Does the agreement of the D1 and D3 mens National Title Game being held at the same place open the door for the women's finals to be at the same location?
There's been a lot of talk over the past couple of years regarding how that would be a smart move.
The Frozen Fours are so completely different in the men's and women's games in terms of participation and objective that I don't think we can conclude that what the men decide to do should also be done for the women.
As for dontyelldad's point, the D-III and essentially D-I tournament have been held on the same weekend in recent years anyway, so I'd think that is not an issue. I just don't know whether it would benefit either tournament to combine them. It's worth thinking about, but the idea may be a bit away from happening.
If that were true, it might be a reason to do it. However, I haven't seen a good case as to why attendance would increase. The attendance for the "DI" Frozen Fours has been trending downward, probably in part due to it returning to the same host sites too frequently. Eastern school don't seem that interested in hosting. As for more exposure, I'm not sure about that either. It isn't like the men's tournament where they have TV coverage to bring some exposure. The only thing that I could see working well is that the tournaments could mesh pretty well. Play the DI semis on day one, the DIII semis on day two, and then both finals on day three. The flaw in that is practice time for the teams may be at some odd hours.The points brought up in the past are that the D3 women might benefit by getting increased attendence for their games, which I'm sure the NCAA would love as that equals more money.
As for dontyelldad's point, the D-III and essentially D-I tournament have been held on the same weekend in recent years anyway, so I'd think that is not an issue.
The Frozen Fours are so completely different in the men's and women's games in terms of participation and objective.
Somenone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Final four for the women D1 and D3 held on the same weekend?
As dontyelldad says, the topic is combining women's DIII and "DI", not men's and women's. So my point is that while there may be some benefit to the men's DIII FF by combining it with DI, it doesn't automatically mean that the same gains would occur on the women's side. The NCAA likes to hold the men's FF in non-traditional markets in an attempt to grow the game. On the women's side, it is tough to grow the game in traditional hockey hotbeds, let alone places where hockey is a novelty. There are a large number of fans of men's hockey that will travel to the FF no matter where it is held. Such fans for women number in the low hundreds. The men's DI tourney has national TV; the women's tourney doesn't currently have any TV coverage at all. Would there be more total fans in attendance by combining the two tourneys? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly isn't a slam-dunk that it would grow the game. So before a decision is made to lump the two together, someone should perform a decent cost-benefit analysis and figure out whether or not it makes sense for the women's game, not just blindly follow what the men are doing.Can you expand on this?
As dontyelldad says, the topic is combining women's DIII and "DI", not men's and women's. So my point is that while there may be some benefit to the men's DIII FF by combining it with DI, it doesn't automatically mean that the same gains would occur on the women's side. The NCAA likes to hold the men's FF in non-traditional markets in an attempt to grow the game. On the women's side, it is tough to grow the game in traditional hockey hotbeds, let alone places where hockey is a novelty. There are a large number of fans of men's hockey that will travel to the FF no matter where it is held. Such fans for women number in the low hundreds. The men's DI tourney has national TV; the women's tourney doesn't currently have any TV coverage at all. Would there be more total fans in attendance by combining the two tourneys? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly isn't a slam-dunk that it would grow the game. So before a decision is made to lump the two together, someone should perform a decent cost-benefit analysis and figure out whether or not it makes sense for the women's game, not just blindly follow what the men are doing.
I was at the Frozen Four at the Whitt in 2005 and enjoyed it immensely, primarily due to what I saw on the ice. I would think that UNH would be an attractive destination, probably just behind Boston. Do any of the fans know if UNH has submitted a bid to host since 2005?Just a clarification Arm but I know that we here at UNH would love to host the FF again....we drew a good crowd in 2004(?) and although like everyone else we have seen a drop in our attendance both men and women, it would be nice to have it back East again....you can judge the Whitt yourself this Thanksgiving when you come watch your Gophers play....)
Officials at the Univ. say they have been bidding on it but who knows......
In 2013 the womens DI Championship weekend is March 22-24 in Minneapolis while the DIII FF is March 15-16 at a predetermined site. Still to be announced.
The problem that I'd see with that is Ridder is hosting the WCHA Final Face-Off the weekend before and the "DI" Frozen Four the week after. Throw in the possibility of hosting an NCAA quarterfinal on March 15 or 16, which the Gophers have done in six of eight years since the tournament expanded, and that's a lot of events in a short amount of time at one venue. They all have to be staffed, so I'd think that it would be more attractive to Ridder to host a DIII FF in a year when they weren't also hosting "DI".If I had to guess though at this stage of the game I'd put Ridder Arena in Minneapolis as the front runner.