Starting D1 Hockey Program

[AMC]

I did a litte reasearch about High Point University in NC and they penned a D1 hockey facility.

HPU ANNOUNCES 10-YEAR GROWTH PLAN, $1 BILLION INVESTMENT

* $300 million in new construction, including a new library, academic building, admissions center and Division I ice hockey facility

Where the heck does a school like High Point get $1 billion?

[Split-N]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

This is the classic College Hockey Fan Talking About Expansion blunder.

You have:
- A gap in the market
- A list of schools in the area

And that’s it. Other than Navy absolutely none of them have had any public inclination to investigate the concept of hockey. No arenas being proposed outside of Navy. No rumors, no feasibility studies, no consultants, nothing. How many of them even have a club team drawing more than a sorority every game?

If I’m making a list of schools with potential (and out of boredom, I have), I’m putting the ones who’ve actually expressed an interest up top, a list of schools with new arenas in the works next, and schools with popular club teams after that. Maybe schools who have gotten involved in hosting neutral sites or NCAA games, or just for kicks think of some that have had long held “rumors”. LIU seems to tell me I should keep a closer eye on news out of Syracuse and Lindenwood, I guess.

At the very end of that list, with a 0-0.5% possibility of ever happening? That’s where I would put the schools that some poster thought “would be successful” purely for geographic or whatever reasons. They can sit there with Texas and the entire SEC and Iowa State and Marquette and Rutgers and Louisville.

I thought I made it abundantly clear in the quoted post and related posts that what I was writing was pure speculation...even a flight of fancy. And just to be sure, added the caveat that nobody should hold their breath waiting for any of this to happen. Last time I looked, this was a fan forum that exists for the purpose of exchanging opinions and stimulating discussion. That's all that was intended. Sorry if your sensibilities were offended.

[4four4]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

Where the heck does a school like High Point get $1 billion?

IKR. Now, if this was U of St. Thomas I wouldn't bat an eye. That school has money galore and I will not be surprised if I see them suiting up a solid D1 hockey program within a few years.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

IKR. Now, if this was U of St. Thomas I wouldn't bat an eye. That school has money galore and I will not be surprised if I see them suiting up a solid D1 hockey program within a few years.

Do you figure they’ll build an arena before long? I’m assuming so, but am still very curious how they manage until then. Target Center? Ritter? Or do they go with some of the high school rinks around town and suffer the sub-2,000 capacity for a while?

[gfmorris]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

Just seems like building a 2,500 seat on campus rink just so it can be on campus is backwards thinking when you look at the Hartford crowds. Is the fear that if they do build a rink in Storrs, crowds wouldn't be as good as in Hartford? Or is 2,500 on the table because it's cheaper?

Could you even get 8,000 people down the road from Hartford to Storrs in time for opening drop?

GFM <-- knows that this isn't a problem for other sports

[Sol Diablo]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

I'm betting on UC Irvine Anteaters..........but not too much money........

"UC Irvine Anteaters
There have long been rumors, even before Arizona State became the first Pac-12 team to adopt an NCAA Division I ice hockey team, that the Pac-12 would be the perfect hockey conference.

However, recent developments make UC Irvine, who competes in the Big West Conference, a theoretically strong contender to be the first California team to field a varsity hockey program. It all has to do with ice access and the cost of running college hockey programs.


In an interview for The New York Times, former USA Hockey Executive Director Dave Ogrean said it outright.

“Obviously, it costs a lot of money,” he said. “That’s why you’re never going to have an explosion in the number of programs.”

(From: ‘College Hockey Has a Talent Glut, but Nowhere to Grow‘ The New York Times – 3/27/17).
From the cost of possibly having to build and operate a hockey arena to funding a corresponding women’s program or another women’s sport as a result of Title IX, starting a hockey program is one of the costlier college sports that an athletic department undertakes.


Offsetting those costs, and even making a profit, is dependent on a lot of things, including how competitive the team is and how easy it is for students and fans to access the games.

An NHL Neighbor
That’s what gives UCI a clear advantage. Though they only recently restarted their club hockey team, UCI has a potential partnership with the newly built Great Park Ice & FivePoint arena.


The arena is a mere nine miles from the UCI campus, can hold 2,500 spectators and has technological features like a video scoreboard that would fit a college program perfectly. That would put it between Ewigleben Arena, home of the Ferris State University hockey team, and Cadet Ice Arena, home of the Air Force Academy hockey team, in terms of spectator capacity.

It is the perfect arena for college hockey.

The arena’s proximity to the campus makes it easier for students to attend games and more likely that the team will bring in ticket revenue. Even though the rink isn’t on campus, a benefit many current NCAA College programs have, it’s not prohibitively far away.

There’s also the option to retrofit the Bren Events Center, UCI’s basketball and volleyball stadium, for ice."

[kingdobbs]

Could you even get 8,000 people down the road from Hartford to Storrs in time for opening drop?

GFM <-- knows that this isn't a problem for other sports

If we made 195 and 44 one way from the interstate all the way down maybe.

[Split-N]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

I'm betting on UC Irvine Anteaters...

If they can make it happen I'd pay good money just to see and anteater mascot on skates. And what about UNLV?

If we made 195 and 44 one way from the interstate all the way down maybe.

Being nitpicky here but you would drive up, not down, from Hartford to Storrs. And you would hopefully be on I-84, not I-95. (Those darn GPS thingys sometimes give some really bad directions.)

[kingdobbs]

If they can make it happen I'd pay good money just to see and anteater mascot on skates. And what about UNLV?



Being nitpicky here but you would drive up, not down, from Hartford to Storrs. And you would hopefully be on I-84, not I-95. (Those darn GPS thingys sometimes give some really bad directions.)

...Didn’t say I-95.

Said 195. As in, the main road running through campus.

[Split-N]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

...Didn’t say I-95.

Said 195. As in, the main road running through campus.

Ooooops. Gotta see the eye doctor.

[4four4]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

Do you figure they’ll build an arena before long? I’m assuming so, but am still very curious how they manage until then. Target Center? Ritter? Or do they go with some of the high school rinks around town and suffer the sub-2,000 capacity for a while?

Currently, they are sharing a facility with St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights which isn't a D1 arena. I bet they start there for a season or two and see what the future will hold.

[MTUHuskies]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

Currently, they are sharing a facility with St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights which isn't a D1 arena. I bet they start there for a season or two and see what the future will hold.

My bet is there will be shovels in the ground within a month of the NCAA's blessing. If not before.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[davyd83]

Do you figure they’ll build an arena before long? I’m assuming so, but am still very curious how they manage until then. Target Center? Ritter? Or do they go with some of the high school rinks around town and suffer the sub-2,000 capacity for a while?

Target Center? Very costly, and you have to take what scraps the TWolves leave. Ridder? You have to work around both the men and women’s teams at Minnesota.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Target Center? Very costly, and you have to take what scraps the TWolves leave. Ridder? You have to work around both the men and women’s teams at Minnesota.

Are the men practicing at Ridder or something?

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Starting D1 Hockey Program

Are the men practicing at Ridder or something?

When they have to prepare for a series on NHL sized ice, they do practice some at Ridder. At least that is what I have heard.