Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXIX: Yes, this is the Rumpel Rink!
Hi Everyone
I am pleased to announce that I will be serving on this year's UW Fan Advisory Committee.
We had our first meeting last night and learned of some interesting changes and developments that are coming (this meeting was geared mostly towards football/Camp Randall developments). We are anticipating that the next meeting (in November) will be hosted at the Kohl Center and will be geared more towards the winter sports. I was also encouraged to seek out feedback from other fans.
I would love to gather some feedback from this community on things that you think are going well, things that aren't going well, and any constructive criticism that you might have. I can't guarantee that everything that you want to be discussed will make it into the agenda. I also can't guarantee that all of the changes that you ask for will be implemented. I can guarantee that I will take the feedback from this group and do my best to relay those items to the Athletic Department, either during open discussions at the meetings or via one-on-one conversations with members of the administration.
A few things that were already hit on:
The current food/beverage contract is still in place and the beverages will still be provided from the Dr Pepper/Snapple group and will primarily consist of RC Cola, Diet RC Cola, Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, 7-Up, A&W Rootbeer, Snapple.
The age limit for concession workers has been lowered to 16 and that is where it will remain. Previous vendor had an age limit of 12.
The decision about providing alcohol service to the general masses at sporting events is not an Athletic Department decision, that comes from the University Administration.
They are trying to walk the fine line of updating/refreshing the pregame intro video/music clips while maintaining some of the traditional elements. They didn't say that Enter Sandman would be coming back to the hockey pregame package, but noted that there was a large amount of support for bringing it back...
Feel free to post any feedback here or I have created a temporary e-mail address that you can send things to (UWFanAdvisory at gmail dot com).
Of course, we know they know Enter Sandman was loved (it really is a great intro song for sports teams), because they brought it back before the third period starting with the OSU series last year.
Anyway, one thing that I really, really hope to see this fall is some good solid promotion for the home opening series against North Dakota. There's a ton of history in this rivalry, and it would be great to celebrate that in the lead-up to the home opener. Home openers have been pretty mundane and hoopla-free recently, even with Bob Johnson Night (although the fans who did show up to that game had a great time). Not only is it a historic rivalry, but it's a rematch...no, a
grudge match...with the team that knocked Wisconsin out of the national tournament last year. This is how we open the home schedule, and I'd hate to see that opportunity go to waste.
Boosting attendance should be a big priority. Wisconsin can and should lead NCAA D-I in hockey attendance. It's such a magical thing that should not be lost. ("It" being Wisconsin hockey games in general, not just the attendance number.)
I'd like to see a little more noise in the fall for hockey season. I remember last season, when Nic Kerdiles had to leave class a little early to get to the arena for the NMU series, a couple of guys said, "it's hockey season?" Those guys had a modest interest in hockey, too, so it wasn't like they completely didn't give a crap, but they were pretty much unaware. That's just a little anecdote, but that's how it seems to be. Obviously, there's a lot going on in UW athletics in October and November, but I'd like to see a few more people be aware of the hockey team's existence before January. This is another big reason why I don't want the opportunity that comes with playing UND to be wasted.
Ticket prices. They have got to change. Particularly, in the upper deck. I can't imagine a family that is only somewhat interested in going to a game will look forward to shelling out 20-24 dollars per person (plus parking and all that). Give them options. Remember the few times last season (even the PSU series before the holiday break!!!) when upper deck seats were discounted to something like 11 dollars? People showed up. Having a good tiered pricing system makes too much sense not to have. Now it's time to bring up the bigger issue here - many, if not most of those seats are limited or blatantly obstructed views. On the sides, your line of sight might miss stuff happening near the side boards. In the corners, the near corner of the rink is cut off, but you do see the rest of the rink pretty well. On the ends, a significant portion of the near end zone is cut off, including the entire goal! (All this stuff doesn't apply to the first row, but that's a small percentage of those seats.) Those obstructed view seats on the ends should be sold in the same way standing-room-only tickets are sold in other places. They should be heavily discounted and withheld from the public until the rest of the arena (13K and change) sells out. On the upper deck sides, they should still be discounted. It simply does not make sense that the difference in price between an obstructed view and the best seat in the arena is 4 whole dollars. (Or...the price of obstructed view seats are a little over 83% of the price of the very best seats.)
I like the intro stuff from last year. The historic intro was much improved (as much as I loved the music in the old video). I like the players coming on the ice in the dark (not total darkness) with the fog machines and flashing lights (make sure they're not right in people's eyes: I'm not sure if it was just by chance, but that was an issue in week 1 last year, but wasn't a problem the rest of the season). It really gave off a big-time event kind of a vibe, which I really like. That said, maintaining the traditional stuff is important. Letting the band do their thing is important, as it makes that big-time event kind of a vibe be that of a big time college hockey game (which is what it is), rather than some minor league or junior hockey game. By the sound of it, the people in charge of these things are in agreement.
Make sure the "HEY" guy with the beard and hat in the northwest corner of the arena is shown on the screen at a convenient time. There was some trouble with that last year!
