NCAA is Missing the Boat

[Siouxper Kev]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I was at Xcel for both days and there's no way there was 7K in that building. Real sad considering SCSU and UW were both there. What more do you want Huskie fans? An hour away and you cant represent? Same goes for Bucky? There is no excuse. The NCAA handed you a gift and both you blow it off. Pathetic.

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I have to agree with all that has been espoused in this thread about this past weekend's NCAA regionals. I was at all three (3) games this weekend in Worcester and the atmosphere could best be described as languid. No energy, no buzz, and the place was as "quiet as a church mouse" during both of Saturday's games.

And to think what Fort Wayne and Albany were like...

The 2 Regionals thread hit upon a lot of these issues already. They either need to go to 2 sites, bring it to campus sites, etc. -- lowering the ticket cost might help, but it's certainly not the only issue IMO. 4 sites does not seem to be working, and it's been a problem for years -- you can't just say "it's the economy stupid" because it's an on-going issue.

[ganzhimself]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I didn't go to the regional in St. Paul this year, but did attend the '06 regional in Green Bay and the '08 regional in Madison. The biggest problem I have with the regionals is that the NCAA sanitizes the venues so much. In '06 at least three of the schools had their bands there and they got to play a little bit, but during the long TV timeout pauses we had to watch NCAA commercials on the scoreboard rather than enjoy the bands. I mean, c'mon, we know we're at an NCAA event, we don't need to watch every NCAA TV spot that's been made in the past decade. We get it. If they're going to have a break in the action and not let the bands fill-in, show us highlights from the other games. My other gripe was in Madison in '08 you weren't allowed to leave and re-enter between the games on Saturday. With so much being within close proximity to the Kohl, there were a lot of options for food and beverage that were eliminated because the re-entry rule. The same sanitized atomsphere killed the Kohl Center experience, and the place was pretty empty both nights. Ticket prices were $40 per session, and were going for cheaper on the street, but the ticket prices had to be a big factor in turning away a lot of people. So, what I'm saying is this... Drop the ticket prices, doing so will allow more students to attend, that will in turn liven up the atmosphere, as the student section is almost always the heart-and-soul of the crowd. Also, allow the things that make college hockey college hockey, like letting the bands play... Piped in music and commercials ruin the atmosphere.

[rvd5star69]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

bad spring break timing is also to blame for students i think.

[RedFreak]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I was at Xcel for both days and there's no way there was 7K in that building. Real sad considering SCSU and UW were both there. What more do you want Huskie fans? An hour away and you cant represent? Same goes for Bucky? There is no excuse. The NCAA handed you a gift and both you blow it off. Pathetic.

You can't compare the Wisconsin and St. Cloud situations. We had just dropped well over $1k the weekend before at the Final Five. Can't turn around and do it again the next weekend, much as we would have liked to. St. Cloud on the other hand could go to the games and sleep in their own beds at the end of the day.

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

Plain and simple. Get some cheaper ticket options and attendance will go up, more students will be there, and the atmosphere will be much much better.

I don't know about the other regionals, but RIT students got into Albany for $20 as opposed to the general public for $46. But they were sent out right after their team's game on Friday.

[LynahFan]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

It's somewhat funny to me that so many are suggesting bringing regionals to a school's home rink. This has happened numerous times in the past for the west and midwest regionals, and is always met with heavy criticism from the visiting schools. So now the NCAA has said it won't ever happen again, and everybody wants to go back to it

Most of the suggestions I've seen have been to let the higher seeds host, rather than the lame pseudo-neutral site process in the past. The complaints have generally been regarding higher seeds having to go play in an opponent's barn; if the higher seed automatically hosts, that concern goes away. It's still an advantage, but at least the team earned it with a higher seed.

[burgie12]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I don't know about the other regionals, but RIT students got into Albany for $20 as opposed to the general public for $46. But they were sent out right after their team's game on Friday.

Those tickets were subsidized by the school. Assuming that only students picked up the entire allotment of 400 (no alums), RIT paid the ($46 - $20) * 400 * 2 = $20,800 to give the students the cheap tickets to Albany.

Now, that's great for a team making its first appearance. But, can you imagine Michigan paying 21k a year for each of their 20 consecutive appearances so that 1.53% of their undergrads (400 of 26,208) could attend a regional?

Personally, I think the NCAA should offer multiple ticket price brackets. At Albany, there was only youth and adult. Some upper level cheap seats, college student discounts, ... all of these things would improve attendance and atmosphere. Albany was absolutely empty and deathly quiet, except for the RIT contingent. Worcester (I was there on Sunday) was more full, but was also suspiciously quiet.

[bigmrg74]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I think one of the problems that happens most years is that spring breaks are happening about this time. My daughter was off this past week and the UW students were heading out for their break on Saturday. That's a lot of bodies who might normally go but aren't available. The NC$$ needs to figure that out. Oh, and if the WCHA insists on having the Final 5 in Minneapolis every year, then the NCAA regional shouldn't be there. There is only so much $$ that people can afford on consecutive weekends, especially these days.

That's my rant.

Another think I think would be better for timing would be to push the start of the regionals back to the weekend of the Final Four in basketball. Figure that weekend there's 3 really huge games going on, instead of 12 of them. Also, then you run into less problems with Women's BB being on ESPN as well, as thats something else that ESPN is required to broadcast as well as per their contract. Moving the regionals Final Four Weekend would mean that ESPN really only has to schedule the 12 Hockey games around 6 basketball games, and really its only 3 of them that weekend because they know **** well nobody that gives a **** about Men's College BB is realistically going to be watching ESPN when the games are on CBS. Then College hockey won't have to deal with late start times like what we had to deal with in Fort Wayne.

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

Another think I think would be better for timing would be to push the start of the regionals back to the weekend of the Final Four in basketball. Figure that weekend there's 3 really huge games going on, instead of 12 of them. Also, then you run into less problems with Women's BB being on ESPN as well, as thats something else that ESPN is required to broadcast as well as per their contract. Moving the regionals Final Four Weekend would mean that ESPN really only has to schedule the 12 Hockey games around 6 basketball games, and really its only 3 of them that weekend because they know **** well nobody that gives a **** about Men's College BB is realistically going to be watching ESPN when the games are on CBS. Then College hockey won't have to deal with late start times like what we had to deal with in Fort Wayne.

Nice idea. Added bonus is that Basketball (or the men's game, i.e. the relevant tournament) is only on Saturday during the final four weekend, so 2 of the 3 days would be solely occupied by hockey.

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

I don't know about the other regionals, but RIT students got into Albany for $20 as opposed to the general public for $46. But they were sent out right after their team's game on Friday.

Those tickets were subsidized by the school. Assuming that only students picked up the entire allotment of 400 (no alums), RIT paid the ($46 - $20) * 400 * 2 = $20,800 to give the students the cheap tickets to Albany.

Now, that's great for a team making its first appearance. But, can you imagine Michigan paying 21k a year for each of their 20 consecutive appearances so that 1.53% of their undergrads (400 of 26,208) could attend a regional?

Personally, I think the NCAA should offer multiple ticket price brackets. At Albany, there was only youth and adult. Some upper level cheap seats, college student discounts, ... all of these things would improve attendance and atmosphere. Albany was absolutely empty and deathly quiet, except for the RIT contingent. Worcester (I was there on Sunday) was more full, but was also suspiciously quiet.

Just to add to this line of discussion...

Someone who works in the box office mentioned that they had allotted the two-day package to the schools. RIT was the only one of the four to return them all, and then buy a One-day package (x400) for Friday. After winning on Friday, they quickly bought up that same allotment for Saturday.

According to my source, the RIT fans thus paid (based on the discounted group-rate the TUC then provided RIT) $2 more for the 2 days, but the Denver and Cornell fans who decided not to attend the Saturday game were out $35...


Also, Denver returned 370 of their 400-ticket allotment.

[nbetweennownthen]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

You can't compare the Wisconsin and St. Cloud situations. We had just dropped well over $1k the weekend before at the Final Five. Can't turn around and do it again the next weekend, much as we would have liked to. St. Cloud on the other hand could go to the games and sleep in their own beds at the end of the day.

Bingo. Hit that right on the head. The same thing could be said for the Fort Wayne regional, or any for that matter. When it's played in your backyard, you don't have to go and find hotels for the weekend because games that end at 11pm-midnight isn't a problem.

I know plenty of people that were (maybe mistakenly) holding out for the FF to follow Miami/Michigan/Wisconsin rather than spend the gas/lodging/tickets/meals for what would amount to (some people) 3 out of 4 straight weeks. If you can afford it, kudos to you. I think the vast majority of people, though, are in situations where it's not possible to drop that kind of money 3 out of 4 weeks in a row.

[chapmaja]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

Maybe it is time to look at a format change for host sites

I don't like the idea of 2 8 team regionals. I think 4 regionals can work.

What the NCAA needs to do site selection for regionals the same way they do site selection at the D2 and D3 levels in most sports.

The highest seed in the region hosts. If for some reason that school is not available to host (either at their facility or at another suitable location), then the hosting goes to the 2nd seed ect.

By using host sites you drastically increase the likelihood of larger crowds for at least the first round games, depending on how the host school does.

Would the Ft Wayne regional have attracted more fans if it had been held at Miami rather than at Ft. Wayne?

Yes, allowing the #1 seed to host does give that school an advantage, but it is one that is earned, moreso than the potential home locale advantage RIT had simply because Denver had to fly into the game from 1/2 across the country.


I think if the NCAA looked closely they would likely see that revenue would be better at a host site, or a site choosen by a school.

[blockski]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

Maybe it is time to look at a format change for host sites

I don't like the idea of 2 8 team regionals. I think 4 regionals can work.

What the NCAA needs to do site selection for regionals the same way they do site selection at the D2 and D3 levels in most sports.

The highest seed in the region hosts. If for some reason that school is not available to host (either at their facility or at another suitable location), then the hosting goes to the 2nd seed ect.

By using host sites you drastically increase the likelihood of larger crowds for at least the first round games, depending on how the host school does.

Would the Ft Wayne regional have attracted more fans if it had been held at Miami rather than at Ft. Wayne?

Yes, allowing the #1 seed to host does give that school an advantage, but it is one that is earned, moreso than the potential home locale advantage RIT had simply because Denver had to fly into the game from 1/2 across the country.


I think if the NCAA looked closely they would likely see that revenue would be better at a host site, or a site choosen by a school.

Doing this would require a census of all D-1 arenas to determine a) which ones are capable of hosting a 4-team regional and meeting minimum requirements (capacity, lockerrooms, video review, TV hosting, etc), and b) which ones can hold open the dates as potential hosts, and c) have the necessary amenities as a host city (hotel rooms, travel access, etc.)

I'd suspect that b) is the tricky part, even for schools that control their own arenas - I know Wisconsin will end up hosting high school State tournaments and things of that nature... I'm sure there are some other schools that would also have off-campus arenas that would meet those requirements if their home rink does not, but again, holding those dates would be a problem - the arena is going to want to rent those out for certain money rather than hold them on the chance that the hockey team might get to host an event...

[Hammer]

Re: NCAA is Missing the Boat

Would the Ft Wayne regional have attracted more fans if it had been held at Miami rather than at Ft. Wayne?

No. Miami's arena has a listed capacity on this website of 3,200. Bemidji, the #2 seed, holds 2,500. By your logic, the Ft. Wayne regional would have been held at Yost, the home of the #3 seed. The lower seed would have been hosting a first round playoff game.

I think you're creating a bigger mess than the one you're trying to clean up.