Re: Evaluating Frozen Four host Tampa Bay
I thought it was great. I hope the NCAA selects them again.
Agreed. If Tampa is selected again, that would be great news. But a few things to keep in mind...
...I felt Tampa did a terrific job with the Championships. I have nothing to compare it to, as this was my first FrozenFour, but I was quite impressed. I also noticed a large amount of fans in Lightning apparel, telling me that there were a fair number of local ticket sales.
There were a good number of locals in the crowd, and that was important. The lottery didn't sell out. The participating schools, as a group, travelled well. But none of them took over the arena. Given the distance, you wouldn't expect that. But the point is, without the local fans in the house, it would have been an Anaheim or Cincinnati situation.
Overall, I'd give the Lightning fans a B+ for their support of the Frozen Four. They did their share. At the same time, they were outperformed by the Blues fans back in 2007. St. Louis fans essentially filled the upper bowl at that tournament. In Tampa about 1,000 seats went unsold on both days. While there's no particular group responsible for the small shortfall, it's inaccurate to give Tampa perfect marks.
What does this mean for the big picture? I honestly think we should wait a while before going back. If we go back at the next possible opportunity, the local support likely wouldn't be as strong. If nothing else, the novelty factor would be gone. Hotbeds like St. Paul and Milwaukee wait 7-9 years between tournaments. As great as Tampa was, a similar amount of time will be required to make sure that their hockey locals are truly hungry for more.
Lots of signage at the airport and near the arena, so the locals and UAH did a good job. Reasonable job covering the event by the local papers, especially considering the fact that it was wrapped around the Rays opening day against the Yankees.
In a way it's kind of funny that this factor is so important to us. But it absolutely is. I had the same reaction, as did every member of my group. I'd add that it seemed that everyone working at the airport was familiar with our event, and went out their way to express interest and support. Well done, Tampa.
CLS said:
And wow is it easy to get out of the Times Forum. In the time it took us to get back to the hotel, I might have gotten out of my parking space in Boston. As we pretty much already knew, plenty to do on the off day and Saturday morning. The only complaint I have was that it just feels strange to go to a hockey game and see people in T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops, but that's just me.
Agree on all counts. And it's more than just a difference in apparel. It must be remembered that having the tournament in hockey hotbeds is really the core experience, and that sites like Tampa are an appealing variation.
It's also extremely important not to forget those unable to attend due to the distance involved. The number of regulars was clearly down. As just one example, there wasn't a Posters' Game this year, primarily because Tampa wasn't drivable for any of the regulars.
Go back to Tampa Bay? Absolutely. But go to the Sunbelt more often than the hockey hotbeds? No.
