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Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

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Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

GoBucky36 said:
Dont forget that the bouncey ball team has no NCAA championships. The best they have ever gotten is a trip to the final four.
Its a shame that the hockey programs dont get the respect they deserve.
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yeah, I couldn't remember if it was 6-0 or 6-1 UW Hockey vs bouncyball:D
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

solovsfett said:
You must not work or live in milwaukee
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Actually I live in Chicago. You must not listen to Wisconsin football or basketball on the radio.

For an outdoor event in winter, tickets sales need to be brisk early to create that "I have to act now to be a part of it" mentality. Price would have helped, along with Minnesota as the opponent, as well as INCLUDING IT AS AN OPTION WITH FOOTBALL SEASON TICKET RENEWALS -- this was almost as unforgiveable as price and opponent (maybe even as the default option on renewals and even mandatory for the late arriving student FB ticketholders that sell out their subsidized allotment.) The best advertsing is seeing in the newspaper/on the news "we've already sold 20K or 30K tickets to FB ticketholders", "the lower deck is already full," etc. As soon as there is no motivation to get tickets in advance, you wait for the weather forecast, wait for the upper deck to open, get invited to other events, or come up with some other excuse not to be there.

Other people mentioned that the youth hockey angle wasn't played up either -- also unforgiveable. I just don't think insufficient advertising is the culprit.
 
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Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

GoBucky36 said:
Dont forget that the bouncey ball team has no NCAA championships. The best they have ever gotten is a trip to the final four.
Its a shame that the hockey programs dont get the respect they deserve.
Click to expand...

We saw Alvarez at the hotel in Detroit. I really wanted to say to him, take note of all that's going on here Barry and give the hockey team more respect and appreciation, because this is something that your prized football team and your prized basketball team will NEVER experience. I held my tongue though after getting a good jab in the ribs from my wife when I told her what I wanted to say.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

TJbadgerfan said:
We saw Alvarez at the hotel in Detroit. I really wanted to say to him, take note of all that's going on here Barry and give the hockey team more respect and appreciation, because this is something that your prized football team and your prized basketball team will NEVER experience. I held my tongue though after getting a good jab in the ribs from my wife when I told her what I wanted to say.
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I understand for biting your tougue but thats the prob. most people feel the need to kiss barry's butt whenever they see him in public, i'm sure he knows me by now because every time i see him i tell him how terrible our TV contracts are for hockey and something needs to be done about it.. There is only one way change can happen....
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

diddlypoo said:
Actually I live in Chicago. You must not listen to Wisconsin football or basketball on the radio.

For an outdoor event in winter, tickets sales need to be brisk early to create that "I have to act now to be a part of it" mentality. Price would have helped, along with Minnesota as the opponent, as well as INCLUDING IT AS AN OPTION WITH FOOTBALL SEASON TICKET RENEWALS -- this was almost as unforgiveable as price and opponent (maybe even as the default option on renewals and even mandatory for the late arriving student FB ticketholders that sell out their subsidized allotment.) The best advertsing is seeing in the newspaper/on the news "we've already sold 20K or 30K tickets to FB ticketholders", "the lower deck is already full," etc. As soon as there is no motivation to get tickets in advance, you wait for the weather forecast, wait for the upper deck to open, get invited to other events, or come up with some other excuse not to be there.

Other people mentioned that the youth hockey angle wasn't played up either -- also unforgiveable. I just don't think insufficient advertising is the culprit.
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aha. I live in chicago, work in milwaukee.

I don't listen to roundball on the radio though I do like Bo Ryan's coaching style. Football I've also steadily lost interest in. I'm not sold on Beliema (partying with the players, and all that other garbage)

So if they advertised there I obviously missed it. but that's not really advertising IMO, that's just browbeating people who are probably already inclined one way or another.

they needed to reach out to people who would go to that as an event, who may not have ever considered a hockey game. in other words the casual sports fan (non UW specific)

ALSO - I think they could have/and probably should have advertised this at Blackhawks games, playing up the Burish/Skille/Dowell/Bourque/Madden (the one michigan player I recognize on the hawks) connection. Chicago is a huge market and I'd argue Wisconsin Hockey could be and should be bigger here than Notre Dame for people in Chicago looking for an NCAA hockey team to cheer for
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

uwbadgers14 said:
I understand for biting your tougue but thats the prob. most people feel the need to kiss barry's butt whenever they see him in public, i'm sure he knows me by now because every time i see him i tell him how terrible our TV contracts are for hockey and something needs to be done about it.. There is only one way change can happen....
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you know what? I think you're right on this.

Barry is never really told how we feel, and his "aura" from the rose bowls keeps some people from talking to him bluntly (not rudely).

Someone needs to tell him.

"Barry. The University of Wisconsin Men's Hockey team is the most successful team on campus of the big 3. 6-0 over football, 6-1 over roundball. They shouldn't be treated like they're the golf team or badminton or something. When this University was down in football and basketball, and through the times those teams did well, the one consistent was the Hockey team, pretty much always kicking ***, and ALWAYS leading the NCAA in attendance. Under your tenure you ruined the Badger Hockey showdown by moving the dates to saturday/sunday which drew less people, then moved it from milwaukee when you probably should have kept it there or moved it to chicago or some place where you can draw NEW fans. That tradition is over. You helped the U get the Kohl center done but forgot about the fans. No banners, etc. The atmosphere at UW hockey games at DCounty was intimidating as hell. Now? the only intimidation comes on-ice. We've lost a lot of fan nutcases due to that sterile Kohl environment. You didn't know UW's hobey-less history, which is really unforgivable. You'd think it would take 10minutes reading the media guide to get most of the history down. Yet you parade around Detroit to celebrate the success of a team you know nothing about and care about even less. For the sake of 15,000 screaming fans who come see this great team every friday and saturday, please turn all hockey related decisions over to someone else in the AD that can and will focus on what's necessary to get the practice rink completed asap, and will mount a SERIOUS campaign to bring in new fans in the State of Wisconsin that in part includes new TV/cable/radio contracts.

thanks for your time"


and as I walk away, under my breath

"you ****ing arrogant p-r-i-c-k-smack"
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

Good catch. I was also wrong about the final four trips. They have 2 final four trips. My bad...
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

TJbadgerfan said:
We saw Alvarez at the hotel in Detroit. I really wanted to say to him, take note of all that's going on here Barry and give the hockey team more respect and appreciation, because this is something that your prized football team and your prized basketball team will NEVER experience. I held my tongue though after getting a good jab in the ribs from my wife when I told her what I wanted to say.
Click to expand...
I wish you would have said it. I would sure as heck said it, no matter how many times my girlfriend jabbed me in the ribs.
I have a lot of respect for Barry Alvarez for what he has accomplished at the UW, but we also need to tell him when he's wrong and when he's screwing things up.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

diddlypoo said:
I just don't think insufficient advertising is the culprit.
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Neither do I. Advertising will only do so much when you're trying to push a certain product.

The Big Chill - tickets are 15, 10 for groups.
Michigan single game tickets - range 19-25. Michigan State tickets - range 18-20.

Camp Randall Classic - tickets are 25 bucks. 10 for students.
Kohl Center face value, single game tickets - 18-22.

Someone in the economics department at Michigan whispered in the AD's ear. If you want to massively expand capacity, you're probably going to have somewhat softer demand and will need to lower the price - not raise it.

It may very well be the case that UW made more money by selling 50k tickets at 25 a pop rather than selling 80k at 15. (without knowing the exact breakdown of group sales, etc) But if you're actively promoting this to break the world record - hell, if you're going to go to the trouble to host an outdoor game - why not aim to sell the place out? And if that's your aim, you need to price the game accordingly.

There's room to criticize the promotions, the choice of opponent, etc. Those are all minor factors compared to the underlying economics. Barry's like or dislike of hockey is irrelevant in this case, too.

Again, UW does not sell out the 15,000 seat Kohl Center, yet they somehow thought they could sell out 80,000 seat Camp Randall by increasing prices?
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

blockski said:
There's room to criticize the promotions, the choice of opponent, etc. Those are all minor factors compared to the underlying economics.
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You're probably right (although you should probably stop accusing others of not understanding economics).

But I do think that there's room for debate here.

Imagine, if you will, the thought process of the common idiot. Think of the kind of people you hear at sports bars, or people who leave comments on youtube or espn.com. So much of what they think, they think because of what's in the media. For sports teams, this mostly means what's on TV- and how easy it is to find it on TV. The "common idiot" out there will scoff at the NHL simply because its not as easy to find on TV (evidently, in other parts of the country, Vs. isn't as available as it is in Wisconsin).

If they don't talk about it on Sportscenter or hear about it on local sports radio or can't see games on TV, it doesn't exist to them.

Now think of the UW programming you see on cable, for instance. I'm talking about stuff like "the BAdger Report" or whatever campus programming UW submits to the BTN. How much do they talk about hockey? Do they ever talk about hockey? Don't you think that the AD as an organization has some say in stuff like that?

You may argue that the ratings for UW hockey might not be good, thus giving the AD fewer ecomonic reasons to try to get them on TV. I made a comment in the No Alibis blog comparing this as a less extreme version of what the Blackhawks went through in the last decade, and I feel its a safe comparison.

Simply: TV is the golden goose for any revenue-producing sport. Obviously, coverage and media exposure are improving with the BTN. That's a good thing. But I think it would be hard to deny that Barry and Co. are perfectly content to wait for the BTN to take care of it, since there's not a lot of evidence that UW is trying to get on board with local media.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey Part 3: Just win, baby!

thebrain said:
John Hill? :D
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