind the scenes before it was public, we reached out to key business leaders and key potential investors. And so based on the excitement that we got from those meetings, we knew that it was going to be a homerun and we feel like we're going to build the right size arena. That makes it the toughest ticket in town, makes it a great home ice advantage for us.”

Now, Augustana did not use the feasibility study, which is funded by the NHL. But it has been a helpful tool.

“What I found in the first meetings we had with school presidents or school athletic directors before we entered into the partnership with the NHL about the feasibility studies was ... it was an odd discussion. If you want to do it, there wasn't any logical next step,” College Hockey Inc executive director Mike Snee said. ”So the feasibility study and then having it funded, at least gave them something tangible, like this is what it's going to cost and this is what you'd have to consider based on your unique circumstances and so on.”

St. Thomas’ situation was different. The whole school competed at Division III, but its long-time D-III conference was moving on without the Tommies. The school needed to find a new place and elected to raise the whole athletic department to D-I. (Note: Previously you could raise just one sport to D-I but now you must raise all sports or none.)

St. Thomas’ athletic director, Phil Esten, who had been at Penn State in its early years of D-I hockey, said St. Thomas expected a return on the investment of hockey, be it brand recognition or revenue opportunities.

LIU’s decision was a strategic, university choice spurred by the combination of two campuses — C.W. Post, which was D-II, and LIU Brooklyn, which was D-I. Once the schools merged, the goal was building a strong, unified athletics department, athletic director William Martinov said, complete with a new mascot and colors. In 2020, LIU announced men’s D-I hockey to complement women’s D-I hockey, which started in 2019.

Martinov said it was a good investment for the school because student-athletes graduate at higher levels than the rest of the student body population. (In November 2020, College Hockey Inc. announced that D-I men’s hockey had a 92 percent graduation rate.)

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But while the fresh blood of new programs has given college hockey hope, there’s still a darker side to this discussion. Alaska-Anchorage was cut due to budgetary restrictions for the school, only revived because fans and alumni raised $3 million. 

Alabama-Huntsville was also cut for budgetary reasons and again fans and alumni managed to fundraise the money needed to operate the Chargers in 2020-21. But, UAH said it would not continue hockey until it found a conference. And no conference has been found yet. 

Robert Morris was cut due to a change in direction from the school. Public outcry at least forced the Colonials to entertain fundraising for the program. However, based on the school’s comments, it doesn’t seem like money is the problem. It just seems the school no longer wanted hockey. Now, RMU supporters are tasked with raising $1.4 million by December 15.

In 2009, Bowling Green’s championship-winning program was also in danger due to financial cuts. The school created a fundraising goal and alumni like Rob Blake donated to raise over $2 million to save the program.

A big reason for UAH and Alaska-Anchorage shutting down and for Alaska’s uncertain future is because every other member institution of the WCHA formed a reboot of the CCHA, leaving those three out in the cold.

The takeaway, it would seem, is that, while hockey may be growing still in terms of participation, the ability to have a collegiate program is situational, and based on regional concerns.

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There are several keys to long-terms success: Support from the athletic department, belonging to a conference, financial stability and location.

Location is important for two reasons. It makes scheduling easier or difficult — and it made it very difficult for the Alaskas and UAH. But the school’s location plays a big part in determining if hockey is feasible.

“We're stable and this community is absolutely ready for this,” Morton said. “Our community of Sioux Falls has 270,000 People metro area, growing at 5,000 people a year, our strong economy, our strong business community. That's why we can do as a university. That's why we have the goals that we have campus wide is because we're in this dynamic economic community of Sioux Falls.”

Esten said Minnesota has a good infrastructure to support hockey. Currently, St. Thomas and Minnesota are the only full D-I schools in the state.

“When you look at programs in the state of Minnesota, they are economically viable,” Esten said.

Speaking of economics, financial stability may be the biggest factor. Budget cuts due to a state crisis or a COVID crisis have been unavoidable, but some schools have been able to stay steady.

This is not something that worries LIU. For them, hockey programs are an investment that also brings in revenue they would not have otherwise. The student-athletes they are bringing in can be on partial or academic scholarships, meaning their tuition and additional costs would cover more than the cost of the full scholarship student athletes. The scholarships are mostly split up so the school can also look for athletes who are entering with need-based financial aid.

Conference affiliation also helps with finances, as there is potential for revenue sharing for conference events. There are other benefits as well. Most of your schedule is automatically filled. Officials are provided (for those without conferences, they must find their own officials and pay for them). There are more branding and exposure opportunities. There’s the automatic qualifier, which Martinov mentioned as a big benefit. (It is very hard to make the NCAA tournament as an independent, although Arizona State accomplished the feat in 

LIU is still looking for a conference on the men’s side. For UAH, conference affiliation is non-negotiable. Its program will not be reinstated until a conference is found. (The CCHA declined an application and UAH did not hear back from Atlantic Hockey. UAH previously played as an independent and was in danger of being cut, a problem alleviated by joining the then-new WCHA.)

“There are schools that we've talked with where that is a concern,” Snee said. “Even a couple that we talked to didn't move ahead with a feasibility study. And that was not the only reason but that was one of the reasons why, they said we need to get into a conference. And generally it was a combination of where they're located geographically and then their profile of school. … Their lack of confidence and being able to get into a conference was one of the hurdles that couldn't be overcome.”

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It’s uncertain where college hockey will go from here. Realignment is nowhere near done. And maybe it never is. New programs mean more realignment is possible, just like when the Big Ten formed — which you could argue hurt the WCHA, which now no longer exists. There was also concern that opening up college hockey to Pac-12 schools like Arizona State that have bigger recruiting budgets would be a death knell for smaller programs that can’t keep up. 

But that’s largely a myth. Firstly, Minnesota-Duluth, the NCAA’s recent powerhouse, is a D-II school except for hockey. And second, the survival of programs like Alaska-Anchorage might actually depend on new schools out west joining. The Seawolves are trying to entice schools out west to join because it would make travel and finding a conference easier.

There are so many schools that seem on the cusp of adding the sport, to varying degrees. It's a long list, and some are more realistic than others. It largely depends on funding, the ability to get an arena built, and geography. Of course, LIU and St. Thomas are currently getting by on less than optimal arenas — but for how long? Tennessee State in Nashville is looking into it. Geography doesn't seem to be in its favor, but other factors are.

Again, it depends.

There may be another concern that more D-I schools lessens the talent pool, but grassroots hockey in the U.S. has been growing. Snee said that there are more than enough players to support expansion in DI hockey.

“I would strongly suggest that the college hockey, if you want to call it, infrastructure in both men's and women's, has not kept up with the participatory growth of the sport in the U.S. alone,” Snee said.