Hockey East Tourney on the Move

[LtPowers]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I wonder if the UML fanbase will grow a bit with the Devils leaving town. The college becomes the only hockey in Lowell, then, right?


Powers &8^]

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I wonder if the UML fanbase will grow a bit with the Devils leaving town. The college becomes the only hockey in Lowell, then, right?


Powers &8^]

Yeah, UML needs to put an all-out promotional blitz to try and pick up those five people . They could probably afford to go to all of the individual Lowell Devils fans' houses and let them know there is college hockey in town.

 

[sterlippo1]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I was impressed with the Lowell turn out in '09 for their semifinal game against NU. While they weren't super loud, they had a decent sized student section (it might have been even bigger than ours since we had a basketball tourney game that night too) and a good amount of alumni fans in the lower bowl from what I remember. I didn't attend the final so I couldn't tell you how their fans did there.

the UML crowd was way bigger than the BC turnout for that game. To me, that was the lowest BC turnout for a game in the Garden that i've ever seen and yes, there was the BB team in the NCAA but i was still stunned by how few there were............there was virtually no BC student section. i'd rather see the hockey team at the Garden than watch the basketball team on TV in the NCAA 1000 times out of 1000, personal preference i know

 

[jcarter7669]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

wouldnt it just be easier for vermont to schedule a game at the garden than to whine/complain/beetoch/moan and inconvenience 11 other teams about ridiculous suggestions that would be a detriment to the entire team (including said elephant walkers)?

Did VT request it be moved? Was it a VT fan that brought up the possibility of moving the tourney?

 

[Rover]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I think we'll see the model for many events move to smaller arenas that are sold out and increase demand such that ticket prices can be increased. More revenue, lower cost structure, perception that it is a hard ticket to get - sounds like a winner

This is pretty stupid in the context of the discussion. If an event can regularly draw 15K, why put it in any of the available smaller arenas which probably hold no more than 10K? Put it too far away, in a boring place, in a crappy arena and you'll be lucky to get the same price for tickets as you do now at the Garden. So, you'd be charging less for tickets...at a smaller arena...hence less seats sold....and that will increase revenue? Yeah...

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I think you can fit the entire UML fanbase in a school bus. There is no way they could have a significant number at the Garden. They have some diehards, but whenever I go to Tsongas, there are more BC fans than Lowell fans.

When was the last time you went to Tsongas? There were way more Lowell fans than BC fans in the 2 games played at Tsongas last season.

Lowell averaged a little over 4,600 in home attendance last year. If Lowell has no fans how do you explain the 5,619 who showed up for the home opener against Colgate and the 6,121 who attended the last home game against UVM?

 

[BeloBrasil]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Try to follow the conversation. The conversation went off on a tangent discussing what is and isn't a world-class city and someone did some drugs and then posted that Boston wasn't a world-class city. Boston is a world-class city. That tangent had nothing to do with hockey.

Tell me, what underachieving public school district produced you mope? Go back and re-read the post. The Greek dolt put forth the proposition that the Hockey East tournament is best held in a city like Boston for among other reasons Boston's purportedly "world class" status. Granted he qualified his statement by stating that Boston's alleged world class status was not the only reason to hold the tournament there, but he did state that this was an important factor in his argument. I could have lived with that, but then he had to take it one step further and bring in the Euro-scum. You know the types. The men in their capri pants and the women with their rucksacks carrying their maps around and looking for a cheap place to eat where they will beg complete ignorance of the American tradition of tipping 15%-20% on their food and beverage purchases. The fact that I might have to encounter one of these ignorant Euro-jerks is all the more reason to move the tournament to Providence, Manchester, and/or Worcester at least on an every-other-year basis.

 

[BeloBrasil]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Amazing how regionalized you Boston fellas are. You want to grow this sport, spark more interest? If so, you gotta think outside the box. Lets face it, the HE tourney in Boston has gotten stale. HE needs to do something about it. Heres how.

Every other year move the tourney outside of Boston. One year in Portland, then back to Boston, next year in Manchester, back to Boston followed by Providence. How to deal with smaller arenas? Simply raise the price of tickets. The smaller venues will still fill and its much more important for this sport to be played in front of packed houses than a nearly half full Garden. Generate some interest, gd it! What we have now suffices but it doesnt move the sport forward.

Ahhhhh, finally the voice of semi-reason! I am all for what you say save for the part about raising ticket prices. I don't know about Portland, but Providence, Worcester, and Manchester all have venues that are just the right size for a Hockey East Tournament championship so I don't really see the logic in raising the ticket price. Hockey East should be making every effort to keep the prices of tickets affordable for students and families and if they cannot do it then they should simply hold the semi-finals and finals in one of the larger venues utilized by league members (i.e. Conte Forum, Agganis Arena, Tsongas Center, etc.).

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I'm not so sure I agree with this. Being a program in D1 longer than UMass is irrelevant. They are far smaller and not exactly known as a sports school like UMass is. UML is still a fairly small school and fairly small schools don't bring tons of numbers. While it may be their only D1 sport and they might not get there regularly (which produces a rush to go when they get a rare chance), I'm not sure this is a formula for success. The program isn't on the verge of perenial powerhouse or anything so building any type of significant travelling fanbase will be difficult. And throw in the fact that their home attendance numbers are likely to be boosted by a lot of walk up sales (not many season ticket holders?) to locals/families who probably wouldn't travel to the Garden and fans of opposing teams with larger fanbases that are close (BC and BU always draw good crowds at Tsongas). I'm just not sure I'd say Lowell has or ever will bring a lot of fans to this.

And I say that in no offense to UML or their fans, but it is what it is.

Numbers sagged a bit with UML at the Garden as the only non-Big 4 in the semis one year (2002) and in the finals in 2009...

Numbers sagged when Lowell made it to the Garden in the 2008-2009 season? At the semi-final games on Friday the paid attendance was 14,280. For the Championship game it was 13,130.

Last season: Semis - 12,544. Championship: 12,103.

Did Lowell/BU draw a bigger crowd than BC/Maine?

Get your facts straight.

 

[CHFAN222]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

For some of these players in the non-beanpot/non-frozen four regular this will be the only chance in their lives to play in an NHL arena. As a recruit wouldln't you want to play in a conference that has its championships in an NHL arena rather than minor league arena ie ECAC and Atlantic Hockey?

Also the Mass economy has recovered this year. Since all of the schools have decent sized alumni bases in the Boston area it will effect attendance at the HE championships and I would expect an attendance increase this year.

If any school other than Providence or Merimack makes it to the garden they will bring a decent amount of people with them. Hell maybe even Merimack will bring 1000-2000 plus people and pack the garden.

Other things to consider are the how well the Bruins and Celtics are doing. If they are both doing well that time of year it might slightly lower attendance at the event.

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

For some of these players in the non-beanpot/non-frozen four regular this will be the only chance in their lives to play in an NHL arena. As a recruit wouldln't you want to play in a conference that has its championships in an NHL arena rather than minor league arena ie ECAC and Atlantic Hockey?

Also the Mass economy has recovered this year. Since all of the schools have decent sized alumni bases in the Boston area it will effect attendance at the HE championships and I would expect an attendance increase this year.

If any school other than Providence or Merimack makes it to the garden they will bring a decent amount of people with them. Hell maybe even Merimack will bring 1000-2000 plus people and pack the garden.

Other things to consider are the how well the Bruins and Celtics are doing. If they are both doing well that time of year it might slightly lower attendance at the event.

I agree with everything except for your Bruins/Celtics statement. IMO the success of the pro teams has nothing to do with attendance for HE Championship weekend.

 

[slurpees]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Hell maybe even Merimack will bring 1000-2000 plus people and pack the garden.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Does Merrimack have the lowest enrollment in Hockey East? BU and UMass-Amherst must have the most undergrads (15k-20K)? Not sure about UVM, UNH & UMaine.

Does anyone have the undergrad numbers for all HE schools?

 

[slurpees]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Does Merrimack have the lowest enrollment in Hockey East? BU and UMass-Amherst must have the most undergrads (15k-20K)? Not sure about UVM, UNH & UMaine.

Does anyone have the undergrad numbers for all HE schools?

Yes they do, around 2K undergrads. PC is also very small with just over 4K. The other state schools are much larger, with maine close to 9K, unh at 12K, uvm at 9.5K.

 

[CHFAN222]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Does Merrimack have the lowest enrollment in Hockey East? BU and UMass-Amherst must have the most undergrads (15k-20K)? Not sure about UVM, UNH & UMaine.

Does anyone have the undergrad numbers for all HE schools?

Merrimack is the smallest but they have been gettting over 2K people at games like last year. If Dacosta is even better this year and they can pull off some impressive victories it is not outside the realm of possibilities for them to make the Garden. Given that it has been a long long long time since they made it to the Garden it could cause a lot of there students/alumn to go since they realize this may be their only trip there for another long time.

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Merrimack is the smallest but they have been gettting over 2K people at games like last year. If Dacosta is even better this year and they can pull off some impressive victories it is not outside the realm of possibilities for them to make the Garden. Given that it has been a long long long time since they made it to the Garden it could cause a lot of there students/alumn to go since they realize this may be their only trip there for another long time.

Like Lowell 80% to 90% of the Merrimack alums live in Mass/NH so I'm with you in that Merrimack would pull a decent crowd if they made it to the Garden.

I don't know about you but I'm sick and tired of BC fans telling me that Lowell doesn't have a fanbase. F U BC "fans"

 

[Federal League]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

I don't know about you but I'm sick and tired of BC fans telling me that Lowell doesn't have a fanbase. F U BC "fans"

Yeah, seems like they're still living in the 90s. Does Lowell have the fan base of BU, BC, Maine or UNH? No. But that doesn't mean they don't have a fan base.

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Yeah, seems like they're still living in the 90s. Does Lowell have the fan base of BU, BC, Maine or UNH? No. But that doesn't mean they don't have a fan base.

Exactly. Say what you want about Marty Meehan (D-Mass) but he has changed everything about ULowell. When I was a student my friends and I had to drive down the Lowell Connector and buy tickets to see Lowell get their arses kicked at Tully Forum.

Back on subject. Maine, BC, BU and UNH fans who go to Tsongas are all of the alumni variety. Northeastern and UMass are the only schools who get students to show up.

 

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Numbers sagged when Lowell made it to the Garden in the 2008-2009 season? At the semi-final games on Friday the paid attendance was 14,280. For the Championship game it was 13,130.

Last season: Semis - 12,544. Championship: 12,103.

Did Lowell/BU draw a bigger crowd than BC/Maine?

Get your facts straight.

Christ almighty get your panties unbunched...

Over the last 12 years, UML has made the semis 3 times. 2 of them were during the heyday of HE in 2002 and 2003. The last one was during a down time in the economy (2009). The semis attendance for the years UML participated in were 7th, 8th, and 9th out of the 12 years. Coincidence? Probably not, even taking out last year because of the economy. 2002 and 2003 give us a bit better of a leg to stand on when looking at the numbers. Much tougher than say, Vermont, who one could easily argue as another school that doesn't help attendance, as they made the Garden twice and both of those years were dead last. However, they were recent and coincide with a rough economy and we have no other appearances to compare to during better times.

That bad economy is not an excuse, it's a reason. It is evident in the numbers when comparing repeat title games where you can isolate the schools/fanbases. What made the attendance drop? Oh ya, it's everyone getting bored of the game being played in the same building and it's getting "stale" according to some. *********FART********

BC vs. UNH
1999 14,278
2005 17,565
2007 13,668

BC vs. Maine
2000 15,993
2010 12,103

The fact remains UML's lone title game was 10th out of the last 12 years. And while BC-Maine and BC-Vermont was lower, BC and Maine have proven their mettle by also sitting near the top of that list in many years as well.

 

[Gainzo]

Re: Hockey East Tourney on the Move

Christ almighty get your panties unbunched...

Over the last 12 years, UML has made the semis 3 times. 2 of them were during the heyday of HE in 2002 and 2003. The last one was during a down time in the economy (2009). The semis attendance for the years UML participated in were 7th, 8th, and 9th out of the 12 years. Coincidence? Probably not, even taking out last year because of the economy. 2002 and 2003 give us a bit better of a leg to stand on when looking at the numbers. Much tougher than say, Vermont, who one could easily argue as another school that doesn't help attendance, as they made the Garden twice and both of those years were dead last. However, they were recent and coincide with a rough economy and we have no other appearances to compare to during better times.

That bad economy is not an excuse, it's a reason. It is evident in the numbers when comparing repeat title games where you can isolate the schools/fanbases. What made the attendance drop? Oh ya, it's everyone getting bored of the game being played in the same building and it's getting "stale" according to some. *********FART********

BC vs. UNH
1999 14,278
2005 17,565
2007 13,668

BC vs. Maine
2000 15,993
2010 12,103

The fact remains UML's lone title game was 10th out of the last 12 years. And while BC-Maine and BC-Vermont was lower, BC and Maine have proven their mettle by also sitting near the top of that list in many years as well.

What is this heyday you are talking about? Did I miss something as Lowell/BU had a higher attendance in a "down economy" a couple of years ago?

GFY. Lowell has plenty of fans.