Minnesota Cup

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Cup

Sorry, guess I probably have come off a little "****y" about all of this, and really, I could care less about where the Gophers play their road games. I guess what got me going was the Gophers (and sometimes some, but not all, of their fan base) looking "down their nose" at the other Minnesota schools. "We want to play every one of them," Maturi said. "[This tournament] is the way we are going to do it" just reinforced this a little bit in my mind.

Would I like to see them in Bemidji, yeah, I would. But with only three road series to schedule, where are the Gophers going to go? Will they schedule them with Miami, North Dakota, BC/BU, Denver/CC, Notre Dame, or will they schedule them with BSU, MSU-M, UMD or SCSU? Based on contracts that will be signed and the "power" of some programs, I am not going to hold my breath on seeing them in Bemidji again. I just feel the almighty dollar is going to trump everything else.

It will be interesting to see what comes from all of this....... Is it the weekend yet, I need some hockey???

I understand where you are coming from. I do think Maturi and Co. are trying to do the best they can to balance the desire to maintain competition with the other D1 programs in MN with their own internal needs to meet budgets, etc. As fans, we don't have to care one iota about their financial considerations but they obviously don't have that same luxury. My first priority is playing the other MN D1 teams in non-conference but I understand they have more to consider. At the same time, I do think some of the fun of non-conference is you get to play teams you don't see annually and I'm glad there will be some additional variety on the Gophers schedule.

As for road games at other MN rinks, I'm not sure it was rational even before this event was proposed that the Gophers would be visiting other MN teams that often. We've known for months that the Gophers were going to play 20 games in the Twin Cities and would have 4 available games for non-conference travel (see my prior post on the breakdown). When you have 4 non-conference road games to use each season and you have 4 other D1 teams in the state... well, the numbers simply don't add up that they'll be able to be in those rinks very often. It's just the reality of it.

I think this is the MN Cup is the most feasible way to keep the teams playing each other given the various scheduling needs.

 

[Almington]

Re: Minnesota Cup

From a UMD/UMTC/SCSU perspective I'm not sure how this is going to make up any Final Five revenue.

Let's say this deal averages 10,000 fans game (way generous) x 4 games = 40,000 tickets.
and at $30 a ticket that equals $1.2 million ticket revenue for the weekend.
Divide evenly among four schools = $300,000 per school for the weekend.

Say UMD/SCSU schedules a non-conference home series instead.
6,500 fans per game x 2 games = 13,000 tickets
and at $30 a ticket that equals $390,000 of ticket revenue.

Doing the same with UMTC, and 20,000 tickets = $600,000

So I'm not sure what the economic benefit is for any of these three schools. But I guess if this is taking the place of two road non-con games that would work. I just hope these don't count toward how many home games we'd schedule.

Except that NC series are home-and-home deals or a pay for visit deal. Assuming that the MSUM, BSU, SCSU, and UMD all rotate over a 4 year cycle, you would get 3 payments of $300k = $900k and have 2 games left that 4th year vs two home and 2 away series which would yield $800k using your numbers. if those 2 games are used to bring in a team for a pay-to-play you way have another $250k left to add to that $900k making the total $1.15M over 4 years. If you get half of a home and home it is $200k making the total $1.1M. In either case, the school brings in more revenue by playing in the tournament over not playing.

The real questions are what will tickets cost, will each game be a separate ticket, and how many ticket packages will they sell? The fact of the matter is that if they only average attendance of 10,000 the tournament won't last long because the cost of reserving the X will quickly eat into any profit that may exist for these schools.

 

[JDUBBS1280]

Your numbers are off here. It wouldn't be 3 additional non-conference road series, it would be 2 non-conference road series. Your scenario has them playing 36 games. Not 34.

10 BTHC home Games
10 BTHC road Games
2 "MN Cup" Games
8 non-conference home games at Mariucci
4 non-conference road games

34 total games. 18 at Mariucci, 2 at XCel, 14 on the road.

Thanks. My math sucks

 

[dggoddard]

Re: Minnesota Cup

Here's one way they could do it....

Clearly the Gophers play in the Minnesota Cup every year.

UMD, MSU, BSU & SCSU rotate, with one school left out.

The school left out gets a two game home series with the Gophers which will help make up the money of not being in the Minnesota Cup.

The school that plays the Gophers in the 1st round doesn't play the Gophers in any other games that season.

The two schools in the other side of the bracket; one plays a home & home with the Gophers & the other visits Mariucci for a two game series.

Equals 8 nonconference games for the Gophers. Two at Xcel, three on the road & three at home.

Every school gets a two game Gopher visit every four years & a one game visit every four years. In other words they get a Gopher visit every other year.

 

[JDUBBS1280]

Here's one idea....

Clearly the Gophers play in the Minnesota Cup every year.

UMD, MSU, BSU & SCSU rotate, with one school left out.

The school left out gets a two game home series with the Gophers which will help make up the money of not being in the Minnesota Cup.

The school that plays the Gophers in the 1st round doesn't play the Gophers in any other games that season.

The two schools in the other side of the bracket; one plays a home & home with the Gophers & the other visits Mariucci for a two game series.

Equals 8 nonconference games for the Gophers. Two at Xcel, three on the road & three at home.

Every school gets a two game Gopher visit every four years.

Interesting idea DG

 

[Almington]

Interesting idea DG

That's way to reasonable to be the real DG.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Minnesota Cup

Here's one way they could do it....

Clearly the Gophers play in the Minnesota Cup every year.

UMD, MSU, BSU & SCSU rotate, with one school left out.

The school left out gets a two game home series with the Gophers which will help make up the money of not being in the Minnesota Cup.

The school that plays the Gophers in the 1st round doesn't play the Gophers in any other games that season.

The two schools in the other side of the bracket; one plays a home & home with the Gophers & the other visits Mariucci for a two game series.

Equals 8 nonconference games for the Gophers. Two at Xcel, three on the road & three at home.

Every school gets a two game Gopher visit every four years & a one game visit every four years. In other words they get a Gopher visit every other year.

That eats up the entire road non conference schedule. That's not going to fly.

 

[4four4]

Re: Minnesota Cup

Your numbers are off here. It wouldn't be 3 additional non-conference road series, it would be 2 non-conference road series. Your scenario has them playing 36 games. Not 34.

10 BTHC home Games
10 BTHC road Games
2 "MN Cup" Games
8 non-conference home games at Mariucci
4 non-conference road games

34 total games. 18 at Mariucci, 2 at XCel, 14 on the road.

Are you saying the Mariucci classic is done?

 

[JDUBBS1280]

Are you saying the Mariucci classic is done?

That was my understanding to.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: Minnesota Cup

That eats up the entire road non conference schedule. That's not going to fly.

I guess a minor tweak would be a one game visit to team not in the Minnesota Cup.

That would give you 7 nonconference MN games for the Gophers. Two at Xcel, two on the road & three at home.

Every MN school gets a one game Gopher visit every other year.

Then the Gophers could have a two game series in Boston or South Bend every season.

10 BTHC home Games
10 BTHC road Games
2 "MN Cup" Games [2 against MN schools]
8 non-conference home games at Mariucci [2 against ND, BC or BU, 3 against MN schools, 3 against cupcakes]
4 non-conference road games [2 against ND, BC or BU, 2 against MN schools]

 

[MavsFan]

Re: Minnesota Cup

Here's one way they could do it....

Clearly the Gophers play in the Minnesota Cup every year.

UMD, MSU, BSU & SCSU rotate, with one school left out.

The school left out gets a two game home series with the Gophers which will help make up the money of not being in the Minnesota Cup.

The school that plays the Gophers in the 1st round doesn't play the Gophers in any other games that season.

The two schools in the other side of the bracket; one plays a home & home with the Gophers & the other visits Mariucci for a two game series.

Equals 8 nonconference games for the Gophers. Two at Xcel, three on the road & three at home.

Every school gets a two game Gopher visit every four years & a one game visit every four years. In other words they get a Gopher visit every other year.

I'd rather have the two-game home series than play in the tournament in the Twin Cities.

 

[JDUBBS1280]

I'd rather have the two-game home series than play in the tournament in the Twin Cities.

I think everyone would prefer to have it that way, but with the conference changes, it's just not feasible anymore

 

[Bale]

Re: Minnesota Cup

I'd rather have the two-game home series than play in the tournament in the Twin Cities.

For what it's worth, before this tourney came to light, Jutting shared with the BLC that MSU and the Gophers would be playing every year. They would play home-and-homes for 3 years and for the 4th year it would be a series at Mariucci and MN would write a check to MSU to have them visit. I know it's not a perfect scenario, but it's a pretty good one for MSU. I don't know if this will change things or not, but it does add another wrinkle to the whole situation.

 

[MavsFan]

Re: Minnesota Cup

For what it's worth, before this tourney came to light, Jutting shared with the BLC that MSU and the Gophers would be playing every year. They would play home-and-homes for 3 years and for the 4th year it would be a series at Mariucci and MN would write a check to MSU to have them visit. I know it's not a perfect scenario, but it's a pretty good one for MSU. I don't know if this will change things or not, but it does add another wrinkle to the whole situation.

If that turns out to be true, that's a far better deal than I ever expected. However, with this tournament announcement, I'd bet that deal is now off the table.

 

[Bale]

Re: Minnesota Cup

If that turns out to be true, that's a far better deal than I ever expected. However, with this tournament announcement, I'd bet that deal is now off the table.

I'm with you. The day he said that (and it was confirmed by a member of the admin) my opinion started changing. The way I have looked at it since then is that we're still getting the benefits of facing some teams that are going to bring in a good chunk of revenue. At the same time, we're going to be on a more level playing field as the teams in our conference. Let's face it, yes, the WCHA is going to be lesser teams, but it provides the potential for us to actually have some winning teams more than once every 7-8 years. That in itself is going to fill the building a bit more and provide additional revenue. It's making the best of what could be a really bad situation.

 

[JDUBBS1280]

I'm with you. The day he said that (and it was confirmed by a member of the admin) my opinion started changing. The way I have looked at it since then is that we're still getting the benefits of facing some teams that are going to bring in a good chunk of revenue. At the same time, we're going to be on a more level playing field as the teams in our conference. Let's face it, yes, the WCHA is going to be lesser teams, but it provides the potential for us to actually have some winning teams more than once every 7-8 years. That in itself is going to fill the building a bit more and provide additional revenue. It's making the best of what could be a really bad situation.

That's actually a really great perspective on the situation.

 

[MavsFan]

Re: Minnesota Cup

It's been discussed to death, but I don't have your faith that the lesser conference will improve interest. It's still going to be a de facto D-II conference, it's still going to be the Island of Misfit Toys, and it's still going to be a lot of schools most people here at Mankato have never heard of (just as the Ferris students probably have no idea where Mankato is.) We had a basketball team go to the D-II finals last year, and there was not a great deal of interest, because it's D-II. I think hockey will become similar. Without UofM, Wisconsin, North Dakota coming to our building, it simply won't be seen as big-time college hockey anymore. I figure that this tournament at the X pretty much guarantees that the Gophers won't come to Mankato; they seem to see letting us come up there to play them in their tournament as being enough.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Cup

I guess I'd have to ask what would satisfy a Mankato fan or a fan of another D1 MN program in terms of visits to their rink? As I said earlier, the Gophers will have four non-conference road games. When you consider there are 4 D1 teams in MN and there are other good programs the Gophers will want to have on their schedule over the years... how much can you rationally expect them to travel very often to your rink?

If you start talking about home and home series, it would mean the Gophers would have to do that with another team as well. Which essentially means they will have only one non-conference series to spend on anybody else. While I suppose that is possible, there is going to have to be some time spread out on such things since the Gophers will have scheduling arrangements with other teams for a full road series in return for a full series at Mariucci.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: Minnesota Cup

I guess I'd have to ask what would satisfy a Mankato fan or a fan of another D1 MN program in terms of visits to their rink? As I said earlier, the Gophers will have four non-conference road games.

Its not an NCAA rule that Minnesota only has four non-conference road games. Perhaps they need to be a little flexible considering considering all the TV money they make and how important the program is to the rest of the state and the smaller schools.

Its great that they are putting together the Minnesota Cup, but games at the XCEL are de facto home games anyway.

 

[scsutommyboy]

Re: Minnesota Cup

I guess I'd have to ask what would satisfy a Mankato fan or a fan of another D1 MN program in terms of visits to their rink? As I said earlier, the Gophers will have four non-conference road games. When you consider there are 4 D1 teams in MN and there are other good programs the Gophers will want to have on their schedule over the years... how much can you rationally expect them to travel very often to your rink?

If you start talking about home and home series, it would mean the Gophers would have to do that with another team as well. Which essentially means they will have only one non-conference series to spend on anybody else. That doesn't seem likely since the Gophers will probably have to schedule some arrangements with other teams for a full road series in return for a full series at Mariucci.

I have heard that motozko and Lucia have talked about getting two team from out east to come in and play both teams as well as the Huskies and Gophers doing a home and home. I don't know exact details but this inforamtion was coming from motzko's coaches show so it is true.

Mankato hurt themselsves when they screwed over Minnesota and SCSU on the home and home thing a couple years ago. It will be interesting to see if the Gophers and huskies choose to play them in the future outside the Minnesota cup thing.....