Since I'm at NMU I don't qualify as a respondent to Brian's request for information about the way hockey is treated at Division I schools, but thought I'd throw in something on a more general topic. I'm not sure we should label all non-Division I (in everything but hockey) universities as "small." I realize we're speaking in terms of sports emphasis, not enrollment, for example, and most are aware that many non-division I institutions enroll far more students than many Division I athletic powerhouses (people never seem to realize that Notre Dame has only about 4,000 undergrads, e.g.) But even with respect to sports, it may be somewhat of a misnomer. Here at Northern the Division II football games in our new domed stadium, for example, drew over 8,000 fans until the team completely fell apart (or to be more accurate, proved its early-season ineptness was genuine). Basketball also draws quite well. I'm told that in 1976, the year after NMU won the Division II national football championship, over 14,000 showed up to see the Wildcats play Div I MAC Central Michigan (NMU won). The Wildcat hockey team plays in front of 3,500 to 4,500 fans. Admittedly, this is occasionally limited by the size of the arena, but not usually. Also, the majority of the hockey fans are townspeople and university staff members (including faculty), not students. My overall point is, that while hockey is our only Division I sport, and is extremely popular and high-profile in the area (especially right now), it's far from the "only game in town" at NMU (despite this region being a hockey-at-all-levels hotbed). The hockey program here IS well supported, but I suspect the Uni- versity makes a nice profit on it when you take into account bookstore sales of souvenirs during successful seasons like 1990-91, plus ticket sales. (In other words, I think that hockey, at least when the team's doing well as it is now, is more than self-supporting. Unfor- tunately, it's hard to tell because so far athletic revenues have always been channeled directly to the university's general fund, so you can't compare revenues with expenses. There's a suggestion going around that this might change soon. Of course, the truly "minor" sports might not want this to happen.) Steve Christopher, NMU