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UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

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Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Ok, so if $ from scratched Cowell upgrade is invested instead on a Jumbotron at the Whitt, we can see replays of goals, such as some of those nine scored last night.
 
I'm going to play devils advocate here and ask why the University is going to spend $$$$ (fill in the blank for me) to "upgrade" Cowell Stadium. The football team has been successful to a certain point (very similar to the hockey team btw) over the last ten years. But despite that success, there are many games each season where the attendance is in the 6-7,000 range. Sure homecoming does well, and it looked like the Maine game last Saturday had pretty good attendance, but I don't see students, faculty, the community in general busting down the doors week after week to watch UNH football. This leads to me to ask if "upgrading" Cowell is a good investment for the school and for the state.

Now some will say that the facilities have to be upgraded in order for UNH to continue to compete with their peers in the CAA and the FCS. But is that really necessary? It has been cited several times by people with more knowledge than me that very few FCS actually make money on football, including places like Montana and Delaware. I don't know how much UNH football spends each year (I've heard over $2,000,000) but they definitely run the program at a deficit. A Cowell Stadium upgrade would just increase that at a time when the Univeristy can't afford it. Just one man's opinion.

Maybe we can just agree to revisit this topic in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future, Greg. :-)
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Agree 100% with the poster who said we may not be seeing Wyer again anytime soon.

Or we can just keep waiting until those numbers even out. That's inevitable, small sample, etc. right?

Boys need to bounce back this weekend, and play well the following weekend vs. BC to finish up 2013 in decent shape.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend!! :)
 
Agree 100% with the poster who said we may not be seeing Wyer again anytime soon.

Or we can just keep waiting until those numbers even out. That's inevitable, small sample, etc. right?

Boys need to bounce back this weekend, and play well the following weekend vs. BC to finish up 2013 in decent shape.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend!! :)

You have a happy Thanksgiving, too, Chuck. Thanks for not gloating about the SOG differential in game last night.
 
I'm going to play devils advocate here and ask why the University is going to spend $$$$ (fill in the blank for me) to "upgrade" Cowell Stadium. The football team has been successful to a certain point (very similar to the hockey team btw) over the last ten years. But despite that success, there are many games each season where the attendance is in the 6-7,000 range. Sure homecoming does well, and it looked like the Maine game last Saturday had pretty good attendance, but I don't see students, faculty, the community in general busting down the doors week after week to watch UNH football. This leads to me to ask if "upgrading" Cowell is a good investment for the school and for the state.

Now some will say that the facilities have to be upgraded in order for UNH to continue to compete with their peers in the CAA and the FCS. But is that really necessary? It has been cited several times by people with more knowledge than me that very few FCS actually make money on football, including places like Montana and Delaware. I don't know how much UNH football spends each year (I've heard over $2,000,000) but they definitely run the program at a deficit. A Cowell Stadium upgrade would just increase that at a time when the Univeristy can't afford it. Just one man's opinion.

I will play devil's advocate with you...why invest any money in a hockey program that can't sell out games and has to resort to giving away tickets to professors?

The football program is a money loss for the university so get rid of the program if you are not going to upgrade the stadium to compete with conference peers!
 
I will play devil's advocate with you...why invest any money in a hockey program that can't sell out games and has to resort to giving away tickets to professors?

The football program is a money loss for the university so get rid of the program if you are not going to upgrade the stadium to compete with conference peers!

I think that you answered your own question. All other sports are a loss except for men's hockey, even without sell outs at Lake Whitt. Marty $carano has found enough corporate deep pockets willing to purchase exorbitantly priced season hockey tickets to keep the entire athletic program afloat, barely. Probably at least 1000 of those empty seats that were part of the supposed 4600 in attendance were already paid in full.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

I think that you answered your own question. All other sports are a loss except for men's hockey, even without sell outs at Lake Whitt. Marty $carano has found enough corporate deep pockets willing to purchase exorbitantly priced season hockey tickets to keep the entire athletic program afloat, barely. Probably at least 1000 of those empty seats that were part of the supposed 4600 in attendance were already paid in full.

According to the Equity in Athletics data...The men's athletic department broke even.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/InstDet...d31312f32382f323031332031323a30303a323120414d
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Marty $carano has found enough corporate deep pockets willing to purchase exorbitantly priced season hockey tickets to keep the entire athletic program afloat, barely. Probably at least 1000 of those empty seats that were part of the supposed 4600 in attendance were already paid in full.
The $ sign is a compliment. UNH athletics is always scrambling for money, performs well given the circumstances. The teams compete in half a dozen conferences, no easy task.

... a hockey program that can't sell out games and has to resort to giving away tickets to professors?
A nice perk for employees, seats are there, so why not? BU did the same thing 2 seasons ago for the 3rd game of the HEA 1st round playoffs.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Quote Originally Posted by Snively65 View Post

... a hockey program that can't sell out games and has to resort to giving away tickets to professors?"

A nice perk for employees, seats are there, so why not? BU did the same thing 2 seasons ago for the 3rd game of the HEA 1st round playoffs.

I do not disagree, but I was not the one who wrote what you quoted. :confused:
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

I truly believe that Darius is much closer to having it right than most others on this board when it comes to ticket prices and the positive karma from having a Tuesday night pre-Thanksgiving faculty/staff free ticket giveaway (having no real revenue loss as a result). It might lead some to ask about season tickets after watching their students in action on the ice. If Freak states one more time that ticket prices have gone up, and that we have the least value versus other programs, I am going to blow a head gasket. My center ice tickets have gone down about 6 dollars per ticket per game this year from last. We have 20 games for ~380 dollars this year versus 18 for 460ish last year. It might be best to give Freak his 12 dollar standing room tickets and if he can wear a pink hat while standing and if he sits down he should have to pay another 12 dollars for a seat. UNH might check tickets of people going down aisles and not allow the Snively 65's of the world to game the system. Most other schools have this policy and it seems to keep the bargain hunters from sitting in prime seating.

If you are not happy with the product or the price, do not come to the games and do not cheer for the team. If you have good seats, there will be someone who would be happy to have those seats as it is my understanding that we have added several hundred new ticket holders as a result of the price drop this year. I am tired of reading how our athletic department is taking us for every last cent. The value versus prior seasons is very noticeable to those sitting in my section. The student fees cover far more of the athletic budget than ticket sales and we might be grateful that we have a hockey and football team that has consistently participated in their respective NCAA tournaments.

For comparison purposes with hockey east schools and other top programs we play this year, here are the game prices for a lower bowl between the face off circles seat:

BC $25
BU $28
Merrimack $25
Vermont $22
Maine $23-$50
UMass Amherst $18.75
Providence $12
UMass Lowell $17
Northeastern $20
Notre Dame $16-25
Minnesota $35
Colorado College $35-$40

UNH ~ $19

I would love to pay less money than I do, but I believe I am getting better value now than at any time over the past few decades with the new pricing structure. I think it might be wise to dramatically reduce the number of televised games to increase ticket sales as those on the margins would be far more likely to come to games if not on TV and I believe the school gets little or nothing from the televised games. As a regular attendee, it is better for the flow of the game and the time to complete the game without the TV timeouts. It might make more sense to televise games when we are completely sold out for the season. It would be nice to play Maine, BC, BU and Notre Dame four times each at home to sell out the house, but that is not how the schedules are drafted. It should be apparent to those attending regularly that January home games are sparsely attended and it must make sense to even the biggest whiners on this site to discount these games to increase the attendance. I buy tickets because I am invested long-term in our consistently excellent hockey program. There are very few that have been as exciting and competitive for such a long period of time. I thank all of the other long-term season ticket holders for staying the course and keeping UNH as either the number one or number two attendance leader in Hockey East since the Whittemore Center opened.

Let us all hope that the team finishes the first half well and has a terrific second half and another NCAA berth.

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

I truly believe that Darius is much closer to having it right than most others on this board when it comes to ticket prices and the positive karma from having a Tuesday night pre-Thanksgiving faculty/staff free ticket giveaway (having no real revenue loss as a result). It might lead some to ask about season tickets after watching their students in action on the ice. If Freak states one more time that ticket prices have gone up, and that we have the least value versus other programs, I am going to blow a head gasket. My center ice tickets have gone down about 6 dollars per ticket per game this year from last. We have 20 games for ~380 dollars this year versus 18 for 460ish last year. It might be best to give Freak his 12 dollar standing room tickets and if he can wear a pink hat while standing and if he sits down he should have to pay another 12 dollars for a seat. UNH might check tickets of people going down aisles and not allow the Snively 65's of the world to game the system. Most other schools have this policy and it seems to keep the bargain hunters from sitting in prime seating.

If you are not happy with the product or the price, do not come to the games and do not cheer for the team. If you have good seats, there will be someone who would be happy to have those seats as it is my understanding that we have added several hundred new ticket holders as a result of the price drop this year. I am tired of reading how our athletic department is taking us for every last cent. The value versus prior seasons is very noticeable to those sitting in my section. The student fees cover far more of the athletic budget than ticket sales and we might be grateful that we have a hockey and football team that has consistently participated in their respective NCAA tournaments.

For comparison purposes with hockey east schools and other top programs we play this year, here are the game prices for a lower bowl between the face off circles seat:

BC $25
BU $28
Merrimack $25
Vermont $22
Maine $23-$50
UMass Amherst $18.75
Providence $12
UMass Lowell $17
Northeastern $20
Notre Dame $16-25
Minnesota $35
Colorado College $35-$40

UNH ~ $19

I would love to pay less money than I do, but I believe I am getting better value now than at any time over the past few decades with the new pricing structure. I think it might be wise to dramatically reduce the number of televised games to increase ticket sales as those on the margins would be far more likely to come to games if not on TV and I believe the school gets little or nothing from the televised games. As a regular attendee, it is better for the flow of the game and the time to complete the game without the TV timeouts. It might make more sense to televise games when we are completely sold out for the season. It would be nice to play Maine, BC, BU and Notre Dame four times each at home to sell out the house, but that is not how the schedules are drafted. It should be apparent to those attending regularly that January home games are sparsely attended and it must make sense to even the biggest whiners on this site to discount these games to increase the attendance. I buy tickets because I am invested long-term in our consistently excellent hockey program. There are very few that have been as exciting and competitive for such a long period of time. I thank all of the other long-term season ticket holders for staying the course and keeping UNH as either the number one or number two attendance leader in Hockey East since the Whittemore Center opened.

Let us all hope that the team finishes the first half well and has a terrific second half and another NCAA berth.

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Thanks for all the insight . Hopefully things will turnaround . A strong UNH team and fan base is important to HockeyEast
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

I think it might be wise to dramatically reduce the number of televised games to increase ticket sales as those on the margins would be far more likely to come to games if not on TV and I believe the school gets little or nothing from the televised games. As a regular attendee, it is better for the flow of the game and the time to complete the game without the TV timeouts. It might make more sense to televise games when we are completely sold out for the season.

I didn't realize there were that many televised UNH home games in recent seasons? Regardless, I think reducing the team's presence on TV would be short-sighted. We've lived within 10 miles of the rinks for the last 25+ years now, and despite the fact that this is a relatively small, tight-knit community, you would be shocked to find out just how many hockey fans are out there who have absolutely no idea that we have this excellent product (UNH Hockey and Hockey East) sitting right in our back yard. Kids who think the end-all, be-all is an overpriced Bruins' game an hour away, or even a Monarchs or Pirates AHL game 45 minutes away. Not that those aren't viable options and obviously NHL hockey is the pinnacle of the sport ... but having UNH as your very own "home team" in a great conference like Hockey East, playing against schools that are recognizable and not all that far away if you want to see road games.

UNH used to send its players out into the community, and I know lots of local families who were impressed, and how that started more than a few young kids along the path to following the 'Cats' fortunes. I'm not sure if they do stuff like that anymore, but I do believe UNH can (and must) do much much more in that vein to maximize their own local fan base. I think things got to the point where there were regular sellouts for so long, and with a huge waiting list for season tickets, people at the UNH AD's offices got complacent. Now there are no sellouts and there is no waiting list. Some of that is no doubt down to the gradual slide of the program from perennial contenders near the top of HE (and nationally) to being a slightly above-average program on both fronts.

It's good to hear that some concessions have been made on pricing for the season ticket holders, who in the past have been milked for far too much (BTW I haven't been a season ticket holder since the Snively days, so I'm not one of those "victims"), and that's a good first step. Better work out in the community to raise awareness, combined with some additional TV games (not less) should build up the young off-campus fanbase. The rest is down to improved results out on the ice, and reversing the trend of the last decade. JMHO.
 
Re: UNH Wildcats 2013-14 Season Thread

Unh grad here but PC season ticket holder...anyways with the renovations at Scheinder they added a handicap area right in front of my seats that obstructs my view. Called PC up and they moved my seats with little questions asked.

Would that get done at UNH? I doubt it
 
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