What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Attendance at Regionals

Re: Attendance at Regionals

I'm with shirtless on this one. The east doesn't need much change, so I guess I don't see why all the complaining, Bridgeport is fine, but Providence was fine too.
I really like games in Toledo, the rink is nice, and it's not that far to go from Detroit or Cleveland. But when you set it up to fail with crazy start times that only an unemployed guy can go to, how can you complain. Change the times and lower the prices. geesh!
But If the attendance is going to be bad anyway, you might at well have bracket integrity.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

With the arenas usually within a couple of hours of each other in the east, should they consider doing one sight on Friday, one sight on Saturday and then have both finals at the Saturday sight on Sunday?
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Priceless said:
I always love it when a guy from San Diego says the guy from Brunswick, Maine has something against the state. One of us lives here, one of us lives about as far away as possible while staying in the continental United States. Which person has something against Maine? :p

The answer to your question is no. No one has put in a bid (Bangor still lacks an arena that meets NCAA specifications to host) and I don't think Portland cares to risk it. The Civic Center ekes out a profit as it is without gambling on an NCAA hockey regional.
Click to expand...

I'm from Albion, Maine, dummy.

Yeah..........Bangor only has a new $65 million arena with luxury boxes, plush seats, tons of meeting facilities and an industrial kitchen.........and Portland is spending $30+ million on Civic Center renovations. I'm sure that both cities are spending all of this money for business as usual.:rolleyes:
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

chickod said:
Afraid? We've spent a week on this thread talking about poor attendance. Look at the numbers. There are only 1.3 million people in the ENTIRE STATE of Maine, and most of them are south of Augusta. Just who is going to go? I'm not driving six hours to see a regional that my team is not in. I don't think too many others are either. Just look at Providence, a "hotbed" of hockey as it was described on this thread. You had two teams with virtually no support (Canisius), two with moderate support (Union and Quinnipiac) and a fourth with, shall we say, "disappointing" support (BC). BC is 40 miles from Providence. Just who is going to go to these games????? Nobody is knocking Maine, but it becomes an issue of proximity. We just talked about the same problem in the West, so why do we want to create a similar scenario in the East, where we have enough schools in a more densely-populated area to insure good attendance?

I'm not "afraid" of it being successful. My point is I don't think it WILL be successful. Now I assume you're talking about Bangor (because the new facility was mentioned). If you're talking about Portland, that would be a different story...
Click to expand...

I'm talking about both. Population has nothing to do with it. We're not trying to fill 1.3 million capacity arenas. There are a ton of college hockey fans in Eastern and Central Maine. Portland is less than 2.5 hours from Bangor by the way.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

sandiegoblkbr said:
I'm from Albion, Maine, dummy.

Yeah..........Bangor only has a new $65 million arena with luxury boxes, plush seats, tons of meeting facilities and an industrial kitchen.........and Portland is spending $30+ million on Civic Center renovations. I'm sure that both cities are spending all of this money for business as usual.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

sandiegoblkbr said:
I'm talking about both. Population has nothing to do with it. We're not trying to fill 1.3 million capacity arenas. There are a ton of college hockey fans in Eastern and Central Maine. Portland is less than 2.5 hours from Bangor by the way.
Click to expand...

I think Portland would have a better chance at success than Bangor. Closer to the cluster of Hockey East schools and a "cooler" town for those who did want to stay overnight. I'd be all for Portland.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

ericredaxe said:
I think Portland would have a better chance at success than Bangor. Closer to the cluster of Hockey East schools and a "cooler" town for those who did want to stay overnight. I'd be all for Portland.
Click to expand...

I think that both locations would sellout. No doubt Portland would have the better "cool" factor with more things to do outside of the arena. Both places would certainly match the Dunkin Donuts Center (Providence) attendance of 6K and 5K this year.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Portland would draw well from Mass, Bangor wouldn't. If Maine was in either Bangor or Portland, guarantee sold out. Does Bangor's new arena even have ice? I thought they said it wasn't worth the extra money? I know its going to be a nice place but I haven't heard any mention of ice since planning stages
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

walrus said:
Does Bangor's new arena even have ice? I thought they said it wasn't worth the extra money? I know its going to be a nice place but I haven't heard any mention of ice since planning stages
Click to expand...

You just hate Maine! They don't need ice to play hockey! You're afraid a Bangor regional would be a success!
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Priceless said:
You just hate Maine! They don't need ice to play hockey! You're afraid a Bangor regional would be a success!
Click to expand...

No doubt that capacity (5.5K) and no in-house ice making capability make Bangor a non-starter. That doesn't mean it couldn't have been a successful NCAA regional location though. This whole "Maine doesn't have the population or interest" to sell 6K tickets to an NCAA regional is just plain silly.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

walrus said:
Does Bangor's new arena even have ice? I thought they said it wasn't worth the extra money?
Click to expand...

Well that would put a damper on the whole Bangor idea.

If they are doing reno's to Portland that would be a good one to get in the mix.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

johnk said:
With the arenas usually within a couple of hours of each other in the east, should they consider doing one sight on Friday, one sight on Saturday and then have both finals at the Saturday sight on Sunday?
Click to expand...

But that would mess up the "package" ticket sales. If you buy a two-day package, it's for two days at the SAME sight. You can't take one of the finals out and move it to the other sight. ??? I think that's what you're saying, right?
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

chickod said:
100% agreed.
Click to expand...

100% agreed with your 100% agreement.:)

We can argue again if you try to put the Minneapolis regional at Mariucci.;)

And do you realize that if the St. Paul regional is at the Xcel Center, there would probably be a lot of empty seats, with only the lower bowl open?
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

sandiegoblkbr said:
Population has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...

How can population have "nothing to do with it?" The reason why you get good attendance in Manchester, Providence and Worcester is because there is a LARGE POPULATION within an hour of these locations. There is not a LARGE POPULATION within an hour of Bangor. Unless the percentage of "Maine" hockey fans is three times higher than anywhere else in the country. So what you're saying is, say, 40% of the population in Penobscot County (population: 153,786) will go to the games, whereas only 1% of the population in Eastern Massachusetts (population: about 4,000,000), Southern New Hampshire (population: around 800,000) and Rhode Island (population: 1,050,292) will go to the games down there (the percentages are hypothetical - you get the point).
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

chickod said:
But that would mess up the "package" ticket sales. If you buy a two-day package, it's for two days at the SAME sight. You can't take one of the finals out and move it to the other sight. ??? I think that's what you're saying, right?
Click to expand...

That's what I am saying and it will only mess it up for one sight. The other sight could still sell 2 day packages but they shouldn't make that manditory until the day before the games anyways!
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

sandiegoblkbr said:
No doubt that capacity (5.5K) and no in-house ice making capability make Bangor a non-starter. That doesn't mean it couldn't have been a successful NCAA regional location though. This whole "Maine doesn't have the population or interest" to sell 6K tickets to an NCAA regional is just plain silly.
Click to expand...

Uhhh... YES IT DOES! It's too small, it's 4 hours away from the nearest other D1 hockey team and it has NO ICE!! Maine only sells 4100 tickets to it's own games, you think those people are going to spend 3 or 4 times the money to watch teams from out of state play? I have no axe to grind against you or Maine but watching you make a fool of yourself is getting painful! Please. Stop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top