Attendance at Regionals

[Hux]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Getting back to boosting Regionals attendance, here's an idea: Serve beer!

If a key to solid attendance as some have said is to get the casual unalligned hockey fans to go, those folks expect to be able to swill a few while watching the game. I drink beer at UML games at the Tsongas, I drank beer at Boston Garden for HEA Championship, why can't I drink at Regionals? Now my team was playing Saturday night so I would have went anyway but if the game had been Wisconsin - Denver instead, between the ticket price and the no beer policy I would have watched it on TV. If I, as a dedicated college hockey fan, felt this way, how can the NCAA expect an average casual hockey fan to attend?

Isn't "no beer" an NCAA policy during the tourney?

[claver2010]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Isn't "no beer" an NCAA policy during the tourney?

yes

[Fishhawk]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Isn't "no beer" an NCAA policy during the tourney?

They should change it. Do they turn down beer company $millions from TV commercials during NCAA basketball tourney?

[aznman08]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

They should change it. Do they turn down beer company $millions from TV commercials during NCAA basketball tourney?

And all the football games too. Seriously its "free" money they losing.

[Rover]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

My thoughts on the regionals:

1) Maine is chock full of toothless smelly hicks. In short, the perfect place for a hockey tournament. Problem is its too far away. Are Maine residents going to show up to watch BC play Union or even UNH play Wisc? Maybe the first year it was held there but that would be about it.

2) I'm glad to see some consensus that the East regionals seem to work well. Providence, Manchester, Bridgeport or Worcester. Pick your poison but the attendance #'s are decent. I do wonder how well other schools arrange transportation to these venues. BU used to do that but stopped I believe. Hopping on a bus where you can booze up to your heart's content and then get a ride home afterwards might bring a few more people out. Even more if the bus has hookers and gambling, but I digress.. The point is that with not too much planning or expense the Eastern schools (this year BC, UNH, Lowell, Yale, etc) should be able to transport 250 people to the arena via a few busses, hence boosting regional attendance by 1000 or so.

3) Out west they should do Minny for one all the time. On the 2nd venue you could be strategic and only put it in places with multiple college hockey programs + an understanding that a local team will get sent there regarless of whether they're hosting or not. That would mean Michigan (MI, MSU, NMU, FSU), Ohio (OSU, Miami, BGSU), or Colorado (DU, CC, AF). Some years you're going to get burned but that's the breaks. All and all this hasn't been that bad.

[CLS]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

I’ll admit to having changed my mind on the beer issue. When I first started attending Frozen Fours, I thought it was the beer ban was a good thing. I came with my kids, and I didn’t have any urge to have a beer myself. I didn’t want to be around a bunch of drunk college kids.

But if FFs were ever attended mainly by college kids, that time is long past. The cheering sections and the pep bands are there, which is great, but the majority of the crowd is now middle aged or older. The venues are now NHL arenas, which have security systems that are used to dealing with crowds that can get alcohol. And now, with the two Thursday games scheduled close together, I find it easier to not try to leave the rink, which means my dinner is a sausage or a pizza and . . . bottled water (which sometimes costs more than a soft drink, but that’s another story).

At the Hockey East championships, the crowds can get beer, and I’ve never seen an alcohol-related incident at a HE championship that was more than a minor annoyance. I bet people who go to the other conference tournaments would say the same thing.

Can’t say that it annoys me so much that I’d skip the FF or a regional because I couldn’t have beer. I do believe, though, that the NCAA could get more interest from venues to host regionals or the FF if they’d losen up on the no beer policy. I have no evidence, but I strongly suspect the no beer policy is one of the reasons that the TD Garden (Boston) doesn’t seem interested in the FF.

The signage is another thing. Some of the commercial requirements (like signs on the boards) aren’t overly onerous on the venues, but some of them, like what can appear on the ice surface, are, and things like the silliness over the Pepsi Center in Denver were just plain stupid.

[chickod]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Bangor will never happen because of the facility design (thanks City of Bangor!)

What's wrong with the design? (I have no idea...I'm just asking...I've never seen it)

[CLS]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

What's wrong with the design? (I have no idea...I'm just asking...I've never seen it)

Didn't someone say there were no plans for refrigeration (i.e. no ice)? Which seems odd in Maine.

[riverhawk2000]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

I do wonder how well other schools arrange transportation to these venues. BU used to do that but stopped I believe. Hopping on a bus where you can booze up to your heart's content and then get a ride home afterwards might bring a few more people out. Even more if the bus has hookers and gambling, but I digress.. The point is that with not too much planning or expense the Eastern schools (this year BC, UNH, Lowell, Yale, etc) should be able to transport 250 people to the arena via a few busses, hence boosting regional attendance by 1000 or so.

Lowell got a bunch of student support because the Student Activities Office helped out with tickets and transportation. They got free tix (w/bus) to the HE tournament, $10 tix (w/bus) to the regional and they are now offering $150 for tix/bus/hotel to the FF. I'm not sure what other schools are doing, but it seems like that's the way to go.

[sandiegoblkbr]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Didn't someone say there were no plans for refrigeration (i.e. no ice)? Which seems odd in Maine.

The floor is capable of holding a regulation sized rink (thank god!)........but there is no in-house ice making capability or equipment.

[maineiac]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

[QUOTE=riverhawk2000;5699940]Lowell got a bunch of student support because the Student Activities Office helped out with tickets and transportation. They got free tix (w/bus) to the HE tournament, $10 tix (w/bus) to the regional and they are now offering $150 for tix/bus/hotel to the FF. I'm not sure what other schools are doing, but it seems like that's the way to go.[/QUOTE

Is there a Lowell student out there that would take me along as a guest to the FF? That's quite a deal for $150!

[WildShawn]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

I can see beer being a nice extra at an event, but if not having beer (overpriced beer) at a college hockey game is a reason not to go, I feel sorry for you

[Fishhawk]

Re: Attendance at Regionals

I can see beer being a nice extra at an event, but if not having beer (overpriced beer) at a college hockey game is a reason not to go, I feel sorry for you

Keep your sympathy and shove it up your holier than my arse! "Nice extras" like a comfortable venue close to home with adequate facilities and a variety of concessions including beer for responsible adults all contribute to a positive experience that will get a casual fan to come back. Any factor that could possibly contribute to that experience and increase attendance at regionals is relevant to this discussion UNLIKE your judgmental little snipe.

[Rover]

Lowell got a bunch of student support because the Student Activities Office helped out with tickets and transportation. They got free tix (w/bus) to the HE tournament, $10 tix (w/bus) to the regional and they are now offering $150 for tix/bus/hotel to the FF. I'm not sure what other schools are doing, but it seems like that's the way to go.

Good for them. Its nice to see the school take care of its fans.

[Slap Shot]

I wasn't aware that NCAA hockey needed saving. If it's that close to folding that an extra 15K tickets sold makes the difference between having hockey and not having hockey then we're in an even worse situation than imagined.

It doesn't need saving, which is imprecisely why the paltry extra tickets sold at the expense of bracket integrity were meaningless. Didn't think my posts were cryptic.