Attendance

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Attendance

8 hours from Boston to Buffalo? Good lord, what are they driving a 1980 Chevy Chevette? ... Doing 70 mph on a 65 mph highway you can do Boston to Buffalo easily in 6 hours and 15 minutes. Even quicker if you don't mind going faster than that. I think your friends might need to learn how to drive!

Tell Google. I suppose Google is assuming driving the speed limit. But you've just made my case even stronger. Now my friends stand guilty of complaining about a 6.25 hour drive!

Can't speak for pgb, but at my age there's no way I make it to Buffalo without two, maybe three, potty breaks.

I'm with you.

But Saints #1 definitely has a point. On further review, it's more like 7 hours, even with the potty breaks. But when you add a meal break... well, you get the idea.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Attendance

There are. But here’s the difference. There are a billion schools here and none have anywhere near the fan base that North Dakota does. None are capable of selling out the arena by themselves. UND is. That’s the difference.

Spot on.

When a poster make the effort to understand how the "other half lives" and gets it right... well, there's actual hope that things can get better.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Attendance

There are. But here’s the difference. There are a billion schools here and none have anywhere near the fan base that North Dakota does. None are capable of selling out the arena by themselves. UND is. That’s the difference.

UND doesn't really travel. They move once done with college. It's the dirty little secret (no, I don't blame them). The running joke is they move to either Denver or Minneapolis. Flip a coin.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Attendance

One thing I'd like to see is all conferences go to a home ice format for their conference tournaments. You eliminate the travel required for half the fan bases to see their team play the weekend before the NCAAs and that alone may make people more willing to make a drive, spend a night at a hotel and all of the other costs associated with traveling to see your team.

The home ice format works really well for our conference. I'm not going to look up numbers tonight. But the attendance total for the 2018 B1G tournament must have shown a spectacular improvement. 100% thumbs up.

Part of that is due to ND joining, of course. Really glad to have you back in the same conference, btw.

With all that said, I'm going to gently dissent on the idea of pushing our format on other conferences. I'm just going to say to each their own.

My mindset is to try to make the best of all things. But I still can't help but feel that it's really lousy that a regional format poorly suited to the West has been imposed upon us. For better or worse, I don't want to be guilty of the same transgression. Learn from other conference tournaments? Sure. But leave the ultimate decision to the conferences themselves.

 

[chickod]

Re: Attendance

The home ice format works really well for our conference.

Did I miss something here? I thought we were talking about the NCAA regionals. The conference tournaments (as far as I know) are not "directly" under the jurisdiction of the NCAA in the sense that they don't dictate the format, so each conference can do what they want. We were discussing the viability of putting the regionals in NHL arenas and whether they should be moved to smaller venues to reduce cost and at least give the "perception" of a more "full" arena to improve atmosphere. Weren't we????

 

[chickod]

Re: Attendance

UND doesn't really travel. They move once done with college. It's the dirty little secret (no, I don't blame them). The running joke is they move to either Denver or Minneapolis. Flip a coin.

Maybe you're being facetious (you know, we're pretty serious here in the East). I don't think they move to Boston, do they? Because there were quite a few here in 2015.

 

[chickod]

Re: Attendance

Not sure why they never use Springfield? Medium size ala Bridgeport

Frankly, if you're going to do that, have it at the Mullins Center (8,387 capacity for hockey) at UMass Amherst. I know it's an "on campus" site, but it will always be neutral, because UMass isn't going to make the NCAAs.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: Attendance

8 hours from Boston to Buffalo? Good lord, what are they driving a 1980 Chevy Chevette? ... Doing 70 mph on a 65 mph highway you can do Boston to Buffalo easily in 6 hours and 15 minutes. Even quicker if you don't mind going faster than that. I think your friends might need to learn how to drive!

Some of us would rather have our tax dollars put ot good use and not use toll roads.

 

[chickod]

Re: Attendance

Some of us would rather have our tax dollars put ot good use and not use toll roads.

Get an E-Z Pass. Then you won't have to actually "hand" the money to anyone. It will get automatically deducted.

 

[J.D.]

Frankly, if you're going to do that, have it at the Mullins Center (8,387 capacity for hockey) at UMass Amherst. I know it's an "on campus" site, but it will always be neutral, because UMass isn't going to make the NCAAs.

UMass did host a regional once. Forget the year but I think Harvard and UNH were there. Maybe Denver too. Not thinking it was a success as it was a one time deal.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Attendance

Although perhaps that was around the time they did away with on campus sites. Can't remember.

 

[J.D.]

Maybe you're being facetious (you know, we're pretty serious here in the East). I don't think they move to Boston, do they? Because there were quite a few here in 2015.

And they took over MSG last year when they played BC.

 

[chickod]

Re: Attendance

And they took over MSG last year when they played BC.

Even though the Sioux are outnumbered here by the Micmacs and Algonquins. (No wise a** political comments...just a little humor!)

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Attendance

UMass did host a regional once. Forget the year but I think Harvard and UNH were there. Maybe Denver too. Not thinking it was a success as it was a one time deal.

March 26 and 27, 2005, and Bemidji State was the fourth team there and lost to Denver in OT (the Beavers first trip to the D-I Tournament). The pictures just showed up in my Facebook memories page from my trip out there today.

 

[WeAreNDHockey]

Re: Attendance

The home ice format works really well for our conference. I'm not going to look up numbers tonight. But the attendance total for the 2018 B1G tournament must have shown a spectacular improvement. 100% thumbs up.

Part of that is due to ND joining, of course. Really glad to have you back in the same conference, btw.

With all that said, I'm going to gently dissent on the idea of pushing our format on other conferences. I'm just going to say to each their own.

My mindset is to try to make the best of all things. But I still can't help but feel that it's really lousy that a regional format poorly suited to the West has been imposed upon us. For better or worse, I don't want to be guilty of the same transgression. Learn from other conference tournaments? Sure. But leave the ultimate decision to the conferences themselves.

Of course conferences need to decide on their own, I just think if they decided as the B1G and WCHA have done, their fans would see it as an upgrade.

Specifically speaking of attendance, the 2017 B1G tournament drew a total BOXSCORE attendance of 11,789 in Detroit, 8392 for the semi-finals and championship game, and for the final alone it was 5601. In St. Paul in 2016, the totals were 17,886 and 11,603 for the semi-finals and final, with the final attracting 6180. Again it should be noted this was the boxscore attendance, which I suspect was not even the actual tickets sold in Detroit. The "crowds" there were horrible for each game. We know it was of course not the butts in seats for any single session. This season, the B1G semi final games and championship game drew a total of 16,934, with the final game in South bend attracting 5515. The difference being of course, there actually were nearly 17,000 people in the buildings for the final 3 games of the B1G tournament. I was actually shocked when I saw a boxscore listing 6527 in Columbus for the Buckeye's semi-final game, because on TV it looked even more full than that.

I see lots of upside to a home ice format for higher seeds in conference tournaments, and if it helps attendance at regionals by requiring less travel in the weeks preceding for some fans, that's a win-win.

 

[WeAreNDHockey]

Re: Attendance

Did I miss something here? I thought we were talking about the NCAA regionals. The conference tournaments (as far as I know) are not "directly" under the jurisdiction of the NCAA in the sense that they don't dictate the format, so each conference can do what they want. We were discussing the viability of putting the regionals in NHL arenas and whether they should be moved to smaller venues to reduce cost and at least give the "perception" of a more "full" arena to improve atmosphere. Weren't we????

We are, for the most part. I sidetracked it a little bit. I do think attendance at regionals stands to be impacted by what fans have to do in the week before though. If we eliminate travel for half our fans, they may be more ready, willing and able to travel the next week to see their team in a regional, so conference tournament format and attendance still matters to the topic at hand.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Attendance

Lots of empty seats at Worcester,MA for a Regional Championship game. Maybe some other city should host.

Maybe you should stop breathing.

 

[ThePowerConference]

Re: Attendance

From what I've heard and read, Sioux Falls was a great success. It would have probably fared better if North Dakota and the Green Plague would have been there, but it was about 8,000-9,000 both days in an arena that has a capacity of around 10,000. Mankato, St Cloud, North Dakota, and Omaha are all close enough to bid as the host of that site on a regular basis. I hope it goes back there in the coming years because I heard it is a top notch facility too.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Attendance

From what I've heard and read, Sioux Falls was a great success. It would have probably fared better if North Dakota and the Green Plague would have been there, but it was about 8,000-9,000 both days in an arena that has a capacity of around 10,000. Mankato, St Cloud, North Dakota, and Omaha are all close enough to bid as the host of that site on a regular basis. I hope it goes back there in the coming years because I heard it is a top notch facility too.

If it went as well as everyone is saying, might as well reach out to the facility/surrounding schools about making it a permanent home. Even better that there are other schools that could host there and not just UND.

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Attendance

From what I've heard and read, Sioux Falls was a great success. It would have probably fared better if North Dakota and the Green Plague would have been there, but it was about 8,000-9,000 both days in an arena that has a capacity of around 10,000. Mankato, St Cloud, North Dakota, and Omaha are all close enough to bid as the host of that site on a regular basis. I hope it goes back there in the coming years because I heard it is a top notch facility too.

Probably could have even done a little better if the D-II Basketball National Championship wasn't held the same weekend in Sioux Falls. Not sure how many locals got into the Pentagon for the Northern State (Aberdeen, SD) run, but some casual sports fans could have been over there rather than the Premier Center.