Bowling Green’s hockey program is receiving a second chance.
The university said this morning it anticipates being able to announce a fundraising campaign in the next
7-10 days to endow scholarships for the hockey program and to renovate the BGSU Ice Arena.
School president Dr. Carol Cartwright is scheduled to meet today with a representative of Bentz Whaley
Flessner, a national fundraising consulting firm.
The university is using the firm to assess the potential for funding that could be raised by such a
campaign.
The firm’s report was due to the university by the end of August. Cartwright expects to have its
recommendations this week.
Although Cartwright declined to say how long the fundraising campaign would last, most sources have said
the program will have 3-5 years to raise the needed money.
The hockey program has been targeted for elimination to help the university and the athletics department
deal with a large deficit. The program, which won the NCAA championship in 1984, had been only
guaranteed to exist through the end of the upcoming season.
The Falcons have finished last in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in three of the last four
seasons, including last season when they were 11-24-3 overall and 8-19-1 in the CCHA.
Part of the reason for the decline in the program is the poor condition of the arena and the university’s
lack of funding for the program.
Cartwright expects to announce "the next steps for our hockey program and the ice arena in the next
7-10 days. As we indicated last spring, the consultant’s recommendations will provide a road map for our
fundraising efforts to endow the scholarships for hockey and renovate the arena."
The university formed separate committees last spring to study the future of the athletics department and
the arena.
BGSU athletics director Greg Christopher has previously estimated it would take an endowment of
approximately $15-20 million to fund the hockey program.
The university has committed $4 million in capital projects money to renovate the arena. Of that amount,
$2.5 million is from the university with the remainder coming from the state.
Jack Vivian, who is overseeing the arena committee, has developed three different plans for the
renovation of the arena.
Vivian, the first coach in the history of the Falcon hockey program, said the full plan to renovate the
arena will take $10-12 million to complete. He added a moderate plan will need $7-8 million and a
minimal plan would require $4.5 million.
Vivian runs his own rink management company and is regarded as one of the country’s leading experts in
the field.
Construction of the arena started in the spring of 1965 and the building was dedicated on Feb. 25, 1967.
Some of the equipment in the building is the original equipment. But the arena is now well known for its
many leaks and its ugly exterior.