What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Season

Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

gomavs#1 said:
I don't know...we can't draw more than 6,000 as a top 13 team going against top-10 Denver in January when the Huskers are done playing. Something tells me 7,500 might be about right.
Click to expand...

You DO understand that this new facility, and UNO's handling of many of the various aspects of handling the entire matter, that I that I have outlined, ad naseum, in this thread, as well as our season threads going back a couple seasons, and, in some others, are the reason that UNO attendance is off to it's worst start in school history, don't you?

This is about a big bunch of p.o,'ed UNO fans.

I am one of them. And, I have talked to a TON of other fans that feel the way that I do. This is backlash against the Athletic Department and the school, not the team. 16 year season ticket holders that sit right next to me, for example, said F-this and they did not renew this season. The couple that sits on the other side of them from us, who have had tickets since day 1 have told me they have no intention of renewing next season, as things stand now.

And, the evidence this is true is ample. The program is off to the best start in school history and attendance, right now, is the worst in the history of the program at this point of ANY previous season? I mean, what's happening is very obvious.

The people that made a new arena even possible for this program are tired of being sh*t on and it is clear that we are all about to get raped next year for our trouble, to boot. EVERY fan I have spoken to says they don't believe the point system UNO established for seating next season even exists. That includes yours truly.

The UNO Athletic Department is overseeing and orchestrating one of the most unconscionably stupid exercises of shooting oneself in the foot it has ever been my displeasure to behold.

It just makes me sad.
 
Last edited:
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

As a season ticket holder since day one, I'm unaware of this supposed hatred of the athletic department by TONS of former season ticket holders. Could it be that many don't renew because they know they can walk up to the Century Link Center and buy any seat in the building on any given night? Why pay season ticket prices when there are 10,000 empty seats? I renew every year because I happen to love UNO, the school, the team. Regardless of the supposed shenanigans of the athletic department, a true fan supports the team regardless.

Or is the reason many don't renew is because they are butthurt over Trev's decision to drop wrestling and football, both which were making MINIMAL contributions financially to the university, yet were costing MILLIONS in operating costs. Those folks can steer clear of the program for all many care - the decision happened, it needed to happen, and it's time to move on.

As far as the administration handling the new arena, I'm not quite sure what there is to complain about? They haven't released any information for upcoming ticket sales yet. Could it be that they are still ironing out details? And are you unaware of how season tickets work these days with new arenas? The prevailing model these days is you pay a licensing fee for the seat, and then pay for the seats themselves. There's nothing ground-breaking about that - that's how these things work - just ask Husker football season ticket holders. Hockey is UNO's revenue source - to make money, they have to charge season ticket holders more for the new arena.

I would say that part of our lack of attendance this year is the minimal coverage hockey gets in the local media. I have to believe that things will pick up if we continue this line of success. Maybe it won't.

I'll stand by the decision to put 7,500 seats in and have a rocking atmosphere than have empty seats or giveaway seats to help fill a larger arena every once in awhile. Those "sell out" games we used to do were giveaways. There were THOUSANDS of free tickets handed out. THOUSANDS. So, I would say many of those 10,000+ attendance games we have had in the past were inflated largely due to free-bies. I'd rather take the revenue with ACTUAL paying customers at our own arena in a 7,500 seat place than handout free seats. Just my opinion. As all of this is.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Care to amend the statement below? I have to believe that the reason we beat Denver last night was because of Dean's coaching. Calling the timeout changed the complexion of the game - whatever he said stuck, and that's coaching. I don't think Dean is the god of hockey, but there is NO way I would want any other coach leading UNO. The way this team, made up of a TON of freshmen, has performed already speaks volumes to Blais. We are off to our best start in school history. Calling for the removal of Blais is just plain foolish.

MAVFANJEFF said:
throw away prices and give aways.

we need an 8000 seat arena. That's about what we're getting. We need a new marketing dept. Not gonna happen. We didn't need the coaches contract extended more than one year. This team will suck for the next two years while rinkydink dean laughs all the way to the bank. I could sit here and type out a long bloviated reply but I'll leave that for people with no sex life. on nights when there is going to be a big opponent that travels well it will be standing room only. That's how the civic was and it was a great atmosphere. dean needs to go.
Click to expand...
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Here is a local radio interview (from yesterday) with UNO Athletic Director Trev Alberts:

https://social.newsinc.com/media/js...deoPlayer/16x9&widgetId=2&trackingGroup=69017

Discussion of the new arena and UNO hockey, in general, begins at the 14:15 mark and continues almost to the end of the interview.

Interesting that Trev had only ever even seen one hockey game in his life before becoming AD at UNO and, self-admittedly, still doesn't have a great understanding of the game or the rules.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Here's nice aerial shot of our soon-to-be old home:

http://www.bradwilliamsphotography.com/images/SC8A1724.jpg

Followed by a nice new shot of the interior of our new one:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=871752979513372

Both pictures courtesy of Brad Williams Photography here in Omaha.

FYI, in a radio interview here recently, Trev Alberts made it sound like we may still play some "high demand" games at the CenturyLink Center. This means, you, Michigan, and you, Minnesota, and you, North Dakota.

And I thought the new barn was "big enough". :rolleyes:
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

If you saw this post by me, in this particular thread:

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...r-Force-fans&p=6084120&viewfull=1#post6084120

.........I'd like to expound a bit on my conversation with Pat Morris at UNO the other day as it pertains to some other new arena info.

1. Pat told me that there are currently around 1,000 season ticket holder accounts representing about 3,500 UNO Hockey season tickets, total.

2. He said that the club section is about 650 seats (which will probably be all purchased by current season tickets holders and One Fund members with the point standing to do so).

3. There are currently about 600 One Fund contributors to the program (including yours truly).

4. He reconfirmed the already divulged info that the student section is 750 seats.

This makes for 4,750 or so seats theoretically spoken for next season in a 7,500 seat arena on a game by game basis.

Caveats to that include:

1. That individuals that hold season tickets, now, renew them all.

2. Purchases of additional seats by current season ticket holders beyond what they already now own.

3. Purchases of season tickets by One Fund contributors beyond what they already now own.

4. Student sales that are less than 750 students on a given night. Right now, student attendance rarely is this high. Will 750 show up every game with an on-campus arena? The school is betting the answer is yes.

Pat told me that nobody currently holding season tickets would be allowed to buy an additional "unusual" number of additional seats.

There are 17 suites in the arena. One is being reserved for the "naming partner", one for the school, and the other 15 are available at a price of $40,000.00 or $50,000.00 per year depending on location and size, with a 5 year minimum required.

He said there are 34 different contributors (of more than 100 grand, each) that will get top crack at these suites and they anticipate no problem selling them all. I asked, because I am personally interested in buying one and he flat-out told me it is very unlikely they'd get "down" to me on the list. These suites come with a dozen tickets per game (the numbers of actual seats in each suite) that are not an extra cost. They come with the suite. There are also 4 standing stool seats at the chair rail between the suite itself and the suite's seats, which are below those and also are included.

Pat did not tell me, and, I did not ask, where the capacity of the suites themselves and their seating figures into these numbers. I wish I HAD asked. It didn't occur to me at the time.

If this pool of individuals do not buy all the seats available in the arena (which Pat sounded like he was pretty sure would be the case), then the school will start selling season tickets to the "public" list. That is, individuals that are not One Fund Contributors or current season ticket holders that have expressed an interest in buying them.

I also did not ask him whether they would be willing to sell the building out to season tickets buyers or not or whether they would hold some tickets for sale to the general public for every game. My guess is that the answer will be in just how much public interest there is for season tickets after meeting the tickets demands of point holders (the individuals mentioned above).

The school held back tickets for sale to the general public for each game that UNO played in the Omaha Civic Auditorium, even though they could have easily sold every seat as a season ticket in this 8,314 seat arena. As it was, they sold out every game they ever played there, anyway, (131 straight sell-outs).

In any event, the school expects to sell out every game next season in their new digs and their current revenue projections for next year assert this very fact. It will happen, and, happen easily.

The school expects to announce a price structure for ALL tickets, they hope, before the end of February. He emphasized to me that they expect it to NOT be a whole lot different from the current structure, which is a HUGE current source of concern in the fanbase since there has been rampant speculation about this, some of it expressed by me in this forum as well as to me by other season ticket holders to say nothing about the discourse about this at Mavpuck.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

It sure will be tough to fit the 10k+ fans going to the game tonight in the new arena :)
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

MplsSioux said:
It sure will be tough to fit the 10k+ fans going to the game tonight in the new arena :)
Click to expand...

A point I have been trying to make for a long time.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Print news story in today's Omaha World Herald about the construction and opening of the new arena:

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/oct...cle_e7e83eac-b270-5cac-a9ba-a0c7e1a62b5d.html

The news media here has "discovered" UNO hockey here in the past couple weeks, as they have, on and off, a variety of times over the 18 year existence of the program.

Between the implosion of Creighton basketball (an entirely predictable thing once the "new" coaches son, the greatest NCAA player since Larry Bird graduated thingy played out at Creighton, as well as Husker basketball (men's, not women's) team reverting, somewhat to form, the UNO hockey team is all of a sudden the winter sport de jour around here.

And, guess what? The new arena physically seats 7,500 but also has 300 standing room only "seats" as well, making for total capacity of 7,800, now. Anything that gets us closer to at least the 8,314 the Omaha Civic Auditorium seated, which UNO sold out 131 straight times, which was only EVERY game they ever played there, is a step in the right direction.

Oh, did I forget to mention that UNO drew 11,168 on Friday night against UND, or that they drew 10,674, in the middle of worst blizzard in Omaha since the winter of '09-'10 the very next night against the same opponent? Weather so bad it scrapped UND's chartered flight home to Grand Forks right after the end of the game?

Look, I understand that Trev Alberts and company built the biggest thing they could currently afford. That said, this was effing stupid to not wait a couple years to do it and raise the extra money to build what was really needed (something in the realm of 9,000 to 10,000) or to make sure they built what they did erect in such a way that it could be expanded, an issue that has never been been publicly discussed in the context of what they are building down there.

Prediction: The size of this facility will be an issue here before the conclusion of next season, one in which I believe UNO will be a top 5 team in the pre-season polls.
 
Last edited:
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

I had one of my cousins in North Dakota ask me yesterday what the rink sizes will be at UNO's new arena.

DOH!

It hadn't yet occurred to me, for some reason, to even look into this. Kind of an important detail.

I can confirm that both sheets will be 200' x 85'. Seems like it would have been smart to have one of each size. Main arena 200'x 85' and public (read: practice arena when the building is otherwise being used) arena 200' x 100', which is what the Huskers are supposedly doing at the Breslow Center in Lincoln.

http://www.omavs.com/attachments1/327934.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=31400
 
Last edited:
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

5thYearFreshman said:
But it will be asy to get the 5500-6500 they get at every other series in there.
Click to expand...

From page 2 of this thread:

The program has averaged, exactly, 7,318 fans per game over the entirety of its 17 season existence up to this season. Over those 17 seasons, the program has averaged more than 7,500 fans per game in 9 of those 17 seasons.
Click to expand...

What do you suppose it might do with a good team? Because UNO has rarely had one. And, now the school has a new on-campus arena to recruit to. The student section in this building is larger than the one in the CenturyLink Center. The Clink is nowhere near the campus; presumably more students will now be at our homes games.

Further, the school is then publicly projecting, and I agree, that the arena will be sold out every game next season. In my conversation with the Athletic Department about 3 weeks ago, upwards of 4,500 season tickets are already spoken for and they have not even opened up availability to the general public as yet. Those 4,500 seats represent current season ticket holders, One Fund members, club seat owners, and suite holders. Throw a student section seating another 750 on top of that.

FYI, UNO has only averaged less than 6,000 fans per game twice in the history of the program.

And now you think that's all that will be there on a nightly basis, or even less, perhaps on the heels of conference title, in a brand new state-of-the-art-on-campus arena, with another excellent looking recruiting class coming in?

Really?
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

I think a sold out sign in front of a 7,500 seat arena will look better than empty seats in a 10,000 seat arena.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Critical Thinker said:
I think a sold out sign in front of a 7,500 seat arena will look better than empty seats in a 10,000 seat arena.
Click to expand...

Hard to argue with this. In talking with other local fans, though, at games, as well as at pre and postgame local watering holes, I think most people wanted something at least as big as the Omaha Civic Auditorium, which seated 8,314 and in which UNO sold out every single game they ever played, 131 straight sellouts, before moving into what is now the CenturyLink Center. I, personally, would have been O.K. with 9,000 or so, but I thought 10,000 would have been better. UNO has a demonstrable ability to put even more than that number of fannies in seats, having done so, twice, just this past weekend, one of which was while a huge snowstorm was going on.

The top 13 crowds in school history are all in excess of 10,000 people.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

Red Cows said:
From page 2 of this thread:



What do you suppose it might do with a good team? Because UNO has rarely had one. And, now the school has a new on-campus arena to recruit to. The student section in this building is larger than the one in the CenturyLink Center. The Clink is nowhere near the campus; presumably more students will now be at our homes games.

Further, the school is then publicly projecting, and I agree, that the arena will be sold out every game next season. In my conversation with the Athletic Department about 3 weeks ago, upwards of 4,500 season tickets are already spoken for and they have not even opened up availability to the general public as yet. Those 4,500 seats represent current season ticket holders, One Fund members, club seat owners, and suite holders. Throw a student section seating another 750 on top of that.

FYI, UNO has only averaged less than 6,000 fans per game twice in the history of the program.

And now you think that's all that will be there on a nightly basis, or even less, perhaps on the heels of conference title, in a brand new state-of-the-art-on-campus arena, with another excellent looking recruiting class coming in?

Really?
Click to expand...

Doing the math, 6 seasons at the Civic with an average attendance of 8314 would mean that the 11 seasons at the Q/CLink average is around 6774 fans per game. Since each season would include the likelihood of 2 "sellout" games or a premier series where we get 10,000+, I stick with my 5500-6500 number.
 
Re: New UNO Arena Construction Thread---Facility to open for the start of '15-'16 Sea

5thYearFreshman said:
Doing the math, 6 seasons at the Civic with an average attendance of 8314 would mean that the 11 seasons at the Q/CLink average is around 6774 fans per game. Since each season would include the likelihood of 2 "sellout" games or a premier series where we get 10,000+, I stick with my 5500-6500 number.
Click to expand...

If you are correct, then the school will have revenue "problems" right out of the gate since the revenue projections they released are predicated on selling out every game, at least as far as next season is concerned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top