Regional Attendance

[SJHovey]

Re: Regional Attendance

It isn't just the cost of the ticket. Travel, lodging, food, parking... it all adds up. The fact that you can't leave the arena between games means you're forced to pay those ridiculous concession prices. Two of us spent over well $400.00 for the weekend in Albany and we didn't stay there. That's a lot of money for 3 hockey games.

Of course, my team won it all so it was worth every penny, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the high cost.

Exactly. As has been pointed out in years past, the problem with regional attendance is exacerbated by the fact that fans really don't know where there team is going to be playing until the Sunday before the regional. Try to book an airline flight from Grand Forks to Cincinnati on a Sunday night or Monday morning, for a departure that coming Thursday or Friday. Minimum $700 is my guess.

Very few "random" fans come in off the street or from the hosting city if they have no team in the fight. They might if the ticket prices were extremely low, but not at $50/person, plus all the parking, food, etc..., costs built in.

 

[fightingsiouxfan16]

Re: Regional Attendance

Exactly. As has been pointed out in years past, the problem with regional attendance is exacerbated by the fact that fans really don't know where there team is going to be playing until the Sunday before the regional. Try to book an airline flight from Grand Forks to Cincinnati on a Sunday night or Monday morning, for a departure that coming Thursday or Friday. Minimum $700 is my guess.

Very few "random" fans come in off the street or from the hosting city if they have no team in the fight. They might if the ticket prices were extremely low, but not at $50/person, plus all the parking, food, etc..., costs built in.

yes in this aspect im lucky. Im only 2 hours out of albany. Very easy drive. My team wasnt in albany but it didnt matter. Just wanted to watch hockey. Parking in Albany was 5 bucks.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Regional Attendance

There's only one way to fix this, if you think it needs fixing, and that's home team hosts. For most of us, we just paid money for a conference tournament, and may be paying again for Frozen Four tickets (and if you don't live in the same town as your school, you also shelled out extra money for the first round of your conference tournament). Then you find out on Sunday where you are playing the following weekend, and if you're a fan of a western school, you probably have to make short-notice flight and hotel arrangements. Add in that it's Easter weekend, and I don't know why anyone would be surprised that there's low attendance at the regionals.

Offsetting this, neutral site regionals at least offer a more level playing field, particularly given how razor-thin differences can be in the Pairwise (If we went to all home ice matchups in the first round, can you really say that a #7 "earned" home ice over a #10, for instance?). Decide which we think is more important, and move forward, but don't expect you'll ever increase attendance much with the current setup.

The case against the #1 seeds hosting is Quinnipiac. 3100 capacity is a problem especially considering Albany's Saturday attendance of 5326. Heaven forbid Union ever getting a #1 seed again.

 

[Sean Pickett]

Re: Regional Attendance

I think the real problem is most fans who attend college hockey games are not college hockey fans. Yes, they are fans of their school and team,, but they have no interest in watching college hockey if their team isn't playing. The lower attendance for all four regional finals supports this. Furthermore, as has been mentioned before, with the regionals between the league tournaments and the Frozen Four, which most fans likely consider more important, they are like a bastard child no one really cares about. The Debacle in Detroit showed that the college hockey fanbase has a clear upper limit and there are just so many games that fanbase can support.

So, instead of coming up with ways to fix the NCAA regionals, how about coming up with ways to turn more fans of each team into college hockey fans?

Sean

 

[J.D.]

Re: Regional Attendance

People on this board are diehards. Most of us will fork over the money for these tickets. A lot of people who aren't on this board won't. When you also see a 9 PM game night before Easter and the game is on TV, pretty easy decision for the casual fan to stay home and watch on TV. Especially if you have young kids etc.

Also, while attendance in St. Paul was a disgrace, why are we having regionals in NHL arenas?

It's not just one factor. It's collective stupidity across the board. The bottom line if if the people in charge really cared about atmosphere, changes would have been made by now.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: Regional Attendance

I thought the Albany regional was attended very well by both Q and RIT fans for the 4 pm game. The lower bowl looked mostly full. The upper bowl was empty but someone told me they weren't even selling seats there. Having the 730 game on Sunday night would be hard for many people whether it was easter or not.

Which is why my original post focused on the time element, not the pricing. Prices are set by the hosts with some guidance from the NCAA. If they haven't learned to lower prices yet, they aren't going to. Maybe the NCAA/ESPN will address the scheduling concerns though. Maybe they can't do the noon start on Saturday because of lacrosse, but it really makes no difference to ESPN if they are broadcasting an afternoon game from St Paul or Albany. No reason not to make that easy change.

 

[fightingsiouxfan16]

Re: Regional Attendance

I think the real problem is most fans who attend college hockey games are not college hockey fans. Yes, they are fans of their school and team,, but they have no interest in watching college hockey if their team isn't playing. The lower attendance for all four regional finals supports this. Furthermore, as has been mentioned before, with the regionals between the league tournaments and the Frozen Four, which most fans likely consider more important, they are like a bastard child no one really cares about. The Debacle in Detroit showed that the college hockey fanbase has a clear upper limit and there are just so many games that fanbase can support.

So, instead of coming up with ways to fix the NCAA regionals, how about coming up with ways to turn more fans of each team into college hockey fans?

Sean

You would have to do what football does. ESPN televises high school football games and puts out lists of the best players and since were the only country that really plays our football you can do this. When it comes to hockey you have prolly never heard of most of these kids. There juniors leagues all over the world and they are not on TV. Football has the perfect system. You can watch the kids in high school and follow them all the way through the nfl if they make it. It was nice to see in albany RPI and Union fans. I even saw a Clarkson fan. I saw NoDak fans as well represented in Albany.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Regional Attendance

It isn't just the cost of the ticket. Travel, lodging, food, parking... it all adds up. The fact that you can't leave the arena between games means you're forced to pay those ridiculous concession prices. Two of us spent over well $400.00 for the weekend in Albany and we didn't stay there. That's a lot of money for 3 hockey games.

Of course, my team won it all so it was worth every penny, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the high cost.

Did you buy the prime rib at the game? I've spent at or around $400 on weekends that included airfare, hotel, rental car, and game tickets multiple times. You complain about not being able to leave between games and having to pay concession prices, but unless you're leaving to go to McDonalds, the majority of the time bar food is hardly priced reasonably.

Perhaps going back to a modified super regional system would work? One eastern and one western site, eight teams in each, two sub "regions" of four per site. Region A plays two on Friday, 4pm & 7pm, championship Saturday night 8pm. Region B plays two on Saturday, 1 pm, 4 pm, championship Sunday at 5 or 6. Now there's eight fan bases there, perhaps create some rules for rewarding the higher seeds with spots at the closest region.

 

[Speed Kills]

Exactly. As has been pointed out in years past, the problem with regional attendance is exacerbated by the fact that fans really don't know where there team is going to be playing until the Sunday before the regional. Try to book an airline flight from Grand Forks to Cincinnati on a Sunday night or Monday morning, for a departure that coming Thursday or Friday. Minimum $700 is my guess.

Very few "random" fans come in off the street or from the hosting city if they have no team in the fight. They might if the ticket prices were extremely low, but not at $50/person, plus all the parking, food, etc..., costs built in.

This is why lower ticket prices is the key to boosting attendance. More people who are local to the host cities that are not necessarily fans of any of the teams involved might check it out if it was more affordable. College hockey might even gain a handful of new fans along the way too.

 

[CLS]

Re: Regional Attendance

I personally didn't think the prices were excessive; I paid $48.50 for the Friday session in Worcester. I did not attend the Saturday finals. Price was not a consideration, but game time definitely was (in fact it was the only consideration). It wasn't their fault that the Friday session went so late, but a 9:00 scheduled start is just too late for me, even with an easy commute. I opted to watch the game on TV (with the added benefit that I was able to watch other games live on TV).

The ability to watch Regionals on TV is a mixed blessing. It's great to be able to do it, with the added benefit of being able to DVR and skip games that don't turn out to be very interesting, but it's also the reason for the 9:00 start time.

I also agree with tiered pricing. Most people are used to it, and it would benefit both people like me who aren't particularly price-sensitive and people who are (was actually pleased to have to stand in line at the box office, behind several families with kids). Probably would be more of them if there were cheaper seats available. For those familiar with Worcester, there were about three or four rows open of the upper bowl open on the ends, but the sides appeared to be open all the way up.

 

[fightingsiouxfan16]

Re: Regional Attendance

Did you buy the prime rib at the game? I've spent at or around $400 on weekends that included airfare, hotel, rental car, and game tickets multiple times. You complain about not being able to leave between games and having to pay concession prices, but unless you're leaving to go to McDonalds, the majority of the time bar food is hardly priced reasonably.

Perhaps going back to a modified super regional system would work? One eastern and one western site, eight teams in each, two sub "regions" of four per site. Region A plays two on Friday, 4pm & 7pm, championship Saturday night 8pm. Region B plays two on Saturday, 1 pm, 4 pm, championship Sunday at 5 or 6. Now there's eight fan bases there, perhaps create some rules for rewarding the higher seeds with spots at the closest region.

Pearl St Pub in albany was very reasonable. 3 bucks for a 16oz budwesier and 11 bucks for a whole 14inch pizza. It was cheaper to eat there then at the arena.

 

[manurespreader]

Re: Regional Attendance

The case against the #1 seeds hosting is Quinnipiac. 3100 capacity is a problem especially considering Albany's Saturday attendance of 5326. Heaven forbid Union ever getting a #1 seed again.

not to mention FSU or WMU or LSSu or any number of other places. It's not just capacity either. Some of these small towns can't provide services for the teams alone let alone fans. Ever been to Hamilton, Ny? Want to try to bring in 3 other teams and all that goes with them and find hotels for them ? plus the fans? What about up to the north Country? it's unworkable.But I agree we need to find smaller arenas.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Regional Attendance

The case against the #1 seeds hosting is Quinnipiac. 3100 capacity is a problem especially considering Albany's Saturday attendance of 5326. Heaven forbid Union ever getting a #1 seed again.

Exactly, Providence would be another case - 3,000 capacity. That would mean two regional sites would be held in bandboxes. Heaven forbid Merrimack ever hosted in that little high school gym they call a facility with a grandfathered-in below-standard rink size.

 

[riverchief1]

Re: Regional Attendance

Did you buy the prime rib at the game? I've spent at or around $400 on weekends that included airfare, hotel, rental car, and game tickets multiple times. You complain about not being able to leave between games and having to pay concession prices, but unless you're leaving to go to McDonalds, the majority of the time bar food is hardly priced reasonably.

Best concession deal in Albany were the $8.50 loaded nachos with chili, jalapenos, sour cream, salsa, etc. Had 'em both days and wish they had a similar product at Lowell's Tsongas Center as you pretty much pay the same for a bag of chips and a container of cheese to dip them in there.

Easter killed Lowell's attendance, not the pricing and distance, and nothing you can do about the timing of the holiday. Lowell fans attended in droves at Bridgeport, Manchester, and Worcester the last few years and absent the holiday weekend, you would have seen the same in Albany.

 

[billmich88888]

Re: Regional Attendance

To the original poster, game times at the same site need to be 3.5 hours apart (you have then at 3) -
2.5 hours for the game, and 1 hour in between. Look at the current regionals times for day 1, and semi-finals for the conference tourneys.

3.5 hours is the standard and no way to compress that

 

[Rover]

Re: Regional Attendance

How well do schools promote/help with logistics to the event? 20 years ago BU was very good about getting you to the FF. They had a deal with a travel agent for the flights, a hotel worked out where the fans stayed, etc. I know its easier now to make your own travel arrangements, but for students do schools organize several busses to go out to these places anymore? If not that might help a bit. BU does little anymore I understand in terms of getting fans to away games and tournaments.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Regional Attendance

Pearl St Pub in albany was very reasonable. 3 bucks for a 16oz budwesier and 11 bucks for a whole 14inch pizza. It was cheaper to eat there then at the arena.

Plus tip, plus tax, and suddenly we're at $17-18 for beer and pizza. Not a heck of a lot less than concessions. Point is, the no leaving between games thing for concessions is a pretty lame reason to not go to a regional. They do the same thing for basketball and I've not once heard a single basketball fan ever complain about this.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Regional Attendance

This is why lower ticket prices is the key to boosting attendance. More people who are local to the host cities that are not necessarily fans of any of the teams involved might check it out if it was more affordable. College hockey might even gain a handful of new fans along the way too.

I agree with this. Now, I'm sure they have some smart people calculating out figures in regard to what they get for attendance now vs. what they charge. So perhaps lowering ticket prices might lead to more people but fewer money being made overall? Like I said, I'm sure they have people who study that stuff. But I think it's obvious that lowering prices would lead to more people. They just don't care about the atmosphere. I think coaches and players do but ultimately how much say do coaches have in all this?

 

[billmich88888]

Re: Regional Attendance

Point is, the no leaving between games thing for concessions is a pretty lame reason to not go to a regional. They do the same thing for basketball and I've not once heard a single basketball fan ever complain about this.

2 basketball games (4:45 ish) takes up less time than 2 hockey games (6 hours min.)

1) games are shorter (2 hours vs 2:30)
2) less turn time between games (30-45 min versus 1 hour)

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Regional Attendance

How well do schools promote/help with logistics to the event? 20 years ago BU was very good about getting you to the FF. They had a deal with a travel agent for the flights, a hotel worked out where the fans stayed, etc. I know its easier now to make your own travel arrangements, but for students do schools organize several busses to go out to these places anymore? If not that might help a bit. BU does little anymore I understand in terms of getting fans to away games and tournaments.

BU did nothing this year, though to be expected since it was so far away. In the years BU was in Manchester, they did virtually nothing for students, and nothing for alums/other fans. I think there may have been a pregame event in Manchester last year. 09 was my senior year, they offered no ticket discount ($90 tickets for a college student are hardly easy to afford) were haggled by us into offering a bus up to Manchester at the last minute, which iirc they charged $5 for. They did run multiple buses to Worcester in 2006, none in 2005. I certainly don't expect them to run buses for alumni and non-students, but outside of a few emails here and there the week of the event, there was little promotion. At least last year, the 2pm Friday slot for our first round game was an absolute killer.

Perhaps the NCAA can offer discounted tickets in a designated corner or upper level section for students of the four schools, $20 a game or something like that. They're certainly not at a loss for those empty corner sections.