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WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

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Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

jdmaxim23 said:
These are very good points and I agree with your thinking that nothing will be changing anytime soon. However, I attend UMD games, and know alot of season ticket holders and I have to disagree with the assessment that attendance or interest is up. BSU, Mankato and Tech games were much better attended with travelling fans then WMU, Miami or CC. People forget that the average UMD fan sees these teams (wcha members) on a regular basis in all UMD sports so its a common opponent.
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If his premise had been correct then nchc attendance would have risen after the split, but it didn't. A number of nchc teams felt, wrongly, that the old teams were hurting them. That has not turned out to be the case. Having said that I'm surprised CC continues to get pretty good attendance, despite being terrible.
 
Hammer said:
Half-serious question: Did Eastern Michigan draw 15,000 for the season?
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I do know there are schools that rely on businesses and donors to purchase tickets so they can use those numbers towards attendance. They struggle giving those tickets away.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

manurespreader said:
If his premise had been correct then nchc attendance would have risen after the split, but it didn't. A number of nchc teams felt, wrongly, that the old teams were hurting them. That has not turned out to be the case. Having said that I'm surprised CC continues to get pretty good attendance, despite being terrible.
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DU and NoDak felt they deserved more for "carrying the league's water" every year, in that teams like UAA and MTU were perpetually "leeching" their Final Five money. Somehow, Miami was wooed to help start the new league with them with promises of Final Five-esque money, because the CCHA didn't pay out a dime at season end. CC was a piggy back member thanks to DU. Omaha joined because of (my guess) Blais's former involvement with UND, and wanting to continue to play those teams. Still haven't figured out tUMD's role in the formation of the then Motel 6 Hockey Conference.

We're all aware that Western started their infamous "Why Western?" as an odd cry for acceptance. And SCSU, as correctly pointed out before, admitted that they refused to be a part of such an implosion, until they received a letter with monopoly money promising them "This is what you could earn!" Then, they changed their tune pretty quickly making it the current eight team NCHC.



To sum it up... DU, UND, and Miami: hated traveling to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Upper Peninsula; hated "giving" money to those schools; thus formed a new league. You'll never see an Alaskan school nor a UP school in the NCHC. Ever.


The irony that George Gwozdecky was one of the key architects of the NCHC and was promptly fired before ever playing a game in the league he helped form has never been lost on me.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

manurespreader said:
If his premise had been correct then nchc attendance would have risen after the split, but it didn't. A number of nchc teams felt, wrongly, that the old teams were hurting them. That has not turned out to be the case. Having said that I'm surprised CC continues to get pretty good attendance, despite being terrible.
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Exactly... and I'll be the first to admit that I'm only using UMD as the example and do not know the other NaCHO schools attendance numbers the last few years. You can see it at the games, and hear it in conversations with casual fans.. the majority I speak to do not like the new arrangement. This is not unique to UMD, Gopher fans are also very upset at the way this all shook out. Nothing is changing soon, but I would be willing to bet that attendance does not pick up anytime soon for these new conference foes. I still think (or maybe hold out hope) that WMU and Miami are going to bail to the WCHA/ CCHA to be with BGSU and closer geographical rivals once they realize that the money train UND and Denver promised isn't just delayed.. its never coming. The logical thing at that point is to swap BSU and MSU-M to the NaCHO.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

aparch said:
...
To sum it up... DU, UND, and Miami: hated traveling to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Upper Peninsula; hated "giving" money to those schools; thus formed a new league. You'll never see an Alaskan school nor a UP school in the NCHC. Ever.


The irony that George Gwozdecky was one of the key architects of the NCHC and was promptly fired before ever playing a game in the league he helped form has never been lost on me.
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The irony is that DU had absolutely no leg to stand on as far as "giving" money to those other schools because they really didn't bring any money to the table, other than gates from their home playoff games, which was a drop in the bucket compared to Final Five $$$.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

Shirtless Guy said:
The irony is that DU had absolutely no leg to stand on as far as "giving" money to those other schools because they really didn't bring any money to the table, other than gates from their home playoff games, which was a drop in the bucket compared to Final Five $$$.
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The 3 DU fans are going to be offended by this.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

pdt1081 said:
That "average" is very loosely defined. There are many schools currently playing D1 that don't average that many bodies in the stands.
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EMU (Eastern Mich)is a great example. Defies me to think why they even have a football team.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

davyd83 said:
According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, women's BBALL coach Matt Bolant made $150,000. Then Kevin Borseth returned from Michigan where he was pulling down a total package worth around $300,000. He was previously at $119,000 base at UWGB. New UWGB men's coach Linc Darner is getting $230,000 according to the Press Gazette.
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Curious where did Borseth go? Thought he was still at UWGB
 
jdmaxim23 said:
Exactly... and I'll be the first to admit that I'm only using UMD as the example and do not know the other NaCHO schools attendance numbers the last few years. You can see it at the games, and hear it in conversations with casual fans.. the majority I speak to do not like the new arrangement. This is not unique to UMD, Gopher fans are also very upset at the way this all shook out. Nothing is changing soon, but I would be willing to bet that attendance does not pick up anytime soon for these new conference foes. I still think (or maybe hold out hope) that WMU and Miami are going to bail to the WCHA/ CCHA to be with BGSU and closer geographical rivals once they realize that the money train UND and Denver promised isn't just delayed.. its never coming. The logical thing at that point is to swap BSU and MSU-M to the NaCHO.
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I'm not really sure what your talking about here. The NCHC coming out ahead at the end of the year while the WCHA isnt making enough. It might not be as much as everybody thought it was gonna be but I'm pretty sure no teams are even close to thinking about moving to a different conference.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

Sioux-perDrunk said:
I'm not really sure what your talking about here. The NCHC coming out ahead at the end of the year while the WCHA isnt making enough. It might not be as much as everybody thought it was gonna be but I'm pretty sure no teams are even close to thinking about moving to a different conference.
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To be fair, there is no hard facts to prove the the WCHA MEN are losing money. The WCHA numbers reported were both men and women and we can all assume that WCHA women is losing money...the big question is how much of those numbers is Women's.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

net presence said:
This, in turn, is leading to (at least in general) very solid success at the gate for most of the NCHC schools.

Yes, I know, some will point to the recent resurgence in attendance at Tech, BGSU, and Mankato since they’ve become the top teams in the conference and say that, even if Duluth were to switch, as long as Duluth continues to win they’ll continue to draw well. I’m not so sure and here’s why – for Tech and BGSU, it had been so long (decades) since they had been truly relevant on the ice, that it’s only natural that their attendance would spike with the recent level of on ice success, regardless of who they’re playing.
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Not exactly.
Miami State's attendance is not up since joining the Nachos--it ain't brag-worthy, despite the success of the nachos and the shiny arena in Oxford.

BGSU's attendance is up some since the team's near-death experience, but it's not that much more than the CCHA bottomfeeder days as you might think. Winning helps, but the big draws are still vs. the old Ohio/Michigan rivals.
So no, not really seeing that BGSU's attendance is spiking because of success and regardless of who's playing... Attendance spikes when the old rivals are in the barn.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

pdt1081 said:
I do know there are schools that rely on businesses and donors to purchase tickets so they can use those numbers towards attendance. They struggle giving those tickets away.
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Eastern is certainly one of those schools. When my sister was attending CMU, she brought that up that oftentimes they invited high school students to the games for free to boost their attendance numbers. I believe at some point (4-5 years ago) they got in trouble with the NCAA for doing that, particularly because of the minimum average attendance for D1 football.

Speaking of nothing above, this was on the USCHO home page earlier, in case you needed a laugh for today: http://www.uscho.com/2016/02/10/big...frustrations-attendance-leagues-future-plans/
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

Until the recent budget crisis in the state, I always thought UAA could move to D-I. Their problem is finding a conference.
 
Jimjamesak said:
Until the recent budget crisis in the state, I always thought UAA could move to D-I. Their problem is finding a conference.
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UAA spends more money on athletics than any other WCHA school sans BGSU, and BGSU is an outlier because they are D1 across the board. I bring this up because I don't think UAA will get through this budget crisis without taking a haircut on athletics.

I don't think it's any secret UAA fancies itself as D1, but making that leap would likely doom you to mediocrity, a la Hawaii, more than anything else. There's just not enough D1 talent in this state to support a full time D1 program and I think recruiting that level of athlete consistently from the lower 48 would be a hard bargain. There's not even enough D1/WHL hockey talent to fully support one D1 hockey program with in-state players, let alone two programs, and we like to brag about being a hockey state.

Anyway, that's not a rivalry talking...just the way I see it.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

Squarebanks said:
I don't think it's any secret UAA fancies itself as D1, but making that leap would likely doom you to mediocrity, a la Hawaii, more than anything else.
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Mid-major D1 is not for the faint of heart. Tough enough to run just your standard mediocre D1 football and hoops programs--throw in hockey and you're at a whole new level of challenge.
 
Re: WCHA 2015-16: So here's what we think that we know...

I think overall WCHA attendance is pretty good, but it could be better in places. NMU is only full when Tech is in town, Huntsville is a work in progress and I think it can be pretty good once they get a bit more competitive, UAA needs some more wins. However Mankato is quite good, Bemidji, Tech, Ferris... all very good. I think we can and should all work together to find ways of boosting those teams in need of help.
 
manurespreader said:
I think overall WCHA attendance is pretty good, but it could be better in places. NMU is only full when Tech is in town, Huntsville is a work in progress and I think it can be pretty good once they get a bit more competitive, UAA needs some more wins. However Mankato is quite good, Bemidji, Tech, Ferris... all very good. I think we can and should all work together to find ways of boosting those teams in need of help.
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NMU averages 2,000, Ferris 1850. And with an enrollment over 14,500, Ferris is the 4th largest school in the WCHA and is over 50% larger than #5 Fairbanks.
 
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