Re: Annual thread in which the absurdity of the current regional system is discussed
I always like to relate the following if anyone does not believe that attendance figures are often a figment of someone's imagination. My cousin is a newspaper sportswriter. Once while covering a mid-major men's college basketball game played before a crowd that may have numbered 200 people, (in a modern building that seats 11,500 officially for basketball) he overheard a conversation between the school's Sports Information Director and a subordinate. The subordinate asked what the attendance was for the official boxscore. The SID, seeing the reality was as pitiful as it appeared to be, said "just make something up, say there were around 1500."
My reference to unused comp tickets being included in the attendance total is also a "fly on the wall" story. I've had conversations with people from a number of campuses, and have come to believe this sort of thing is pretty common.
How might that apply to the regionals? Suppose lots of tickets are genuinely distributed to corporate friends & sponsors, but go mostly unused. If that's what's going on, there's some integrity involved because sponsor $$ are actually in the till. Trouble is, no-shows do nothing to enhance the event itself. (Note that this one is pure guesswork.)
The availability of the Schottenstein is the big question.
I can understand why someone from out-of-state would think that, based on the comments on this board. But it really isn't true in the case of the regionals. The much maligned high school tournaments take over the Schott for the three weekends that correspond to the hockey conference tournaments. The high school stuff is over now. With a year or more of lead time and guaranteed games, availability isn't the issue. Keep reading...
If OSU bid to host and there were no other "viable" sites bidding, I suppose they could host one on-campus. Of course nothing would prevent them from hosting using Nationwide Arena and obviously they'd have a home crowd advantage there too. It's also a nicer hockey venue. I bet if they build up a good run of nationally contending teams -- which I'm betting they do as long as the current coach is there -- you will see OSU hosting at some point.
The believable scenario, for me, starts with getting the long awaited hockey-only building. From there, the NCAA grants a "new building waiver" and allows a campus site. Depending on who you talk to, the hoped-for venue capacity "should" range from 5,000 - 10,000. Then let's say the feared turnout level materializes, and we've got 1,800 fans in the building. (Meaning we get unlucky, and the Buckeyes don't qualify that year.) That's a problem, both financially and for the program's reputation. But it would fit in with the results from elsewhere in the Midwest. We could weather that storm.
But what about 1,800 fans in an 18,000 seat NHL venue? You're talking about a worst-ever regional, in a world where the bar is already extremely low. A horrific embarrassment for the University. Much worse than just losing some cash. I want no part of it.
Hockeybuckeye is one of the very best OSU fans. I do feel a little badly about disagreeing with him on this. But the arena options currently available in Central Ohio are either too big or too small. I also highly doubt that our fanbase would travel well enough to be a "host team crowd" in another part of Ohio. A significant percentage of our crowd consists of young families & others looking for affordable sports entertainment -- not opportunities to travel.
Bottom Line? With the current NCAA regional format and facility constraints, OSU would be playing against a hopelessly stacked deck. I say the smart money stays on the sidelines.
