Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

[chickod]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

I'm pretty sure if they were given a few years notice that the consolation game was being eliminated they could easily find another game for future schedules. The consolation game positively blows.

But how can you do that? If you win you are in the championship game. If you lose, what, you go and try to "find" a game? You don't KNOW in advance if you're going to be in the consolation game, and by the time you do, there's no way to "pick up" another game.

EDIT: Sorry...I responded right after reading your post and didn't look further down...

 

[chickod]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Huh? I'm saying you tell the 4 teams that in 2023 the consolation game is being eliminated. That gives teams a few years to make sure their future schedules are in order.

Yeah, but that still leaves TWO teams with a game to fill. The two winners don't have to. How is telling them "in advance" going to help? You can't schedule an "extra" game until you know that you aren't going to make the finals, which you won't know until you play.

EDIT: Ditto

 

[TheRevengeance]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Moving it a week back is a bad idea right now because the NFL is eventually going to end up with an 18 game regular season complete with an undetermined number of byes and other things. Let that shake our first and see where the Super Bowl falls before making adjustments.

 

[kdiff77]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Regarding opening night, there's been a precipitous drop-off since 2013. Interesting to note a direct correlation between the attendance drop-off with Jack Parker's retirement from BU following the 2013 season. Not coincidentally, BU's home attendance has also dipped, precipitously so in the last 2 seasons. Is the decline in the BU fan base a factor behind declining attendance since 2013, and the steep decline the last 2 years?

As for the championship game, 2015 was rescheduled 2 weeks b/c of the snowstorms. Last year's sellout was largely fueled by the surge in NU fans.

This is a good point. BU attendance has dipped considerably since 2013. Last year's crowd was probably 80% NU fans (or neutrals rooting for NU). The BU students used to fill 5 or 6 sections in the upper deck; now, it's 2 or 3. I wasn't there this past Monday, but it didn't seem like they had a big turnout on TV. Even BU's lower bowl crowd seems to have depreciated considerably; if you watch old Beanpot highlights, their sections are pretty packed with folks wearing red. Now, they're half-full.

BC fans have had the same problems, by the way, but it's been a much more recent trend. As recently as 2016 they were still packing their student sections and lower bowl seats. But the past two years have been bleak. Intrigued to see what their turnout is like next week.

 

[tape]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Moving it a week back is a bad idea right now because the NFL is eventually going to end up with an 18 game regular season complete with an undetermined number of byes and other things.

That 18 game season is going to come at the cost of 2 of the preseason games, and those games are going to be when the preseason games were going to be. i.e. the end of the NFL season is unlikely to change.

 

[tape]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

NM, caught myself here. I see what you're saying. I feel like there should be some flexibility in regard to number of games then. The rigidity of the # you can play is the issue then.

They don't HAVE to play 34 games (it's an upper limit), but no team is going to willingly not play that 34th game.

 

[theprofromdover]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

The Beanpot was conceived by Walter Brown, owner of the Celtics and president of the Boston Garden. Neither the NHL or NBA played on Monday’s and he came up with the concept to put some bodies in the seats to generate revenue.

 

[northeastern]

The Beanpot was conceived by Walter Brown, owner of the Celtics and president of the Boston Garden. Neither the NHL or NBA played on Monday’s and he came up with the concept to put some bodies in the seats to generate revenue.

this. long as they get 9-15k fans more or less, plus $$$ spent on concessions, % tv ad rev they could care less about crowd size up or down. Its otherwise some dead Mondays. They dont care what your mortgage is.
I'm sure they have a lowball # to keep the light & ice going, but so far so good.

 

[TheRevengeance]

That 18 game season is going to come at the cost of 2 of the preseason games, and those games are going to be when the preseason games were going to be. i.e. the end of the NFL season is unlikely to change.

The extra bye still has to fit in somewhere if they go to 2, which seems to be under major consideration. Unless they get rid of the pre-Super Bowl bye for it, which I'm sure nobody would miss.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

I think Northeastern finally has God on its side, since coach Jim Madigan is morphing into Rev. Pat Robertson.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

...as long as they get 9-15k fans more or less, plus $$$ spent on concessions, % tv ad rev they could care less about crowd size up or down. Its otherwise some dead Mondays....

Very prescient comment. Those who know about this stuff all tell me that butts in the seats holds significantly less weight in the sports marketing calculus today than it did even five years ago. Now it's all about multiple revenue streams generated from things like advertising, rights fees, parking, concessions, etc. and otherwise finding ways to monetize everything in sight, including online engagement.

So I don't think Garden management is particularly unhappy about a crowd of 12K for the first round. What might give them pause, however, is the fact that most of that crowd was clearly pro-NU, as it was last year. Watching on TV from here in WashDC, the crowd shots showed a much bigger NU student section than BU brought while the BC/H game appears to have been attended only by an intimate gathering of family and friends. If the Harvard/BC/BU crowds don't improve and the bloom comes off the NU rose, the Garden then might have something to worry about.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Plus the husky faithful smuggle in their own concessions after punching out from burger king

 

[chickod]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Very prescient comment. Those who know about this stuff all tell me that butts in the seats holds significantly less weight in the sports marketing calculus today than it did even five years ago.

Yeah, but that's only one factor. They have to consider the "cascading" effect that as attendance declines each year, it also diminishes the incentive to go. I don't want to pay that kind of money to go to a place that's 1/3 full with no atmosphere. So I don't really care about the sports marketing people. If nobody goes, the marketing won't matter (and more importantly, won't MAKE people go). Soon we'll be at the Rollerball (original movie with James Caan) level, where only corporate types attend, the playing area is surrounded by a moat or some other physical barrier, and the "common" person will only be able to watch on TV.

Point being, I think reducing the size of the venue is a LEGITIMATE discussion to have. And if you want to use the word "tradition," well, to me it has never been the same since it left the "old" Garden. (which I know is beating a dead horse, but to me, if I'm going to sit there bored I'm not going - at Hockey East last year three girls sat in front of me - they never ONCE even looked at the ice for five hours - they just talked, took selfies and kept their heads stuck in their phones - that's not an "atmosphere" that I want to attend a game in - where there is no excitement or enthusiasm). Put it in a smaller rink where the excitement is palpable. And for those who said it's "too small," tough. The Garden was "too small" also when the demand was greater than the supply. So create some demand.

 

[Tater]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

I’ve been saying for a few years now to hold the first round at two rotating campus sites. Each school hosts at home every other year. The second round is played at the Garden as it is now.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Put it in a smaller rink where the excitement is palpable. And for those who said it's "too small," tough. The Garden was "too small" also when the demand was greater than the supply. So create some demand.

There's a lot of legitimate points to putting it on campus, however BC and BU are the only viable options in terms of capacity. If it moved to Harvard or Northeastern, if no tickets were made available to the public each school would have ~750 tickets or ~1,100 respectively. Of course, tickets would be made available to the public so those numbers would go down even further. At BU or BC, each school could be given 1K+ and still have some left for the public. The problem is, Northeastern and Harvard would rightly complain that the games are never played on their home ice.

 

[kdiff77]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

I’ve been saying for a few years now to hold the first round at two rotating campus sites. Each school hosts at home every other year. The second round is played at the Garden as it is now.

A fun variation of this could be to have the four teams play on campus for the first round, but nobody is the home team. For example, this year the Harvard-BC game could've been at Matthews or Agganis; the BU-NU game could've been at Conte or Bright. It would keep the true neutral site intact, and it would be kind of cool to see the fanbases take over their rivals' barns for a night. You could probably guarantee a sell-out at each venue.

Then, there's some significant buildup to the Main Event at the Garden the following week, and any students from the winning teams who may have missed out on tickets for one of the smaller venue games may be more likely to make sure they get to the championship. On the flip side, we'd probably see more people wait to find out if their team will make the championship round, since a lot of folks currently buy the all-session pass without thinking too hard about it.

It's not a perfect system, but it's an idea to toss around, anyway.

 

[northeastern]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Plus the husky faithful smuggle in their own concessions after punching out from burger king

..you would know. you're the hooker across the street trying to pry open everyone's wallet $$$

 

[northeastern]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

Anyway, let's have some fun. Let's hold it at Bentley's new arena.. then all schools can riot for tickets outside.

 

[mookie1995]

..you would know. you're the hooker across the street trying to pry open everyone's wallet $$$

High priced at that!

 

[BC/HE]

Re: Beanpot LXVII: It Never Gets Old!

How about a Friday night semifinals on campus and then the championship and consolation on Monday night at the Garden. The consolation would be bigger than now because it would be the chance to play in the Garden since the first night was on campus. Also people would be more willing to buy tickets up front for the finals since it is only one night to purchase.