Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

[TheEagle]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

Its nearly impossible for a team hours away from a school without as big of an undergrad and alum base to outdraw the host school, and hats off for UND for almost doing it, but I don't believe they do. First, when the two are playing (which they did this year and I witnessed) I believe there was a slight edge in maroon and gold than green and black. Second, the Gophers bring casual fans; fans that dont even wear maroon and gold just street clothes, bc if you see someone walking around not supporting a team you probably assume Gopher fan (or neutral). But I can't imagine any UND fans showing up not wearing UND... Same for SCSU, MTU, UW, etc.

My gut tells me you are correct, but that it's close. I thought I'd take the time to analyze.


Over the last 8-10 years, some interesting things come about. Minnesota outdraws UND in play-in games by around 2,000 fans/game. This has been a Thursday game, so that tells me not as many UND fans travel if it's not on the weekend. In semifinal and final games, the average attendance is only a few hundred more/game in Minnesota games vs. UND games. The stats were padded by a one game where UND drew over 19K. Normally, it's close to 1,000/game--but remember that Minnesota has the advantage of almost always (if not always) playing in the night game--which is generally more well attended. My feeling is that the Minnesota games are a little more attended, but there's no question that UND has been a major draw for the Final Five. Minnesota has been the 1a draw--while UND has been the 1b draw.

[bronconick]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

I don't think there's going to be a big enough market for ticket packages to "save" it in either city. MSU and Michigan fans will simply wait to see when their teams play because the Joe seats 21,000+ and there's no way in hell that's coming close to selling out before Saturday afternoon's hypothetical final between those two only.

Same thing in Minneapolis. Without North Dakota, St. Cloud and the other local teams, after the first year when people do it out of habit, I imagine a lot more Gopher fans will just walk up to the ticket booth day of and get the Minnesota games only since outside of Wisconsin, there's no other fanbase that's going put ticket pressure up.

[Almington]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

My gut tells me you are correct, but that it's close. I thought I'd take the time to analyze.


Over the last 8-10 years, some interesting things come about. Minnesota outdraws UND in play-in games by around 2,000 fans/game. This has been a Thursday game, so that tells me not as many UND fans travel if it's not on the weekend. In semifinal and final games, the average attendance is only a few hundred more/game in Minnesota games vs. UND games. The stats were padded by a one game where UND drew over 19K. Normally, it's close to 1,000/game--but remember that Minnesota has the advantage of almost always (if not always) playing in the night game--which is generally more well attended. My feeling is that the Minnesota games are a little more attended, but there's no question that UND has been a major draw for the Final Five. Minnesota has been the 1a draw--while UND has been the 1b draw.

Remember that you are talking about tickets sold, not tickets used. You'd really need to know what the count is on tickets used to get an accurate measure.

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

My gut tells me you are correct, but that it's close. I thought I'd take the time to analyze.


Over the last 8-10 years, some interesting things come about. Minnesota outdraws UND in play-in games by around 2,000 fans/game. This has been a Thursday game, so that tells me not as many UND fans travel if it's not on the weekend. In semifinal and final games, the average attendance is only a few hundred more/game in Minnesota games vs. UND games. The stats were padded by a one game where UND drew over 19K. Normally, it's close to 1,000/game--but remember that Minnesota has the advantage of almost always (if not always) playing in the night game--which is generally more well attended. My feeling is that the Minnesota games are a little more attended, but there's no question that UND has been a major draw for the Final Five. Minnesota has been the 1a draw--while UND has been the 1b draw.

I understand your point, but there are other factors in play... Economy might have hurt more or less from year to year, the other opponents are going to make "some" influence (maybe even whether Gopher fans really dislike one team and wanna see the Gophers play them), what else is going on. I agree... I think the Gophers outdraw UND but not by nearly as much as you'd think considering the #s of alum and proximity of campuses.

[TheEagle]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

I understand your point, but there are other factors in play... Economy might have hurt more or less from year to year, the other opponents are going to make "some" influence (maybe even whether Gopher fans really dislike one team and wanna see the Gophers play them), what else is going on. I agree... I think the Gophers outdraw UND but not by nearly as much as you'd think considering the #s of alum and proximity of campuses.

I think if anything, the schedule slightly favored Minnesota. Outside of UND, the Gophers played UMD, SCSU, Wisconsin twice, CC twice, and Denver. So, two of their 7 games vs. Wisconsin (four of their seven games vs. UMD, SCSU, and Wisconsin). The Wisconsin games were huge draws. (As were the UND games). Outside of Minnesota, UND played UMD, SCSU four times, Wisconsin twice, Denver five times, CC two times, and UAA. So, eight of their 16 games vs. UAA, Denver, and CC. And Wisconsin just twice out of 16 games. Not much of a difference, so I don't think who they played favored either team much. I do think almost always (if not always) playing the night game favored Minnesota a bit.

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Big Ten officially announces tournament sites

I think if anything, the schedule slightly favored Minnesota. Outside of UND, the Gophers played UMD, SCSU, Wisconsin twice, CC twice, and Denver. So, two of their 7 games vs. Wisconsin (four of their seven games vs. UMD, SCSU, and Wisconsin). The Wisconsin games were huge draws. (As were the UND games). Outside of Minnesota, UND played UMD, SCSU four times, Wisconsin twice, Denver five times, CC two times, and UAA. So, eight of their 16 games vs. UAA, Denver, and CC. And Wisconsin just twice out of 16 games. Not much of a difference, so I don't think who they played favored either team much. I do think almost always (if not always) playing the night game favored Minnesota a bit.

I'll concede that, but UND playing in the Championship game so many times helped too, both from a "let's go see a championship game" vs. a semi/quarter final standpoint and a Sat vs. Thur or Fri