WCHA officially admits Bemidji State, Nebraska-Omaha
Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha are expected to be admitted in to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this afternoon.By: Brad Elliott Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association voted this afternoon to admit Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State into the league beginning in 2010-11.
The official vote came after two days of intense negotiations between WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod and Nebraska-Omaha, a school the league has tried to convince to apply for membership in order to grow the WCHA to 12 teams.
McLeod held conference calls with league athletic directors on both Wednesday and Thursday to take straw polls on terms he was negotiating with Nebraska-Omaha. Those terms could include a reduced entry fee and immediate sharing of postseason revenue.
Omaha, currently a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, could stand to benefit greatly if it gets a deal. The last team to join the WCHA, Minnesota State-Mankato, paid nearly $120,000 for membership and didn’t get a cut of postseason revenue for three years. The league paid about $91,000 to its members in postseason revenue in 2008-09.
Bemidji State, which will be without a conference after the upcoming season, applied for membership in March, but the league decided to put its application on hold while it searched for a 12th team. The even number benefit’s the league in terms of scheduling and revenue.
Multiple sources have confirmed to the Herald that the admission fees for Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State are different.
Tags: und hockey, college hockey, breakingnews, sports
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