Re: Do you like hockey, or do you just like "your" team?
Just noticed this thread. Glad it turned into a (mostly) good conversation. Hope my take adds a little to the previous comments.
To answer the original question, I love hockey. Yes, I have my favorite teams, but Mrs. 86 and I have NHL Center Ice, so when we get home from work, we watch hockey all night, regardless of whether our favorite teams are playing or not. Last night we turned on the gold medal game of World Juniors on the NHL Channel.
This is spot on. The amount of sports programming available at home has absolutely exploded in recent years, and the quality of the video has become increasingly impressive. People won't buy tickets to see the event live unless they'll experience something they can't get in the sports den. Sitting in a mostly empty arena, quietly watching a game? Same thing as watching at home, just more expensive and less convenient.
Fans of the sport certainly still exist. We do attend games as neutrals. As just one example, we make up roughly half the crowd at the Men's Frozen Four.
But in general, neutrals attend at venues where a large and/or fun crowd is expected. And once an particular event gets a bad reputation in this regard, it's tough to shake. Fans decide not to return because it's no fun. Then, because so many make that decision, the event remains no fun. Vicious cycle.
In-season tournaments are an especially tough sell. And this is a national issue, certainly not limited to the Mariucci Classic. A few years back OSU attempted to stage a holiday tournament over the course of several seasons; first at Nationwide, then later on campus at the Schott. It just couldn't gain any traction. The tournament never had any sort of theme fans could connect with. The dates over the holidays were problematic. Sound familiar?
One positive was that Miami was included for a while. My thought at the time was that Miami and BG should have been included every year, along with one outside team to round out the field. In other words, patterned after the GLI. That would have had a chance at survival, IMHO.
I'd like to see them integrate the North Star College Cup with Hockey Day Minnesota. I'm with you, ditch the Mariucci Classic and make this happen.
Excellent idea. It's a challenge to establish new traditions, but I think this concept genuinely has a chance.
As for those who regularly attend the Beanpot and the GLI, you should jealously guard those events. Establishing such traditions has never been tougher.
