Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

BTW, How did you receive this survey? I haven't seen one, and I don't think I've ever got one in my several years of being a season ticket holder.

I received it via the e-mail address that my ticket account is tied into.

If you didn't get an email, send an email to contactus@uwbadgers.com. For some reason, I wasn't getting the men's hockey emails I should've gotten recently, so I sent a message to that address, and it got forwarded to someone who could fix the issue (he sent me a link to the survey right away).

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

I'm feeling cranky today, so . . .

Still, I think much more could have also been done on Minnesota's end too. I started looking for ticket info at the beginning of the season, and for the longest time, no information was available. When tickets finally did go on sale, it was in the middle or end of December - in the middle of the Holiday break, when hockey season isn't exactly top of mind - and I don't recall the Gopher's ever posting ticket sale info on facebook . . .

Then either your memory is bad or you weren't looking very closely, because the GWH Facebook account provided info several times. And, if you had gone to gophersports.com, you'd have seen plenty of posts about ticket information.

. . . nor do I recall ever seeing anything about it on the handful of GWH games I watched on BTN+. Obviously, the tickets sold out, and they sold out quickly so word did get out there. I assume Gopher Ticket holders were directly informed about the on sale date, but even as someone who was watching fairly closely, getting tickets wasn't that easy. I don't think selling tickets earlier would really help though, as I think that would actually give a bigger advantage to scalpers, compared to fans who want to be able to commit to going before buying tickets.

No, ARM is right about the scalpers. It's actually a pretty low margin business, though the variance can be really high with a very small number of events providing big profit opportunities. For most of them, though, the scalpers don't make much more than they paid for the tickets and the ones where they do involve a good deal of risk; if Minnesota doesn't make the Frozen Four this year, they take a bath if they bought at face value. Because of that, they need to turn their money over quickly. Buying blocks of tickets six months in advance for the Women's Frozen Four, where the potential upside isn't that great and the risk of losing money is very real, would tie up capital that they need to conduct their business at other events in the intervening period.

I'll be honest, what I'm really hearing here is a bunch of Wisconsin fans complaining that they didn't really want tickets badly enough to make sure that they got them and then blaming other people for not getting them anyway. I go to the Frozen Four every year, no matter where it is or who is playing. I don't wait until the host school posts something on a Facebook account that I don't normally follow. I don't rely upon webcasts of games to have an ad for tickets to remind me. Long about the end of September, I start checking the official webs site of the host school's athletic department. Last year, I dug through the ticket ordering process at Quinnipiac, who didn't make it very easy to find the ticket information. (Unlike gophersports.com, they didn't have big, visible posts with a link to ticket information; I had to go through a list of all upcoming events to find it.) I do this because I want two tickets to every Frozen Four badly enough to make sure it happens.

If you're saying that you don't want to take the risk of your team being there, or that you don't want to pay for another night of hotel staying because the NCAA takes the sensible action of not playing back-to-back days, or that you don't want to learn how to use Stub Hub if you decide that you don't really want to go, or any of the other reasons posted in this thread, it means that the Women's Frozen Four is not enough of a priority to you to do what it takes. That's fine; no one needs to make it your top priority. This isn't a situation in which it really is impossible to get tickets if you really want them; there are events like that (the men's Frozen Four turning into that kind of event is one of the many reasons why we no longer go to it) but this isn't one of them. If you had really wanted to go badly enough, you'd have been there. You decided that other things were more important.

For god's sake, even Grant figured out how to make it, so the bar can't be very high.

Okay, I admit it, I'm just always cranky.

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

There aren't too many NCAA championships where the emphasis is on getting tickets to the fans of the participating teams. The NCAA is always going to want to sell as many tickets as possible in advance where optimism may get fans of a number of teams to buy tickets in the hope that their team will be a participant. In general, Wisconsin women's hockey doesn't travel very well, but I have been pleasantly surprised on occasion, such as the 2009 FF in Boston, where there were A LOT of Badger fans.

I have purchased tickets to Eastern Frozen Fours on the hope that my team will be there. At that point, the airline tickets are usually a bigger risk than the tickets to the game. My hotel reservations have usually involved non-refundable points or a room that can't be cancelled to get a lower rate. It just takes a decision on whether or not you love the game enough to commit to being there even if your team isn't. I don't know why I should be denied the chance to buy a ticket in advance because fans of some other team want to wait and see before they pull the trigger. You'll never get a ticket to a men's basketball Final Four with that approach, and a lot more money will have to be spent up front on the chance that your team makes it.

If I was a Wisconsin fan, I would have for sure bought a standing room ticket back in mid-winter when it was common knowledge on this forum that tickets were fast disappearing. Anyone who didn't wasn't that concerned about ensuring they made it inside the building.

As for a FF at Kohl Center, the official word was that Grand Forks didn't get a Frozen Four when UND bid because the Ralph was considered to be too big. If REA is too big, then I'm sure Kohl Center is thought to be as well. If Wisconsin made it, the crowd for the event would be epic. If not, I've been in that building when UW has announced an attendance of ~ 3,000, but only 300 of them came dressed as humans, and it would be a pretty dismal atmosphere. Kind of like the WCHA championship game at REA w/o North Dakota.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

http://www.omavs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31400&ATCLID=209993730

One of my first Google search results just to see if men's hockey allocates tickets to qualifying teams' fan bases. Apparently not that radical of an idea.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Then either your memory is bad or you weren't looking very closely, because the GWH Facebook account provided info several times.

Well, your grumpiness might be trumping your memory, because I just went back and actually looked at all of GWH's facebook posts, and the ONLY mention of Frozen Four tickets was a post on Jan 9, indicating that tickets were almost sold out. No mention at all of tickets going on sale anywhere on or before the actual on sale date of Dec. 19.

My larger point is that to find ticket info, you had to be searching it out in the middle of the holiday break, and (based on the press release posted on gophersports) they gave all of 3 days notice that tickets were going on sale (the week before Christmas.) Was it impossible to do, no, certainly not, but it was hardly ideal. If you were a Wisconsin fan who checked for ticket info after the last game of first semester on Dec. 5, you wouldn't have found anything. But if you checked again at the start of their next game on Jan 10, the tickets were almost sold out. I don't know when Gopher season ticket holders were told about sale information, but I see a presale started before the public was even told about an on sale date (This is based on the GWH Thread here on USCHO, which also didn't make any mention of tickets going on sale until a post on 12/19). Certainly, fans of the home school are always going to - and should - get an advantage to buying tickets, but this attitude that ticket sales were widely announced and fans living outside of the Twin Cities had just as many opportunities to get tickets, and just didn't care enough to get them, simply isn't true.

This isn't a situation in which it really is impossible to get tickets if you really want them; there are events like that (the men's Frozen Four turning into that kind of event is one of the many reasons why we no longer go to it) but this isn't one of them. If you had really wanted to go badly enough, you'd have been there.

Funny, I actually think it's much easier to get ticket to an event like the Men's Frozen Four. I've gone twice - including last year in Philly on one day's notice - and I've always paid under face value, and got much better seats than I would have from the box office. There's just a much larger pool of tickets to buy from on the secondary market for an event like that. With this year's wFF, there was a relatively small pool of extra tickets on places like craigslist and stubhub, so there is little competition between scalpers to actually control prices. I was able to get tickets at a reasonable price from another USCHO poster, and I did also end up getting the chance to purchase tickets off the wait list anyway, but if it hadn't been for either of those two things, I wouldn't have gone because reasonably priced tickets were not available.

For god's sake, even Grant figured out how to make it, so the bar can't be very high.

Yes, and he got them through BC's allotment. That's exactly what people are saying should be made more available!

 

[D2D]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

With seating for 6,500 at UNH's Whittemore Center, school allotments for next year's FF will be a non-issue. And assuming UNH is not in it, an exciting atmosphere that only a packed arena can provide likely will be an issue.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Well, your grumpiness might be trumping your memory, because I just went back and actually looked at all of GWH's facebook posts, and the ONLY mention of Frozen Four tickets was a post on Jan 9, indicating that tickets were almost sold out. No mention at all of tickets going on sale anywhere on or before the actual on sale date of Dec. 19.

Wrong. I found one from Dec 19, one from Dec 18; and one from Dec 16. There may be more, but I found those pretty quickly.

My larger point is that to find ticket info, you had to be searching it out in the middle of the holiday break . . .

I'm not seeing the issue here. If you really want them, you'll look even in the middle of December. I do.

. . . and (based on the press release posted on gophersports) . . .

A part of your problem is that you're waiting for the website to tell you about tickets rather than actually contacting them yourself. Again, if this is really a priority for you, you can contact the ticket office/athletic department and find out farther in advance. Again, I do this every year that the tourney isn't in Minneapolis.

. . . they gave all of 3 days notice that tickets were going on sale (the week before Christmas.)

No, they sent out a press release 3 days before tickets went on sale. One, I'm not sure why you would need more than three days notice; what were you going to do before they went on sale. Two, if you really did need more than three days notice, there were ways to find out. Three, the whole Christmas thing continues to be irrelevant. All that is is an admission that other things were more important to you; I manage to do all sorts of things in the couple of weeks before Dec 25 even though I do take the holidays seriously.

Was it impossible to do, no, certainly not, but it was hardly ideal. If you were a Wisconsin fan who checked for ticket info after the last game of first semester on Dec. 5, you wouldn't have found anything.

No, you wouldn't have received anything. That's not the same thing as not finding out anything if you go ahead and call them.

But if you checked again at the start of their next game on Jan 10, the tickets were almost sold out.

Oddly enough, there's more than a month between those two dates. If you really couldn't manage to think about it between then, I'm skeptical as to how important this was for you. Me, I spent those five weeks thinking a lot about the team and hockey.

I don't know when Gopher season ticket holders were told about sale information . . .

If someone was relying on the ticket office to do all the work, they got about the same notice that you did. So this was not a case of them having more opportunities than you did.

. . . but I see a presale started before the public was even told about an on sale date . . .

Season ticket holders, of whom there aren't all that many, got a chance to buy their seats four days before they went on sale to the general public. Significant donors to the athletic department were able to buy seats one day before they went on sale to the general public. This wasn't really a huge number of tickets. The majority of the locals didn't get any more notice than you did and didn't have any easier time actually purchasing tickets than you would have.

(This is based on the GWH Thread here on USCHO, which also didn't make any mention of tickets going on sale until a post on 12/19). [/quote]

Oddly enough, I'd bet ARM, Crazy Dave, and the rest of them never thought it was one of our duties to tell you when tickets went on sale. It never even occurred to me that someone that really wanted to go wouldn't have done any legwork themselves.

Certainly, fans of the home school are always going to - and should - get an advantage to buying tickets, but this attitude that ticket sales were widely announced . . .

I never said it was widely announced. I said that if you really cared, you could have found all of the information you needed. I stand by that.

. . . and fans living outside of the Twin Cities had just as many opportunities to get tickets, and just didn't care enough to get them, simply isn't true.

It was more than three weeks between when tickets went on sale and when they sold out. You had more than enough opportunity to buy them. By your own admission, you didn't contact anyone yourself and waited for someone else to contact you; you stopped paying attention to the whole question for more than a month; and you didn't avail yourself of any of the options available to you. Ergo, you didn't actually care enough to get tickets. Other people, who did bother to do at least one of those things bought them before you looked into it.

Funny, I actually think it's much easier to get ticket to an event like the Men's Frozen Four.

You're wrong. We went to the men's Frozen Four every year from 1989 to 2009. By the end it was getting harder to get tickets, even if you had a high priority number because of the previous years you'd gone, let alone if you had to get tickets through some other channel one year and saw your priority level decrease. And the tickets you can get are at the very top of the arena.

I've gone twice - including last year in Philly on one day's notice - and I've always paid under face value, and got much better seats than I would have from the box office. There's just a much larger pool of tickets to buy from on the secondary market for an event like that.

Woah, there, cowboy. All of a sudden you're talking about something completely different that's completely irrelevant to everything you've said before. The availability of tickets on the secondary markethas nothing whatsoever to do with how the tickets were originally marketed or any policies of the athletic department. So congratulations, you win the prize for non-sequitors. And, for what it's worth, there were plenty of tickets for sale on the street corners around the arena.

With this year's wFF, there was a relatively small pool of extra tickets on places like craigslist and stubhub, so there is little competition between scalpers to actually control prices. I was able to get tickets at a reasonable price from another USCHO poster, and I did also end up getting the chance to purchase tickets off the wait list anyway . . .

Wait, so your telling me that after all of this complaining and the fact that you missed plenty of chances to purchase tickets, the Gopher athletic department actually did come through and provide you with another opportunity to buy? And you're whining about how hard they made it? Really?

. . . but if it hadn't been for either of those two things, I wouldn't have gone because reasonably priced tickets were not available.

Define "reasonably priced." The price you would have had to pay is one way of sorting out how badly different people wanted to be there, so this still falls into the category of you not wanting it enough.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

One of my first Google search results just to see if men's hockey allocates tickets to qualifying teams' fan bases. Apparently not that radical of an idea.

I'm still waiting for some indication that the athletic departments weren't allowed to sell tickets to the general public. Let's just say that I'm extremely skeptical that such a policy exists. What actually happened is that 25% of the seats in the arena (which I'm dead certain is a much higher percentage than at the men's Frozen Four) were reserved for the four schools that made it. Then the athletic departments decided how they wanted to allocate them. Those athletic departments decided on their own either that they had enough insiders they wanted to let buy them to take them all, or they decided that it wasn't worth their time to sell the leftover tickets to the public and just sent them back. [I thought about taking another shot at TTT here, but for some reason decided not to. I think I need to make a doctor's appointment in the morning.]

That's not on anyone here in Minnesota. That's on the people that run your athletic departments. As it happens, I have a good friend who worked at the UW athletic department for about five years and she has horror stories about both what an unpleasant place it is to work and how incompetently it is run. Let's just say that Barry Alvarez is not one of her favorite people. If you think the fans should have an opportunity to buy a part of that allotment, talk to him.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

I'm still waiting for some indication that the athletic departments weren't allowed to sell tickets to the general public. Let's just say that I'm extremely skeptical that such a policy exists. What actually happened is that 25% of the seats in the arena (which I'm dead certain is a much higher percentage than at the men's Frozen Four) were reserved for the four schools that made it. Then the athletic departments decided how they wanted to allocate them. Those athletic departments decided on their own either that they had enough insiders they wanted to let buy them to take them all, or they decided that it wasn't worth their time to sell the leftover tickets to the public and just sent them back. [I thought about taking another shot at TTT here, but for some reason decided not to. I think I need to make a doctor's appointment in the morning.]

That's not on anyone here in Minnesota. That's on the people that run your athletic departments. As it happens, I have a good friend who worked at the UW athletic department for about five years and she has horror stories about both what an unpleasant place it is to work and how incompetently it is run. Let's just say that Barry Alvarez is not one of her favorite people. If you think the fans should have an opportunity to buy a part of that allotment, talk to him.

I'm only going to speak for myself, but I never assumed that the University of Minnesota was definitely the entity that decided the policy to disperse tickets. Frankly, that was the whole point of bringing it up (and now pretty much keeping it on the Wisconsin thread only). Did each school 100% control the allocation of their own tickets? Yeah, if I knew that Harvard, BC and Minnesota sold any to their fan base (to those that didn't necessarily have an inside connection to the program), then I would be upset specifically at the Wisconsin athletic department. Either way, I'm still a little bothered that UW (not Minnesota) didn't make better attempts to communicate how/when FF tickets would be available. Because I have been offered the opportunity to buy tickets for other NCAA Final/Frozen Fours, I made the incorrect assumption that I would be in the same situation this year. This whole thing has been a learning opportunity for me. When the Frozen Four is specifically at Ridder Arena, roll the dice and get tickets ahead of time. Though I'm not backing off the stance that tickets (even a small number) should be made available to the general public of the specific schools once they qualify.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Oddly enough, there's more than a month between those two dates. If you really couldn't manage to think about it between then, I'm skeptical as to how important this was for you. Me, I spent those five weeks thinking a lot about the team and hockey.

There's a lot that could be said about your response, but that one quote pretty much sums things up. You are only looking at this through the eyes of a superfan, who sits around the Christmas Tree thinking about their favorite hockey team, even though that team hasn't played a game in 3 weeks, and won't play again for 2 more weeks. There's certainly nothing wrong with that - I do some pretty crazy things myself to follow college hockey - but I'm talking about stepping back and seeing this from the perspective of a more typical fan who takes a break from religiously following the team when there are no games being played.

In your responses, you've basically said anyone who doesn't directly call the host school to find out exactly when tickets go on sale (and that's even making the assumption they will tell you before the press release is sent out), doesn't really want to go. You've specifically said that fans shouldn't be expected to get ticket info from the ticket office, the host schools social media accounts, watching video feeds of the host schools game, from message boards talking about the host school's team, or even the host school's website itself, if it's more than 3 days before tickets go on sale.

I simply fundamentally disagree with that position, and when you take that approach, it's not surprising when people who don't have the time, money, or resources to go to the event no matter who is playing, and no matter where it's held, will get frustrated. I find it interesting that you have said yourself that you start looking at the host schools website in September, and yet you have to ask why people might want more than 3 days notice that tickets were going on sale. If you looked at gophersports in September, October, November, or even the first half of December, you would have found no information at all about when tickets were going on sale. If they would have put up something as simple as "ticket sale info will be released in December," far more people, especially those outside the Twin Cities would have known to look for tickets before they were gone. I never said that the U did anything wrong - in fact, I said UW's ticket office is the one who actually did a disservice to their fans - but they certainly could have done things to make tickets more accessible to fans of all teams.

Those athletic departments decided on their own either that they had enough insiders they wanted to let buy them to take them all, or they decided that it wasn't worth their time to sell the leftover tickets to the public and just sent them back.

No school sold any of those tickets to fans (including MN), and No tickets were sent back from any school. It doesn't prove the tickets couldn't be sold, but it sure makes it seem unlikely. Either way, it shows there no tickets available for any fans who are only in a position to follow their own team, which is something that is offered to fans at the championship level of most other sports.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

I guess I was just totally naive about the whole ticket situation. I assumed if I decided I wanted to go the the FF or the championship game I could just go online and buy tickets. By the time I decided to explore the possibility, the tickets were gone, and that possibility never crossed my mind prior. I thought UW would get an allotment to sell (like other sports), but it never happened. It's unfortunate that this has to be so complicated, that I have to plan 3 months in advance for something that might happen, and then if that "might" doesn't happen, have to jump through some hoops just to try and break even financially. Based on this current system, I will never attend a FF. Maybe I can plan on attending a WCHA FF in the future.

 

[D2D]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Based on this current system, I will never attend a FF.

You may wish to re-think your position on this. I really do think this year's early sellout was somewhat of an anomaly. If the FF is held anywhere else but Minneapolis and Madison, in an arena that seats more than 3,000, I would frankly be surprised if tickets were gone three months before the event. One exception could be North Dakota if it were NOT held at REA, which seats over 11,000 and has been deemed as being too big. But even if they were to have it at Scheels Arena in Fargo (where they just had the men's West Regional, capacity = 5,000) I would think there would be plenty of tickets available. Even more so with Amsoil in Duluth, where they can seat over 6,500.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

You may wish to re-think your position on this. I really do think this year's early sellout was somewhat of an anomaly. If the FF is held anywhere else but Minneapolis and Madison, in an arena that seats more than 3,000, I would frankly be surprised if tickets were gone three months before the event. One exception could be North Dakota if it were NOT held at REA, which seats over 11,000 and has been deemed as being too big. But even if they were to have it at Scheels Arena in Fargo (where they just had the men's West Regional, capacity = 5,000) I would think there would be plenty of tickets available. Even more so with Amsoil in Duluth, where they can seat over 6,500.

I agree with this. I don't see any other venue outside of Ridder Arena selling out ahead of time (assuming that LaBahn is unable to host). The times that I have road-tripped for a Frozen Four, it was held at Mariucci and Amsoil. Both title games featured Wisconsin-Minnesota and plenty of seats were available.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

I'm back to "only 18 scholarships" (again, unless I'm mistaken on that). Having carried 14 forwards and seven defense (and three goalies), that has to mean that some were playing on half-scholarship this year. Based on nothing, my guess is Mark Johnson told some of them 'hang in there with the half-scholarship this year (2014-2015), and next year I'll get you on a full scholarship". 12 and 6 is more 'normal' with 18 scholarships going 'farther'.

Back to a less contentious discussion. Over the last several years, Wisconsin has carried a roster of around 23-24 players. At this point with graduation and incoming freshmen, the number would be 21. Not that they can't field a very competitive team, but could be in a bad spot if hit with a rash of injuries.

 

[KTDC]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Back to a less contentious discussion. Over the last several years, Wisconsin has carried a roster of around 23-24 players. At this point with graduation and incoming freshmen, the number would be 21. Not that they can't field a very competitive team, but could be in a bad spot if hit with a rash of injuries.

FWIW-Minnesota has had a roster of 21 (w/3 goalers(!)) last year and this. A couple games we had 16 skaters. Next year we look to get back to the world of the healthy scratch.

 

[rangersrule]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Thanks for getting the discussion back on the team... I agree that a rash of injuries would be bad considering the team looks to only have 18 skaters next season.. Although over the last 4 weeks of the season and particularly once the playoffs began, Coach Johnson pretty much only played 3 lines anyway.. The women's game is not nearly as rough as the men's game and I'm not sure that 4 lines are always needed..Don't get me wrong - if a team has the depth to play 4 lines consistently then they will benefit from it.. but I'm not sure it is essential to winning.

Back to a less contentious discussion. Over the last several years, Wisconsin has carried a roster of around 23-24 players. At this point with graduation and incoming freshmen, the number would be 21. Not that they can't field a very competitive team, but could be in a bad spot if hit with a rash of injuries.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

Thanks for getting the discussion back on the team... I agree that a rash of injuries would be bad considering the team looks to only have 18 skaters next season.. Although over the last 4 weeks of the season and particularly once the playoffs began, Coach Johnson pretty much only played 3 lines anyway.. The women's game is not nearly as rough as the men's game and I'm not sure that 4 lines are always needed..Don't get me wrong - if a team has the depth to play 4 lines consistently then they will benefit from it.. but I'm not sure it is essential to winning.

If nothing else, there is a golden opportunity for several forwards to see their playing time increase greatly.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

You may wish to re-think your position on this.

It's based on geography...I don't have the money to fly anywhere, it will never be in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Green Bay or even Des Moines (driving distance), the rodent fans will vacuum the tickets when it's in Minneapolis again...my only chance is Duluth.

Discussion of team....UW is losing way more goals than they are gaining in recruits, I am genuinely concerned about scoring next year. They will be a 2 line team for scoring. Nurse and McKibbon will be on the 2nd line, probably with a studly Fr. and the top line will be all seasoned Sophs, so their production will go up. They can field experienced 3rd and 4th lines but they are not much for scoring. What's Pankowski's point total next year.......60?

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

In your responses, you've basically said anyone who doesn't directly call the host school to find out exactly when tickets go on sale (and that's even making the assumption they will tell you before the press release is sent out), doesn't really want to go.

No, that's not what I'm saying. I said that if you don't do that, you don't want to go badly enough to make it happen. You may want to go, but there are apparently people who want to go more than you do. In fact, they want to go badly enough that they search out what they need to do to make it happen. In a world in which there is a limited number of seats, I'm not seeing the problem with a system that ensures that the people who want to go the most are the ones that end up with tickets.

You've specifically said that fans shouldn't be expected to get ticket info from the ticket office, the host schools social media accounts, watching video feeds of the host schools game, from message boards talking about the host school's team, or even the host school's website itself, if it's more than 3 days before tickets go on sale.

Again, you're misrepresenting my position. What I've said is that if you rely upon someone else telling you when the tickets going on sale rather than investigating for yourself, that's a decision that you made. People that either actively sought out the information or paid attention enough not to miss the announcement had an advantage in getting tickets. That shouldn't be terribly surprising.

Further, I'm pretty sure that your argument that there was no information to be found on the website prior to December 16 is wrong. There's really no way to check this now, but your assumption is that the list of press releases is the only possible way to find any information on ticket buying. I didn't check it this year since I have a different channel to get tickets when the Frozen Four is at Ridder, but most of the time, if you click on the link to ticket information rather than the news feed, you can learn more about when and how tickets will go on sale. You just have to actually go looking for it.

I simply fundamentally disagree with that position, and when you take that approach, it's not surprising when people who don't have the time, money, or resources to go to the event no matter who is playing, and no matter where it's held, will get frustrated.

Another comment that misrepresents what I've said. This has nothing to do with whether or not you go every year. All you needed to decide is that this year you wanted to go badly enough to find the information. I brought up going every year mostly to indicate that I have a lot of familiarity with how the process works. That said, I'm not really sure why the process should advantage people whose desire to go is conditional on any one of a number of factors over people who want tickets without all of those conditions.

I find it interesting that you have said yourself that you start looking at the host schools website in September, and yet you have to ask why people might want more than 3 days notice that tickets were going on sale.

I don't need more than three days notice. I just want to make sure that I don't miss that notice. That's a part of why I don't just rely on press releases, but actually go digging around the list of upcoming events or the ticket office section.

If you looked at gophersports in September, October, November, or even the first half of December, you would have found no information at all about when tickets were going on sale. If they would have put up something as simple as "ticket sale info will be released in December," far more people, especially those outside the Twin Cities would have known to look for tickets before they were gone.

Again, I don't think this is accurate. Just because it wasn't front paged doesn't mean that it wasn't there at all.

I never said that the U did anything wrong - in fact, I said UW's ticket office is the one who actually did a disservice to their fans - but they certainly could have done things to make tickets more accessible to fans of all teams.

They were perfectly accessible to fans of all teams. Given that everything was done online, people in the Twin Cities other than season ticket holders and donors didn't have more access to information than you did. Their advantage was that they actually availed themselves of that information.

Further, the "three days notice" bit is a canard. The relevant time frame isn't the three days between the press release and when ticket sales started; it's the 3-4 weeks between the press release and when the event became a sellout. Your ability to buy during the first week of January wasn't any worse than it was on December 19. Apparently, you didn't go looking for the information at any point during that almost month long stretch. If it had been an instant sellout, that would be different. But, frankly, I'm not sure why anyone should be concerned that someone who went that long without looking for information had a harder time getting tickets than people who were actually paying attention.

It wasn't exactly unanticipated that it might be a sellout, so having some sense of urgency about it was a pretty obvious plan. Instead, it appears that your problem wasn't that you live out-of-state; it's that you exhibited a level of casualness about your desire to go that was incompatible with the situation.

No school sold any of those tickets to fans (including MN), and No tickets were sent back from any school. It doesn't prove the tickets couldn't be sold, but it sure makes it seem unlikely. Either way, it shows there no tickets available for any fans who are only in a position to follow their own team, which is something that is offered to fans at the championship level of most other sports.

If none of them returned tickets it means that they had enough insiders that they wanted to make the tickets available to. You might object to that, but it doesn't mean that there was any sort of policy that they couldn't be sold outside that group. It's not exactly news that big time athletic departments have an awful lot of corrupt cronyism going on.

And as I said, the NCAA reserved almost a quarter of all of the tickets for the schools that made it to the tournament. Just how much larger do you think that percentage should be?

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2014-2015

It's based on geography...I don't have the money to fly anywhere, it will never be in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Green Bay or even Des Moines (driving distance), the rodent fans will vacuum the tickets when it's in Minneapolis again...my only chance is Duluth.

St. Louis is coming up in 2 years. That's a pretty easy drive from Madison. And I can't see Lindenwood selling out their rink.