Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?
On the Frozen Four hosting in Tampa, I'd say it is good news on the whole. As good as hosting at the Bradley Center? No. Of course not. But NCAA bids are complicated animals, and since on campus hosting is a no for Hockey FF, it's very reliant on the venue wanting to do it. If for whatever reason the Bradley Center couldn't put together a competitive bid, there's not much UW can do about it. Remember, the bid includes a rather large fee to the NCAA for the rights to host, as well as other significant costs. From there the risk of profit/loss are assumed primarily by the host venue. (Several NCAA basketball regional sites have lost money, for example.) Florida being the experts on wringing every last cent out of visitors that they are, I'd expect Tampa's bid was very good.
I'd speculate that there may be some profit sharing for UW but I'd think the benefit lies more in the long term: AD employees gaining the experience of hosting a NCAA Championship; Improving our working relationship with and ties to the NCAA people; Adding in another small way to Wisconsin's national reputation; The sort of things that are not easily measured in immediate benefits, but rather in the long term, larger overall picture. On balance, it's good for UW, and I don't see why we
wouldn't want to be involved?
Smells fishy to me. Barry has a nice vacation home an hour away from Tampa and is friends with lots of big wigs there. Also keep in mind that Barry lost a huge chunk of his net worth in the Nevin Shapiro ponzi scheme. Maybe I'm just throwing darts out there, but Tampa makes no sense to me either.
Speculating that Barry's ties to Florida may have something to do with UW's involvement makes some sense to me, the rest is mostly hogwash. Barry has a vastly overpriced condo (Tram 2 miles to the beach and no yacht parking --it's practically the slums!) at Montenero on Pelican Bay in Naples.
It's here, 145 mi. south of Tampa, for the curious. I have my complaints about Barry, but his big wig friends aren't among them since a large part of his job revolves around fundraising. I'm only guessing but the dollar amount Barry has had a hand in bringing into UW coffers in his time here is probably pretty staggering. As far as characterizing his loss in Shapiro's ponzi scheme as "a huge chunk of his net worth" ... well, I find that to be really stretching. Alvarez lost all or part of (it's unclear if it's all loss) his 600k investment. Alvarez makes around $85k/month just in salary, plus benefits. (his pension is worth close to $400k/year alone) Plus, Alvarez was making that 15 years ago as head coach. No doubt, $600k hurts, but it's nowhere near a "huge chunk". He's not in anything for the paltry kickbacks. Not like he's making congressman money, for crissakes.
