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Big Ten Conference Tournament

Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

Don't compare how things used to be in the WCHA or CCHA to how they will be in the BTHC. Compare how things are currently in the B1G to how they will be in the BTHC. With the exceptions of M/W BBall and now Football, all B1G championships are rotated among the schools. Most are held on campus locations. However, if say OSU is hosting the baseball championships and they want to hold them at the minor league park in Columbus instead of on campus, that's ok. So they could rotate the BTHC Tourney among the 6 schools while they would be able to host at NHL arenas like the X, the JLA or maybe in Milwaukee when its Wisconsins turn. Or they could run it like the BBall and Football championships. Move it to a major league venue and contract for a few years. Consider football. They could hold it at either division champions own stadium and draw more than 65,000 fans. So why play it at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy? 2 reasons; first, it is supposedly a neutral site and centrally located in the B1G. The geographic center of B1G is just north of Purdue, halfway between Indy and Chicago, NOT St. Paul. If you consider just the schools that will play hockey, that moves east, NOT towards St. Paul. Second, is it would be indoors. Weather in the midwest in early December can be.....well, you all know this. There are few indoors stadiums in B1G, and none more neutral or more centrally located than in Indy. So if you are looking for a neutral, central arena, I would say Chicago is about as far west as you would go. And really, any other arena in B1G country won't be considered neutral. As far as hoops go, I don't think any of us would consider Indy neutral if IU or Purdue are there. BUt like I said, Indy and Chicago are as central as you can get.

If they move the B1G tourney to a permanent location, it will be Chicago. Otherwise it will rotate among ALL 6 schools.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

If they wanted to sell the most tickets they would play it indoors at Ford Field.

*gee, that was easy.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

I find it quite ironic that two programs who have had home ice for their conference tournaments are now up in arms about the idea of another program having home ice. I guess in life, you can't make everybody happy and either Minnesota or Michigan will be unhappy each year.

The one fly in the ointment for the big ten tourney at the X would be if the NCHC ended up at Target center the same week. All the Sioux, Bulldog, Huskie fans are across the river. you could end up with two half full arenas.
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There is no way the NCHC plays their conference tournament in the same city as the Big 10. They would essentially be admitting that they see themselves as inferior to the Big 10. The NCHC tournament will be in either Omaha or Denver. Detroit is to far away to be a viable option in my mind. I see Omaha as the favorite because CenturyLink Center does not have any pro teams and therefore has much more availability.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

UMBand said:
At what point do we cut off the constant comparisons to both the Final Five and the CCHA tournament when discussing the BTHC? New conference, different mix of teams, and entirely new geographic realities. Plus a devoted television network by which almost all conference revenue decisions are made. This isn't the small-time, ad-hoc regional isolation we're used to in the WCHA and CCHA. All of us should know by now that's not how the Big 10 operates.
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At what point do we cut off the naive, contrary to the evidence assumption that college hockey is an easy sell at the Joe? Like I previously posted, I want to believe. But my honest opinion is that this would be major uphill battle, not the cakewalk you imagine.

The more I think about it, the BTHC Tournament might be well advised to rotate among campus sites in the early years. As Wol4ine correctly points out, there is precedent for this. If the tournament truly outgrows the campus venues, then moving on to NHL arenas would be a natural.

You keep posting that the TV audience is all-important. If ticket revenue is truly secondary, why not go for the best possible "studio audience?" By that measure, The X > The Joe, while Campus Sites > than either NHL Venue.
 
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Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

pgb-ohio said:
At what point do we cut off the naive, contrary to the evidence assumption that college hockey is an easy sell at the Joe? Like I previously posted, I want to believe. But my honest opinion is that this would be major uphill battle, not the cakewalk you imagine.
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Honestly, I think you can say the same about hosting in St. Paul every year. The crowd for the Final Five has almost NEVER been exclusively a gopher one. I have no doubt that a gopher-only crowd in St. Paul is still more than anything the CCHA tourney ever gets, but it's still worth considering that the BTHC tourney will not have Sioux, Bulldog, Huskie, Maverick, etc. fans to help keep it a sold out/nearly sold out event at St. Paul every year.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

I think they will continue to rotate the tourney between St Paul and Detroit in definately unless one venue shows that it draws significantly better than others.

Those saying that the Big Ten are only interested in TV revenue are wrong. The Big Ten isn't going to get a big revenue bump from broadcasting the Big Ten Hockey Tourney. They are absolutely interested in maximizing the gate revenue. If one venue draws better, that venue will host a majority of the tourneys IMO.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

4four4 said:
You hear that Steve and other PSU fans you will not care about your club because everyone already knows you are a cellar dweller. Not that I disagree but they haven't even suited up yet. In the words of KSTP 1500AM "We don't know that.";)
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Well if that's the case, why are we even bothering? :rolleyes:
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Honestly, I think you can say the same about hosting in St. Paul every year. The crowd for the Final Five has almost NEVER been exclusively a gopher one. I have no doubt that a gopher-only crowd in St. Paul is still more than anything the CCHA tourney ever gets, but it's still worth considering that the BTHC tourney will not have Sioux, Bulldog, Huskie, Maverick, etc. fans to help keep it a sold out/nearly sold out event at St. Paul every year.
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Fair point. That's part of what I had in mind in Post #325 when I argued that the campus sites might be preferable to either NHL Building. I do stand by my observation that the X has a stronger track record with college tournaments in comparison with the Joe. But it's by no means obvious that the BTHC has to start out with an NHL Building right away in Year One.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

It's Maverick Hockey Time said:
I find it quite ironic that two programs who have had home ice for their conference tournaments are now up in arms about the idea of another program having home ice. I guess in life, you can't make everybody happy and either Minnesota or Michigan will be unhappy each year.

There is no way the NCHC plays their conference tournament in the same city as the Big 10. They would essentially be admitting that they see themselves as inferior to the Big 10. The NCHC tournament will be in either Omaha or Denver. Detroit is too far away to be a viable option in my mind. I see Omaha as the favorite because CenturyLink Center does not have any pro teams and therefore has much more availability.
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I have posted elsewhere the same thing, that Omaha or maybe Denver make the most sense for the NCHC. And, you are also right that there is no way the NCHC is going to have it's conference tournament in the same city as the Big 10 tourney and the NCHC should not have it's tournament in the Twin Cities, anyway, just on general principles. It's the home of a Big 10 school and one the instigators of the whole "problem" in the first place. As for me, as far as the NCHC tourney is concerned, the Twin Cities can go jump in one of those 10,000 lakes.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

Red Cows said:
I have posted elsewhere the same thing, that Omaha or maybe Denver make the most sense for the NCHC. And, you are also right that there is no way the NCHC is going to have it's conference tournament in the same city as the Big 10 tourney and the NCHC should not have it's tournament in the Twin Cities, anyway, just on general principles. It's the home of a Big 10 school and one the instigators of the whole "problem" in the first place. As for me, as far as the NCHC tourney is concerned, the Twin Cities can go jump in one of those 10,000 lakes.
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You better watch your mouth next thing you know the rumors from within UNL has them and UNO merging schools. UNL really wants the UNMC under their umbrella this way they can be on par with the rest of the Big Ten. That's what I have heard from some huge UNL money backers. Who knows if it will ever happen but things have changed in Lincoln.
 
Re: Big Ten Conference Tournament

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Honestly, I think you can say the same about hosting in St. Paul every year. The crowd for the Final Five has almost NEVER been exclusively a gopher one. I have no doubt that a gopher-only crowd in St. Paul is still more than anything the CCHA tourney ever gets, but it's still worth considering that the BTHC tourney will not have Sioux, Bulldog, Huskie, Maverick, etc. fans to help keep it a sold out/nearly sold out event at St. Paul every year.
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Which of the Big Ten schools not named Minnesota can put 12,000+ fans into the X to watch their team play in the conference championship game? Because that what UND did tonight. I think that regardless of where you put the BTCH championship game, the attendance will be very disappointing. It will take MANY years for the tournament to get to averaging 12k per game, none of the fan bases in the big ten are going to fill the seats for the games that don't include their team. It is the combination of UND and MN that makes the WCHA f5 an attendance success, without UND the attendance at the f5 would look just like the attendance the CCHA tournament.
 
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