>>Fans who made deposits on North Dakota State hockey tickets will get their money back now that voters have rejected a sales->tax proposal to pay for a new arena.
>
>I don't understand.  I thought that the new ND arena was a done deal as a result of the $50 million contribution from that wealthy alumnus (Englestadt?).  Why would there need to be a sales tax proposal at all?

The big wad of cash from Englestad is for the University of North Dakota, in Grand Forks. The sales tax proposal was for a new arena in Fargo, for North Dakota State. Had the referendum passed, NDSU would have started up men's and women's hockey programs.

That said, I think that returning the deposits and apparently abandoning
the drive for Division I hockey shows a distinct lack of creativity by NDSU.
I would think an arena for an already-existing team would be more popular
than one for a team that may start in a couple of years. NDSU could play in the Fargo Coliseum, or investigate making ice in the Fargodome, in the short term, while waiting for a new arena to be built.

John

--
  John Edwards - Carleton (Ont) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
      Manitoba Women's Ice Hockey - #9 CIAU, 5-3-2 CanWest, 18-7-2 Overall
               Carleton U. Football - Undefeated since 1998
The opinions expressed are mine alone, because everybody else says I'm weird.

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