If Chicago had an arena that was less than 10k in the downtown area, or on the 'L' I think it would be a more viable option. I like the idea of Chicago, but I'm not sure how well it works in reality. I don't really see Minneapolis being in the same boat though, while it may be the center of the hockey universe it's not the center of our conference. In fact I would make the argument that it's one of the harder cities for conference teams to get to, especially if you consider Chicago as an alternative (and it's airports).
[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td]Minneapolis[/td]
[td]Grand Rapids[/td]
[td]Chicago[/td]
[td]Marquette[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Alabama Huntsville[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bemidji[/td]
[td]3.5[/td]
[td]12.5[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td]7[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bowling Green[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ferris State[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]3.5[/td]
[td]6[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Lake State[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[td]4.5[/td]
[td]7[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Michigan Tech[/td]
[td]6[/td]
[td]8.5[/td]
[td]7[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota St[/td]
[td]1.5[/td]
[td]9.5[/td]
[td]7[/td]
[td]8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Northern Michigan[/td]
[td]7[/td]
[td]6.5[/td]
[td]6.5[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Average[/td]
[td]7.75[/td]
[td]6.9[/td]
[td]6.75[/td]
[td]6.1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Extreme Drives (8+)[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]