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"I still think this'd be very tough at many schools, as many schools don't have the hockey culture of Minnesota."

They're not gonna bring 10k per game, but the fact that it's the third most attended sport at Arizona and Kentucky is nothing to sniff at.

I also thought NHL teams in Phoenix, Tampa Bay, LA, Atlanta, Dallas and Carolina might go bust....especially with only a handful of American players on pro teams.

Yes, it's expensive to travel....but the club teams are currently travelling all over the country anyways...and I assume they bring more than 6 players. Arizona State currently plays Away games at: So Cal Long Beach, Weber State, Central Oklahoma, Colorado, Colorado State, Niagara, Oklahoma,
http://www.sundevilhockey.com/index.html

Hey, if you want Colorado State hockey to join D1, you can sign their petition!

http://media.www.collegia...y-Reception-3435392.shtml
"We don't fund current sports enough to add additional sports," he said. "We need to take the resources we do have and use them on the sports we already have. That means anything from women's tennis to football." Jeff Collier, the athletic business manager for CSU, estimated that to add a new program would cost a minimum of one million dollars. The university currently has 16 varsity sports, ranging from men's and women's basketball to track and field. Kowalczyk added that the Title IX rule also creates additional problems, mainly more funding. Under the rule, a university must add an equally funded women's program for every men's sport granted D-1 status. CSU most recently added the men's and women's water polo teams in 2005.

Ken Ralph, the director of athletics for Colorado College (home of the Division-I Tigers), described the costs behind funding a D-1 hockey team. Ralph explained that scholarships, staff salaries, travel costs, equipment, recruiting, facilities use and miscellaneous expenses are all considered when coming up with a team budget. CC does make an average profit of $350,000 a year from ticket sales, sponsors and value in kind, which include sponsors giving out equipment in return for advertising. Extra profits go to financing other CC sports programs. The push for CSU D-I hockey status has received a boost from respected names in Colorado hockey world. Head coaches from successful division one programs in the state, including the University of Denver and CC, have signed the Rams petition in support. Sunness is still adamant that there is room for Hockey to take a step up at CSU, even if it is a tough process. "Realistically it shouldn't take us more than five years to reach our goal," he said.

"There are so many benefits to it," Sunness said. Recent inductee to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, the Nebraska University in Omaha hockey team has been around since 1997. According to head coach Mike Kemp starting a team is hard, money aside. A new team is not immediately accepted in a conference. They have to start as an independent team and earn respect to find a home in a conference. "It was a struggle to find games," said Kemp. "It took us a few years to be eligible. We were very competitive but didn't win a lot of games right away. We had a few monumental wins and helping victories." Kemp said that a D-I hockey team needs to be largely supported. For UNO, it's the community support and enthusiasm that keeps their team and the program strong. UNO has sold out for the last seven years making ticket sales their primary revenue. The CSU Rams finished ninth in the national club rankings for the 2007 season, which gives Sunness confidence that the team has some players that could compete at a higher level. The Fort Collins native explained that to be truly successful the Rams will need to expand their recruiting base, something impossible without being D-1 team. "Right now our club has five or six players who could play at the D-1 level," he said. "To field a competitive team we'd have to recruit from Midwest and other hockey leagues. It will be beneficial for everybody."