All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

[Bagman]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

I am glad they get to play on Long Island, gives Coach T a chance to showcase the Pios. Maybe he stays a couple of days and knocks on some doors.

[vizoroo]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

Where was I May 5th?
Trying to recover from one of my "geeky" friends helping me clean up the clutter on my computer. Finally recovered so I can access all the websites that I could before.

But I digress. Mike Chambers had 2 posts that day. Speculation on DU's 2010-2011 Captain. And info on Wrenn's surgery. Hopefully he will recover as well as Martin did.

Who will wear the C? Chambers suggests Martin, Ostrow, Nutini will have letters. And how about Wrenn as he has experience--leading the U-18 to a gold? Would think Ostrow would be the favorite as he had the A last year. Nutini would return the C to the D-Corps. And your guess...

Sorry, Dmann, no mention of Ryder.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2...0-11-captains/

[Pablo]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

In George's defense 9 DU players went under the knife as soon as the season ended so he was coaching a team that was hurting, some pretty badly. Despite the last couple games of the season DU had a great run.

True dat. I'm just looking at Gwoz's body of work since 05, which has included some losses to lower seeds and early exits. I didn't mean to downplay the injuries, and winning the MacNaughton was an awesome accomplishment that the team should be very proud of.

[Old Pio]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

What is the revenue potential of men's LAX? If Barton becomes SRO all the time, can the team break even, or perhaps show a profit?

[dggoddard]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

What is the revenue potential of men's LAX? If Barton becomes SRO all the time, can the team break even, or perhaps show a profit?

With a seating capacity of 2,000 and figuring on 8 home games at $15 per ticket comes out to $240,000. In other words, attendance only covers Coach T's salary. By my rough calculations, DU would need to draw around 10,000 per game to start making money.

Now if DU can get Hopkins to come out to Colorado and they manage to attract 50,000 to Mile High, then you've really got something ($750,000). That's obviously not going to happen overnight, but that is what DU needs to be working towards. DU needs to partner up with an experienced "event planning" company to host a game like that.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

With a seating capacity of 2,000 and figuring on 8 home games at $15 per ticket comes out to $240,000. In other words, attendance only covers Coach T's salary. By my rough calculations, DU would need to draw around 10,000 per game to start making money.

Now if DU can get Hopkins to come out to Colorado and they manage to attract 50,000 to Mile High, then you've really got something ($750,000). That's obviously not going to happen overnight, but that is what DU needs to be working towards. DU needs to partner up with an experienced "event planning" company to host a game like that.

DU drew 1,046 this year at home with bad schedule, and next year, that will be closer to 1,500 to 2,000 per game, IMHO.

Lax attendence:
Syracuse drew an average of 4,600 this year in the Carrier Dome
Virginia drew an average of 2,375 this year
Maryland drew an average of 3,346 this year

We still have a ways to go to fill Barton for each game, but that will happen soon, and DU will need to think about adding more seats there. But even if DU gets to a 3,000 average (adding 1,000 temporary bleacher seats), we're still looking at$400,000 in top end revenue on campus, which still doesn't cover expenses. (Im adding in some sponsor money and club seating to the gate revenue)

Long term, they should be drawing up plans to expand Barton to 8,000 or so by adding a grandstand on the North Side, and maybe a second deck on the south side, with some end-zone seating on the West side.

Playing a game a year off campus at Mile High is ok, but id'd rather have 5,000 people jamming a campus facility than rattling around in a 75,000 seat stadium.

[dggoddard]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

Playing a game a year off campus at Mile High is ok, but id'd rather have 5,000 people jamming a campus facility than rattling around in a 75,000 seat stadium.

As I understand it several high schools in Denver outdraw DU lacrosse, so DU needs to start getting serious about the marketing.

DU has been drawing a more upscale audience than they get for hockey. If I was to stereo-type the crowd I'd say eastern educated, Cherry Creek resident, 1 european car/ 1 SUV, Whole Food shoppers.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

As I understand it several high schools in Denver outdraw DU lacrosse, so DU needs to start getting serious about the marketing.

DU has been drawing a more upscale audience than they get for hockey. If I was to stereo-type the crowd I'd say eastern educated, Cherry Creek resident, 1 european car/ 1 SUV, Whole Food shoppers.

I agree, they need to market more. Some high schools may outdraw us, but they aren't charging $15 each, either. Since Dave Madson is no longer there, I am not sure who is really doing the marketing. Jon Boos seems like a good guy for sponsorship and radio deals, and Angel Field does the game promotions, but I am not sure who is driving the bus on external marketing.

Frankly, DU did dump a bunch of money into marketing around Denver in mid-decade, but I'm not sure that got much ROI.

If it were up to me, I'd be looking at extensive group marketing and more social media stuff to get the right mix.

[byualum]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

Playing a game a year off campus at Mile High is ok, but id'd rather have 5,000 people jamming a campus facility than rattling around in a 75,000 seat stadium.

They'd be better off playing out at Dick's. CU/CSU finally moved away from Invesco and played at Dick's this spring. Had a much "fuller" feel to it...drew over 3,000 for a "club" game.

Attendence at DU lacrosse has always been impacted by one simple thing...youth lacrosse games on Saturdays. DU plays a handful of Friday night games and a few Sunday games, but drawing large crowds on Saturday afternoon will always be hard. We've got 370 kids playing lacrosse in Parker alone. But after a double-header where we play in Arvada and then in Parker, I'm not interested in heading up to Barton for a DU game.

DU has a very tough draw, not helped by the fact it's a home game for SBU. SBU has two dyanmite Canadian juniors in Jordan McBride and Kevin Crowley. If DU can limit their chances, they should have a pretty good chance. They've been much better offensively over the past month.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

They'd be better off playing out at Dick's. CU/CSU finally moved away from Invesco and played at Dick's this spring. Had a much "fuller" feel to it...drew over 3,000 for a "club" game.

Attendence at DU lacrosse has always been impacted by one simple thing...youth lacrosse games on Saturdays. DU plays a handful of Friday night games and a few Sunday games, but drawing large crowds on Saturday afternoon will always be hard. We've got 370 kids playing lacrosse in Parker alone. But after a double-header where we play in Arvada and then in Parker, I'm not interested in heading up to Barton for a DU game.

Broncos and Outlaws owner Pat Bowlen is on the DU Board, and was a big factor in the Tierney hiring, so I can't see DU bypassing Mile-High and heading for Dick's Sporting Good Park anytime soon for those larger games. Maybe DU needs to look into 5 pm or 6 pm starts for Saturday Night Games to get more kids in the place. They could also look into playing across the highway at the DPS Stadium for big game that would overstuff Barton (5-6K?).

[dggoddard]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

The thing we have to remember about Lacrosse and all DU sports for that matter is that it only takes a few extra students to decide to come to DU to make it all pay for itself.

Take Lax for example. What was it worth to DU for a front page article in the sports section of the NY Times about Coach Tierney? Say five students or parents read the article and decided to throw DU into their mix of college applications. 5 extra full paying students at $50,000 per year equals $1 Million to DU's revenue over four years. Probably more than enough to pay for the Lax program for one season.

DU has always drawn students from Minnesota & Boston, probably in part due to the hockey program's exposure. The thing about Lacrosse is that its geographic footprint is so much wider. Its possible that DU could draw students from private schools in the East, South and West.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy!

The thing we have to remember about Lacrosse and all DU sports for that matter is that it only takes a few extra students to decide to come to DU to make it all pay for itself.

Take Lax for example. What was it worth to DU for a front page article in the sports section of the NY Times about Coach Tierney? Say five students or parents read the article and decided to throw DU into their mix of college applications. 5 extra full paying students at $50,000 per year equals $1 Million to DU's revenue over four years. Probably more than enough to pay for the Lax program for one season.

Very true.

NCAA Lacrosse only allows 12.6 scholarships and there are 41 or 42 players are on DU's roster. Since lax draws it's players mosty from upper income areas, I can assure you that most of the DU kids families are paying most of the tab to go to school here. Thus, DU is getting some full-pay athletes that otherwise might not have attended.

Plus, there may be other non-playing prospective students who will put DU into the mix because lacrosse has carries a 'cultural cachet' that is appealing to many upper income students and families.

[Dmann]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy

All of this is very interesting and I know that the title of the thread is "All things....", but can we please for the love of God get back to talking about hockey? I'll give you a topic (said with thick New York accent):

1- Who will be the Captains?
2- Who are we really excited to see next year among the Freshmen?
3- Who is going to be the most pleasant surprise among the returning players?
4- Can we finally be at peace with last season now that we know the extent of the injuries?
5- What was that Gwoz thing with OSU? And what would happen if Minn or Michigan decided they needed a new coach?
Talk amongst yourselves!!

[Puck Swami]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy

All of this is very interesting and I know that the title of the thread is "All things....", but can we please for the love of God get back to talking about hockey? I'll give you a topic (said with thick New York accent):

1- Who will be the Captains?
2- Who are we really excited to see next year among the Freshmen?
3- Who is going to be the most pleasant surprise among the returning players?
4- Can we finally be at peace with last season now that we know the extent of the injuries?
5- What was that Gwoz thing with OSU? And what would happen if Minn or Michigan decided they needed a new coach?
Talk amongst yourselves!!

1. Most likely Ostrow, Martin and Wrenn. We'll know within 2 weeks.
2. Bennett, Zucker and Brittan. All of them will crucial for DU next year.
3. Dusty Jackson. We missed his big body last year banging up front.
4. I don't think so. Playoff underachievement is a serious concern.
5. Gwoz likely went to Columbus as "consultant" but likely ostensibly to send a warning shot across DU's bow to leverage a better contract from DU, which I hope they are working on now. Gwoz is a great coach, but if he ever did leave DU, the DU job is one of the top 5-10 college jobs in the country, and they would be able to attract some excellent candidates from all over the hockey world to fill it. Michigan is the likely next big open job. I'd expect them to hire Mel Pearson to fill it. He's been Red's assistant forever. Lucia will have a good year at Minnesota, and will be there for a while longer.

[Old Pio]

Re: All things Denver XXVII: From Boonetown to Motown - It's not a Ford, it's a Chevy

1. Most likely Ostrow, Martin and Wrenn. We'll know within 2 weeks.
2. Bennett, Zucker and Brittan. All of them will crucial for DU next year.
3. Dusty Jackson. We missed his big body last year banging up front.
4. I don't think so. Playoff underachievement is a serious concern.
5. Gwoz likely went to Columbus as "consultant" but likely ostensibly to send a warning shot across DU's bow to leverage a better contract from DU, which I hope they are working on now. Gwoz is a great coach, but if he ever did leave DU, the DU job is one of the top 5-10 college jobs in the country, and they would be able to attract some excellent candidates from all over the hockey world to fill it. Michigan is the likely next big open job. I'd expect them to hire Mel Pearson to fill it. He's been Red's assistant forever. Lucia will have a good year at Minnesota, and will be there for a while longer.

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