Re: What if the Committee Decides to Makes Changes to the Tournament Design?
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But back in 2005 when Columbus hosted the Frozen Four, I also tried to play the Zoo card. (Think Jack Hanna & David Letterman) The invite fell on deaf ears.
Don't know why those from the East Coast are so reluctant to cross the Hudson. But otherwise solid people believe in all seriousness that Buffalo and Pittsburgh are Western cities, and that traveling to such distant locales is too arduous to be seriously considered. Or, if they find their courage, they'll head straight to Yellowstone and attempt to feed the bears out their car windows.
My point being that it's best to be realistic and just keep smiling. We can throw the party in Omaha or Columbus, but most of our Eastern friends aren't coming.
pgb, wondered when you were going to enter the fray. It’s been hard for me to stay away, but now that someone else who’s been debating this topic for years is in, I’m engaged.
I went to Columbus and I had a fine time. I’d go to Omaha and have a fine time. I don’t think the swipe at Easterners is fair (and yes, I understand that you said “most”) for a couple of reasons.
First, it wasn’t just easterners who didn’t come to Columbus. The lack of fans from the east is somewhat understandable given the participants. Why weren’t there more fans from Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver, and CC, or the then-WCHA (who had teams in the FF) or then-CCHA fans, who had the FF in their back yard?
Second, the regional “problem” is a
western problem. I’m not saying that’s poor reflection on western fans; it’s a result of factors beyond their control, like population density and geography, but it’s also true that if major changes have to be made in the tournament structure, which by and large works at least adequately in the east, it’s because of attendance problems in the
western regionals.
And I’ve also seen no answer to the rink being too small problem, which is real, not theoretical. A couple of years ago, a couple of
thousand people would have been turned away from a first round game at Quinnipiac. Who are you going to screw? The home fans? The visitor fans? The students?
IMHO, the NCAA selection of tourney sites and the Final Four locations is/are pretty nutty.
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Ask the NCAA how they feel about Omaha's ability to stage a National Championship event.
Huh?
You tell us the NCAA's process is "nutty", then propose them as a reference?
FWIW, the City of Omaha took a run at the NCAA about a decade ago about having BOTH Frozen Fours in Omaha, and at the same time. The CenturyLink Center, now about to becomes UNO's 2nd ex-home (capacity 17,100 for hockey) is walking distance from the Omaha Civic Auditorium (capacity 8,314 for hockey) where UNO used to play and, about 2 miles away, right across the river from downtown Omaha in Council Bluffs, is the Mid-America Center (capacity 6,700 for hockey and only 1 year older than the Clink) where the Omaha Lancers used to play until they moved to their new arena in the Omaha suburb of Ralston two years ago.
The thinking was they would use all 3 facilities for this "event". I spoke to a MECA board member around that time who is also the former Mayor of Omaha who told me that if that wasn't "enough" facilities to pull this off, as far as the NCAA was concerned, that they'd have thrown Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum (capacity of about 6,200 for hockey and is another ex-home of the Omaha Lancers) into the mix, because, it was still standing then when they floated this idea to the NCAA.
Needless to say, this did not come to pass, but I believe it is this kind of out-of-the-box thinking the sport of college hockey needs to promote itself.
This isn’t “out of the box” thinking. This is irrelevant thinking. If 17,000 wasn’t deemed large enough by the NCAA, then I have sympathy for you; the hockey seating capacity for Boston is only 17,500. And if 17,000 is enough, then all three FF games could be there. The 6,000 and 8,000 seat venues add nothing. If you were talking about holding the women’s FF there, that's way too large. You do realize that this year it was at an arena with 3,400 capacity, right? And please don’t try to tell me that the difference would be made up by fans who are in town for the men’s FF; they’d all be at the zoo
Regionals and Frozen Fours would get the same treatment, I believe, if held in the "right locations".
I have a suggestion. 8,300 and 6,200 are fine sizes for a regional. Put in a bid for a western regional, make it a success. Then bid for the FF.
Why do you want to make the cut-off at 4, rather than 8?
Seems to me you have to make a call at some point.
The PWR decides who gets to host and who goes on the road. We as a community have come to accept that in terms of #15 getting to play for a championship while #16 gets to play golf, and I don't see much difference in the home/away situation.
I understand what you’re saying, I just don’t agree. I accept the PWR methodology because it’s a better alternative than the smoke filled room, and I don’t have any sympathy for the 15th or 16th best teams. But such a flawed system (more caused by schedule insularity than by the formula itself) shouldn’t be used for something as valuable as home ice.
Um, no. On the chance you actually misunderstood my post: I'm opposed to holding tournaments where fans won't attend.
