A bipartisan group of Senators are backing legislation to prohibit the use of public bonds to finance professional sports stadiums. “Professional sports teams generate billions of dollars in revenue,” Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) said in a statement. “There’s no reason why we should give these multimillion-dollar businesses a federal tax break to build new…
At UND Sports Programs Lost Over $13.3 Million in 2016
With the controversy over cutting the women’s hockety team at the University of North Dakota making headlines I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the financial status of other sports teams both at UND and rival North Dakota State University. I put in requests for information to both schools, and while I don’t…
Are Websites Like FanDuel And Draft Kings Legal In North Dakota?
If you’ve watched a sporting event in the last year or so, or spent any significant amount of time online, you’ve probably seen advertising for fantasy sports websites like FanDuel or Draft Kings. They bill themselves as just another iteration of the fantastically popular sports games where participants draft fantasy teams of real players and…
Chris Brantner: How To Watch The Minnesota Vikings Without Cable
North Dakota is a great state to live in, but it lacks one important thing: an NFL team of its own! North Dakota is not alone in this struggle – more than half of US states don’t have their own NFL team. Most North Dakotans tend to root for the Minnesota Vikings, since they’re the…
If Only Our Government Got As Much Coverage As Football
Bison football has become such a big deal in North Dakota that the media is now running coverage about how much coverage the football team gets. It’s all very meta. Not that it ever takes much for the Fargo media to descend into an orgy of preening. Everything from the Fargo television show on FX…
James Kerian: Minnesota's Transgender Policy Harms Those It Is Intended To Help
Two weeks ago the board of the Minnesota State High School League voted to approve a new policy for “transgendered” students that would allow boys (who claim they are girls) to play on girls teams and to allow girls (who claim they are boys) to play on boys teams. Since then, fortunately, many people have…
Kelly Heinert: North Dakota High School Activities Association Misleads On Measure 8
Recently, the ND High School Athletic Association put out a letter opposing Measure 8 which would effectively make it so all public schools in North Dakota would not start classes until after Labor Day. Universities and private schools would not be affected. To break this letter down piece by piece, they first of all state…
Guy Sues Yankees, ESPN Because He Was Caught On Camera Sleeping At A Game
Back in April I was watching a Yankees/Red Sox game on ESPN and got a chuckle out of the guy in the video above who had nodded off in the early innings. The sportscasters – Dan Shulman and John Kruk – were teasing him, and why not? It was sort of funny. But apparently the…
Doug Leier: Think About Your Bait
In 1988 I was a sophomore in high school, I was more than happy to catch a few perch, walleye or northern pike, and sometimes even bullheads. It seems I never had a problem finding the yellow-bellied, numerous-yet-undesirable fish, even when the number of fishing waters was half what it is now. At that age…
David Flynn: Donald Sterling Controversy Isn't A 1st Amendment Issue
The discussion surrounding the NBA and the actions taken against the Clippers owner is extensive. Here is the issue that a brilliant woman raised to me and I think it is spot on. While we call these individuals “NBA owners” we are leaving out a key word, franchise. They are NBA franchise owners. Now I am…