It's happening.jshank83 wrote: ↑Feb 15, 2022Making just a general thread for this so it can encompass other schools also.
The Ohio Valley Conference is looking to add new members after losing 5 in the last 2 years. So far they have added 2 back and apparently are now looking at a local school. I assume it’s Lindenwood since there have been rumors they want to move up. Would be nice to add a 3rd D1 school to the metro. Only football one.
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Division I football is back in the St. Louis region for the first time since SLU had it and dropped it in 1949. LU will be playing at the FCS level. I hope they, along with FBS Mizzou, fill the football void that was left behind by the Rams and use the Edward Jones Dome for special non conference games.
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I've been surprised for a while that SLU doesn't have a Div 1 football program. They have a relatively successful basketball program (they've made the tournament multiple times, won their conference championship recently and were ranked just last year in the top 25 for multiple weeks.) and a soccer program with a storied history.
If they fielded a halfway decent Football program they'd sellout whatever stadium they built/play at.
If they fielded a halfway decent Football program they'd sellout whatever stadium they built/play at.
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Because football is a massive waste of money unless (1) you’re in a power 5 conference or (2) you’re a D3 or NAIA school that relies on Athletic opportunities for enrollment. Lindenwood is the latter.
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Agreed. The college game is much better than the fraudulent league for obvious reasons. At the rate LU is transitioning from one level to the next, it wouldn’t shock me if they move to say the AAC in a decade.gary kreie wrote: ↑Mar 04, 2022We used to be the only metro in the top 50 with no pro football or division 1 football closer than 2 hours away. No more.
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I’m still worried that the LU administration will fail to see the bigger picture. I hope I’m wrong, because I can’t stress enough that the region is starving for big time football at any level. They’re among the few FCS programs in the country that reside in a top 25 media market and can really stand above everyone else, particularly in the Ohio Valley Conference. I reaaaally hope they get it right.
St. Louis currently has a Division I football team within 2 hours - the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, who compete in the same conference as Lindenwood will. That's been the case for over three decades. Maybe that 2-hour analysis concerns FBS teams, which Lindenwood won't change.gary kreie wrote: ↑Mar 04, 2022We used to be the only metro in the top 50 with no pro football or division 1 football closer than 2 hours away. No more.
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Mizzou is 1 hour 57 minutes from downtown.
Agreed, look at the support the BattleHawks, an independent league team with no history or prior fanbase to draw from got from the city. They had to begin opening the upper bowl and sold out the entire dome against LA to watch teams that had 0 big name players. STL would go crazy for a legit division 1 College Football team in the city.nationalpastime82 wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2022I’m still worried that the LU administration will fail to see the bigger picture. I hope I’m wrong, because I can’t stress enough that the region is starving for big time football at any level. They’re among the few FCS programs in the country that reside in a top 25 media market and can really stand above everyone else, particularly in the Ohio Valley Conference. I reaaaally hope they get it right.
I don't think the NFL is ever coming back to STL, I loved watching the XFL but realistically I don't see that league sticking around for a long run.
If STL got a College Football Division 1 team that captured local interest and played an entertaining game, the sky is the limit locally. STL would turn out like they do for every big sporting event and pack that stadium on a weekly basis. Lindenwood is making steps in the right direction, let's hope they don't call it quits after making Division 1.
I could see them having success in the OVC and in a decade making a push for a higher profile conference and expanding/building a larger stadium.
It would be pretty cool if a local team could reach the level of interest that it could regularly play home games in the dome downtown, but I will readily admit that is just a fantasy on my part and no one knows what shape the dome will be in by the time a team would reach the level where it would need that capacity.npav wrote: ↑Mar 09, 2022Agreed, look at the support the BattleHawks, an independent league team with no history or prior fanbase to draw from got from the city. They had to begin opening the upper bowl and sold out the entire dome against LA to watch teams that had 0 big name players. STL would go crazy for a legit division 1 College Football team in the city.nationalpastime82 wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2022I’m still worried that the LU administration will fail to see the bigger picture. I hope I’m wrong, because I can’t stress enough that the region is starving for big time football at any level. They’re among the few FCS programs in the country that reside in a top 25 media market and can really stand above everyone else, particularly in the Ohio Valley Conference. I reaaaally hope they get it right.
I don't think the NFL is ever coming back to STL, I loved watching the XFL but realistically I don't see that league sticking around for a long run.
If STL got a College Football Division 1 team that captured local interest and played an entertaining game, the sky is the limit locally. STL would turn out like they do for every big sporting event and pack that stadium on a weekly basis. Lindenwood is making steps in the right direction, let's hope they don't call it quits after making Division 1.
I could see them having success in the OVC and in a decade making a push for a higher profile conference and expanding/building a larger stadium.
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It's not as if the Dome is going to fall into disrepair - it's used for plenty of major events and regular maintenance is still happening. It's not going to magically become infinitely better, but it's not as if it'll be left for dead and abandoned over the next 10 years.
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Right. They lost money when the Rams were here.Laife Fulk wrote: ↑Mar 09, 2022It's not as if the Dome is going to fall into disrepair - it's used for plenty of major events and regular maintenance is still happening. It's not going to magically become infinitely better, but it's not as if it'll be left for dead and abandoned over the next 10 years.
Division I men’s hockey is back in the region for the first time since, you guessed it, SLU dropped it in 1979. The women’s program has been in D1 since 2011.
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They’re playing Stony Brook at Centene at 8 PM this evening.sc4mayor wrote: ↑Mar 13, 2022LU has a decent hockey program, nice to see them moving up.
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Lindenwood Men's hockey is OFFICIALLY going D1. Let's hope SLU follows suit in the future. That could be a rivalry. I've always wondered why SLU wouldn't add D1 hockey, since they have a great ice facility and they do not play football. If not hockey, then football would be cool. I'd prefer hockey.
https://www.nhl.com/news/lindenwood-uni ... =327544170
https://www.nhl.com/news/lindenwood-uni ... =327544170
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Doesn't SLU's club hockey team play at the Webster Groves Ice Rink? Is that a great ice facility for a D1 program? (sincerely asking, I have no clue)
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I play 'beer league' at Webster and it is a perfectly fine rink. However, I do not believe it is anywhere close to a D1 caliber rink, even for a lower-tier D1 team. (Not that SLU would be lower-tier). For a university's club team, yes, it is fine. I think the Blues rink at Centene is a fine D1 rink for now. If the program blows up, maybe an on-campus rink at LU could be feasible.
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There was a proposal for a SLU Ice Facility on campus years ago... like 2008-ish. It was proposed by the club team to be their home facility and to have a community ice rink. It ultimately fell through due to funding (it wasn't ever backed by the University itself). I could have sworn we had a thread here on it, but I can't find anything via the search function (and I remember commenting / posting on it back in like 2008 too).
Update - found the old website for the SLU Club Hockey proposal: https://sluhockey.com/ice_pavilion.html
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That is a nice looking facility. However, with regards to a D1 facility, there is absolutely no reason a D1 team couldn't play at Chaifetz Arena. I have been there many times for ice-based events. They have the ability to host hockey, but they would have to add boards and possibly get regulation ice, as I am not sure the ice at Chaifetz is large enough for D1 hockey.