The sports scene at UConn has been thrown into a state of flux recently by a number of factors. First and foremost is the status of the St. Louis NFL bid for an expansion team. (The NFL yesterday refused to take action on naming the second expansion franchise.) IF St. Louis gets a team, and IF its the right group in St. Louis that gets it, THEN Orthwein will probably sell the Patriots to Fran Murray (a former owner) who will then move them to Hartford to occupy a stadium which the CT Legislature has voted to build (if they come). The Mass legislature, by contrast, can't make up its mind about anything in order to keep the Patriots. Uh ... oh, yeah, this is about college hockey. Bear with me. IF the Patriots come to Hartford, UConn will undoubtedly raise its football program from 1-AA (and losing more than $ 1 million a year) to 1-A at a fairly hefty first cost in more rides and a large increase in womens' sports spending to abide by the PC rules now in force. The idea, of course, is that a 1-A program will eventually make money instead of lose it. The thinking in CT is that we're getting used -- and none of this is going to happen. If it doesn't, there MAY be the funds to upgrade the hockey program. If it DOES happen, though, my guess is that all available funds will be sucked into upgrading football. NOW, the plot is even better than that. Apparently Brian Cavanaugh's contention that NESCAC is about to pull out of the ECAC East is very real. I have it from a very reliable source in Storrs that there will be a meeting of the Division I no-scholarship schools and the Division II schools in mid November to discuss what to do if that happens. A new league is very possible. What happens to New England College and North Adams, etc., under that scenario is a real problem. None of the former schools wants to leave anyone out in the cold. The effect of the potential NESCAC pull-out is to create a golden opportunity for the HE if they want to expand. UConn may well be the institution they are talking to since there are natural Big East and Yankee Conference ties and rivalries between UConn and HE schools. (You may recall the UConn band playing for Providence College at the NC$$ regional in Minn. a few years ago). My source did not *volunteer* a comment in this direction -- and I had not seen the Machnick post at the time.:-) I can only say that I sincerely hope that this is one rumor that comes true. I will try to elicit a response from someone in Storrs soon. -- Dick Tuthill