Attendance at NCAA

[ohcanada]

Very disappointed with the attendance at Ridder. Lots of empty seats...

[banditbun]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

Very disappointed with the attendance at Ridder. Lots of empty seats...

No kidding. And one has to laugh at the story in the program (which was riddled with inaccuracies all over the place.) Page 12 says they expected ticket demand "to be at levels not before seen in collegiate women's hockey."

Wow.

[Mitterman]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

What are they charging for tickets?
Can't understand why teams (or the NCAA) are even charging for any games. If we are trying to build the sport for spectators and fans admit for free and make money on beer . LOL

[D2D]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

According the box score in the paper this morning, the attendance was 2,070. It actually felt and sounded like more than that, a good atmosphere for both games I thought. But without Minnesota in the final there will be lots more empty seats on Sunday. How many will depend on how many UMD fans drive down tomorrow morning.

[ohcanada]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

Capacity at Ridder is listed at 3400. I doubt that it was half filled for either game. That includes the Gopher band. Previous frozen fours had much better attendance, even without the home team.

[UMDSimmerdown]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

There is a thread going in the Men's Frozen Four section that is trying to address this very problem. The solution: combine the Men's and Women's frozen four. Have the women play Th/Sa and the men play Fri/Su. Anyone who wins the lottery for the men's package would get free admission to the women's games, while there would still be some tickets set aside for people just wanting to buy the women's package. The hope would be that it would increase attendance for the women as well as create a buzz about college hockey on the whole.

Your thoughts?

Link to the thread

[dave1381]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

Well whatever the NCAA is doing now, it isn't working. I do expect Mercyhurst to get some good support next year. I hope it'll be just like Duluth in 2003.

If my memory serves me right, part of the reason for moving the women's season back so early was not so much about IIHF conflicts, but because they didn't want the men's and women's NCAA tournaments to conflict. This always struck me as odd, because it meant the women's quarterfinals conflict with conference quarterfinals (probably the busiest men's hockey weekend of the year in terms of # of teams involved and the importance of the games), and then the Frozen Four conflicts with the men's finals.

[freak]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

The solution: combine the Men's and Women's frozen four.

Anyone who wins the lottery for the men's package would get free admission to the women's games,

Your thoughts?

In the Frozen Fenway game, we couldn't even get many men's fans to come to the women's game when they were included on the same ticket, for the same day right before the men's game.

Exactly how many of those men's fans are going to go out of their way on the "off" day to go watch the women?

[UMDSimmerdown]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

In the Frozen Fenway game, we couldn't even get many men's fans to come to the women's game when they were included on the same ticket, for the same day right before the men's game.

Exactly how many of those men's fans are going to go out of their way on the "off" day to go watch the women?

I'm not saying its going to pack the house, but I would guess you'd have maybe 1,000-2,000 more fans if it were done that way. Like you said, its the "off" day, so maybe people are just looking for something to do. The current system isn't working, I doubt the NCAA gets their money back for renting the venue under the current system. Even if it is only 1,000-2,000 extra fans, the added concessions money couldn't hurt.

[ARM]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

According the box score in the paper this morning, the attendance was 2,070. It actually felt and sounded like more than that, a good atmosphere for both games I thought.

There were more people than that. That just counts the tickets sold and does not include player pass lists and those with credentials. My guess would be that there were around 2,500 people at the peak. Because there were a lot around the railings as well as upstairs.

Previous frozen fours had much better attendance, even without the home team.

I was worried it was going to be even worse. The marketing for this event was too little, too late. The game-in, game-out fans were there, but there just aren't enough of them. The only hope of doing well in Minneapolis for this type of event is to reach out to youth hockey organizations, and it sure didn't look like this happened.

Well whatever the NCAA is doing now, it isn't working. I do expect Mercyhurst to get some good support next year. I hope it'll be just like Duluth in 2003.

My impression is that the NCAA is doing very little. I also think that Minnesota has hosted too much. Too many WCHA finals, too many Frozen Fours, too many men's regionals, too much NCAA basketball means zero buzz for this event. St. Cloud or Mankato would be better the next time around (assuming Duluth does the next western site with their new arena.) Gopher/Bulldog/Badger fans could still get there, but it wouldn't be same old, same old. And the East should bid more often than they apparently are doing these days.

I'm not saying its going to pack the house, but I would guess you'd have maybe 1,000-2,000 more fans if it were done that way.

If you get 1,000 men's fans but lose 1,000 women's fans, is that a gain? My worry with locking the women's event to the men's is that then the women's schedule/locations will be always at the mercy of whatever decisions men's hockey makes, with zero input as to if something is hurtful to the women's game. Conflicting with World Championships really tarnishes the Frozen Four if the best players leave.

What I think is vital to the attendance of the game, not just for the NCAAs but in general, is for former players and their families to stay involved. I saw a former Badger and her dad last night, and it wasn't the first time they've been at a game with no Wisconsin connection. I have a lot of respect for those who recognize that the game did a lot for them and now give back to it once they are no longer directly involved. Some parent's are great about coming back to support their daughers' former teammates and beyond. Others never find their way back to the building. I find that rather lame.

[JosephPSchmoe]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

...without Minnesota in the final there will be lots more empty seats on Sunday. How many will depend on how many UMD fans drive down tomorrow morning.

I'll be there. I didn't buy my ticket until after last night's game and I was still able to get a reserved seat (not the bench type) between the blue line and center ice. But I expect I'll be able to find a better seat if I really want one. I don't know how a national championship tournament doesn't draw more people. We almost filled the DECC in 2008.

[D2D]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

I also think that Minnesota has hosted too much. Too many WCHA finals, too many Frozen Fours, too many men's regionals, too much NCAA basketball means zero buzz for this event.

The WCHA Final Five tournament at the X drew over 15,000 for the play-in game on Thursday. This is without the Gophers participating this year . There should be a very good crowd tonight with SCSU and North Dakota playing for the title.

I agree that the Twin Cities probably hosts more hockey events than it needs to. Seems like there is always a lot to choose from, especially when March rolls around.

[Trillium]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

Capacity at Ridder is listed at 3400. I doubt that it was half filled for either game. That includes the Gopher band. Previous frozen fours had much better attendance, even without the home team.

I don't think it was close to 2000 last year.

[Trillium]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

There is a thread going in the Men's Frozen Four section that is trying to address this very problem. The solution: combine the Men's and Women's frozen four. Have the women play Th/Sa and the men play Fri/Su. Anyone who wins the lottery for the men's package would get free admission to the women's games, while there would still be some tickets set aside for people just wanting to buy the women's package. The hope would be that it would increase attendance for the women as well as create a buzz about college hockey on the whole.

Your thoughts?

Link to the thread

Brilliant idea....I'd be much more likely to travel a long distance (and spend the associated money) to watch teams other than my own play if there was that much more good hockey to watch at the same time...makes it a much bigger event

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

Re: Attendance at NCAA

Box score lists attendance for the final as 1,473.

I estimate far fewer than that actually in the building.

IMO there is no other way to cut it except to say it was a deplorable turn out in the so-called state of hockey.

Also perhaps worthy of note: Yesterday afternoon in Saint Peter the D-III 3rd place game (featuring the host school Gustavus) drew 461. The evening championship game box score lists attendance of 138.