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Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

I think Bowling Green might make more sense than RPI. The New England schools could play both road games on a single weekend.
 
slurpees said:
all about recruiting. ND with an exclusive TV package can tell a recruit that more of his games will be seen by scouts around the country if he plays at ND than would be the case at Maine, BC, BU, etc.

Then again, where are the reports of ND's exclusive deal coming from? The only thing I see is from that CHN article which looks more like a total misunderstanding of ND's NBC football deal (thinking it extends to hockey) than a report of a new deal of any kind.
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Most kids are drafted before they even set foot on a college ice arena.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

irishfan85 said:
Minnesota has all their games on television. Minnesota has all their games on television. Denver has a lot of their home games on television. The WCHA didn't seem to be too concerned. Maine has a deal where they broadcast a lot of home games on WABI. UNH used to have a deal where they had home games on NHPTV and before that WMUR. BU has had separate deals with NESN then the HE deal and used to have their games on some now defunct channel. Providence has some of their home games on Cox Network. I'm not really sure why all the fuss over Notre Dame wanting to broadcast all home games. If you hate ND and want the league to stay a New England based league, fine, but the TV argument is ridiculous. I'm not a ND hockey fan. I'm a ND football because I grew up with my dad loving ND football, but the Irish have been very mediocre in football lately. Their every home game on NBC and every away game on ESPN, ABC or CSTV hasn't seemed to give them any leg up on the football field.

Also, the attendance for ND games will give the teams in HE a benefit as will the exposure. Like them or hate them, ND draws attention.
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Difference is an exclusive NATIONAL TV deal, not WABI or some other regional sports network. The fuss is if ND says we'll join but only if you let us broadcast all of our games on national TV in our exclusive deal that you don't get revenue from, and the network is exclusively for our games, not yours. Then it becomes a problem. What is this attendance thing? As mentioned already, the only teams that are going to be aided attendance wise by ND are the bottom of the league. The Big 4, plus UVM, and to an extent MC because they're so small, don't have any issues with not filling their place. If this addition is about an attendance increase, that's ridiculous.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

slurpees said:
Difference is an exclusive NATIONAL TV deal, not WABI or some other regional sports network. The fuss is if ND says we'll join but only if you let us broadcast all of our games on national TV in our exclusive deal that you don't get revenue from, and the network is exclusively for our games, not yours. Then it becomes a problem. What is this attendance thing? As mentioned already, the only teams that are going to be aided attendance wise by ND are the bottom of the league. The Big 4, plus UVM, and to an extent MC because they're so small, don't have any issues with not filling their place. If this addition is about an attendance increase, that's ridiculous.
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And actually, it could hurt attendance for many of the schools in Hockey East... sure the one game against ND will draw well, but it will also mean less home games against other local schools whose fans travel well.
 
slurpees said:
Difference is an exclusive NATIONAL TV deal, not WABI or some other regional sports network. The fuss is if ND says we'll join but only if you let us broadcast all of our games on national TV in our exclusive deal that you don't get revenue from, and the network is exclusively for our games, not yours. Then it becomes a problem. What is this attendance thing? As mentioned already, the only teams that are going to be aided attendance wise by ND are the bottom of the league. The Big 4, plus UVM, and to an extent MC because they're so small, don't have any issues with not filling their place. If this addition is about an attendance increase, that's ridiculous.
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I don't think anybody in Hockey East has been consistently selling out their arenas in the last few years. Am I off base?
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

How about some more exploration with the Bowling Green suggestion. York must have some ties there still no? Makes sense travel wise. Why not?
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

scoreboard said:
I don't think anybody in Hockey East has been consistently selling out their arenas in the last few years. Am I off base?
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I agree with this. I have been a big Hockey East fan for years. Maine and UNH used to sell out. Not anymore. BC rarely sells out. Even games I've gone to in recent years against Maine and even the game against Merrimack that was raising the banner night had a couple thousand empty seats. BU doesn't sell out any games except against BC. Go check out ticketmaster. Plenty of seats remain for a game against a perennial power house who travels well next Saturday night.

Also, the only article I read said that ND's home games would be on Fox Sports Chicago or something like that. Not on Versus.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

ChiefWahoo said:
I think Bowling Green might make more sense than RPI. The New England schools could play both road games on a single weekend.
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Salvo1017 said:
How about some more exploration with the Bowling Green suggestion. York must have some ties there still no? Makes sense travel wise. Why not?
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Doesn't make any sense. BGSU has been on life support for the last few years and would bring absolutely nothing to HE. Miami or Western Michigan might've made sense if all of this had come together sooner, but I don't see why HE would have any interest whatsoever in BGSU. RPI brings a better-supported program, better fanbase, and more success in recent years.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Salvo1017 said:
How about some more exploration with the Bowling Green suggestion. York must have some ties there still no? Makes sense travel wise. Why not?
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Makes sense travel-wise YES. And let's not forget that Bowling Green has been stiffing the WCHA on its invitation to join (they're already on a deadline extension.) Gotta be a reason for the delay in deciding and the possibility of coming to HEA as an ND travel partner could possibly be it. If that scenario comes to pass, can anybody imagine the hate and discontent it would stir up at Miami?
 
Federal League said:
Doesn't make any sense. BGSU has been on life support for the last few years and would bring absolutely nothing to HE. Miami or Western Michigan might've made sense if all of this had come together sooner, but I don't see why HE would have any interest whatsoever in BGSU. RPI brings a better-supported program, better fanbase, and more success in recent years.
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You are right. BG makes no sense. The only team that makes any sense as a 12th team if ND comes to HE is RPI.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

If BGSU ever comes to HE, which I doubt, there would become travel partners.
BC-BU
ND-BGSU
MC-UML
UVM-Amherst
PC-NU
UNH-Maine

If RPI comes to HE, how do you do scheduling?
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Split-N said:
Makes sense travel-wise YES. And let's not forget that Bowling Green has been stiffing the WCHA on its invitation to join (they're already on a deadline extension.) Gotta be a reason for the delay in deciding and the possibility of coming to HEA as an ND travel partner could possibly be it. If that scenario comes to pass, can anybody imagine the hate and discontent it would stir up at Miami?
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It was reported last week that BGSU was talking to Robert Morris, Mercyhurst, Niagara, Canisius and Buffalo (who has reportedly shown interest in starting a D-I program) about forming a new, weaker, 6-team CCHA. I'd guess that has had a lot more to do with the delay than any pipe dream of joining HE.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

slurpees said:
Well, VS is carrying HE regular season games this year - BU@UVM on 2/24 is one, and the HE championships, so an exclusive deal with them seems off the table.
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Right, but that's only this year. We don't know about going forward with ND in the league.

irishfan85 said:
I'm not really sure why all the fuss over Notre Dame wanting to broadcast all home games. If you hate ND and want the league to stay a New England based league, fine, but the TV argument is ridiculous. I'm not a ND hockey fan. I'm a ND football because I grew up with my dad loving ND football, but the Irish have been very mediocre in football lately. Their every home game on NBC and every away game on ESPN, ABC or CSTV hasn't seemed to give them any leg up on the football field.
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If it's them having all home games broadcasted locally, I have no problem with that. I specifically brought up the idea of them having an exclusive national TV deal. Fussing over that is certainly not ridiculous. Now, I only brought this up because I'm having a hard time understanding why the NCHC and ND couldn't agree. I'm eagerly waiting to hear what happened. It seems like Hockey East is willing to make some concessions that the NCHC wouldn't, right?

Also, ND hasn't been successful in the W/L department, but they don't have any problems recruiting kids. The national TV deal absolutely helps here. Charlie Weis had zero problems recruiting.

slurpees said:
That would give ND a HUGE HUGE HUGE recruiting advantage over everyone else in the league and would be a terrible idea to allow. The thing is, all HE has to do to avoid that is just say no to ND and it's a non-issue.
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slurpees said:
all about recruiting. ND with an exclusive TV package can tell a recruit that more of his games will be seen by scouts around the country if he plays at ND than would be the case at Maine, BC, BU, etc.
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Exactly.

scoreboard said:
Most kids are drafted before they even set foot on a college ice arena.
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Huh? What's your point?

irishfan85 said:
I agree with this. I have been a big Hockey East fan for years. Maine and UNH used to sell out. Not anymore. BC rarely sells out. Even games I've gone to in recent years against Maine and even the game against Merrimack that was raising the banner night had a couple thousand empty seats.
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BC's attendance was outstanding last year. They'd simply be replacing an every other year home sellout against ND to a sellout every year against ND. Not a huge difference. Also, I wouldn't use a home opener against Merrimack as a barometer.
 
Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

FL, sounds like a sharp move by the BG administration if true. I imagine that would lower costs for them and give them a better chance to succeed.
 
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