More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is...

[J.D.]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

The locations ARE part of the problem. Fort wayne? Green bay? Toledo next year? What are we doing?

If they ever go back to on campus sites, the potential three game series should feature all games at the higher seed.

It's not just the attendance either. It's about atmosphere. Regionals should not be held in NHL buildings. St. Louis? That was a colossal failure.

[MUnRPI]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

The locations ARE part of the problem. Fort wayne? Green bay? Toledo next year? What are we doing?

If they ever go back to on campus sites, the potential three game series should feature all games at the higher seed.

It's not just the attendance either. It's about atmosphere. Regionals should not be held in NHL buildings. St. Louis? That was a colossal failure.

Yessss. Yessssss. Yesssssss!!!!

[MaizeRage]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Took a look at the sites next year. Happy to see a regional returning to Providence and don't have a problem with Manchester or Grand Rapids...

But, Toledo? W T F?

Seriously? Toledo is a great regional site. Beautiful brand new arena that is a manageable size for a regional, and about as centrally located as a Midwest regional can be. It's less than a 200 mile drive for seven different teams. It was a joke that the NCAA passed it over as long as it did.

[HarleyMC]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

The NCAA regionals went from on-campus sites to off-campus sites based upon the need for: 1) a relatively unbiased venue location, 2) venue capacity for all fanbases, 3) fanbase accessibility, 4) sufficient accommodations, 5) an advance venue rental and marketing plan. According to this graphic, venues at UND, UMN, BC and UMD all operated at 96% avg. attendance capacity in 2011-12. Obviously if local attendance remains consistent for an on-campus regional site, in theory this suggests limitations on ticket availability for other fanbases, not to mention an unfair advantage of an overly bias fan environment on the hosting campus.

In my view, the regionals have not been marketed well enough, tickets could be made slightly more affordable, and single game ticket sales should be provided well in advance. In a couple years, the branding of the Big Ten conference, and greater media coverage (BTN) will also contribute to the marketability of regional sites, and increased attendance.

[GB Puck Fan]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

I certainly wish the attendance in Green Bay was higher.

That said, with the NCAA looking for neutral sites, it made sense for the Resch Center management to bid. It's a big enough building but not too big (i.e. Bradley Center), has some tourist appeal (Lambeau) and is well situated for both CCHA and WCHA.

That said, in the last two years, none of these teams were assigned here - either because they didn't make the tournament or played elsewhere: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minn-Duluth, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Mankato, Bemidji, St. Cloud and Lake Superior. If any one of those, especially Wisconsin but even the first five, play in Green Bay, attendance is better. Much better. Even the last four would travel well to here, I think. Unfortunately, what would seem to be a reasonable expectation/hope turned out to be a pipe dream (or nightmare).

North Dakota was here last year, as was Western Michigan, and both teams helped with attendance. Ferris had a nice turnout but doesn't have the base or national following. Michigan fans showed up in decent numbers Friday, but (understandably) not Saturday. I understand Denver and Cornell fans not showing up in the 1000s.

Prices, too, were likely a factor. You can attend three Gamblers games for under $30. And while one should expect to pay more for this, the prices were more than double. As someone else noted, even parking was an unusually high (for this market) $10. That makes it tough for some folks to attend.

I hope Green Bay hosts again but gets some better "puck luck" in terms of which teams play here.

[J.D.]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Who cares about an unfair advantage of playing at home? Use the PWR to determine that...those teams will have earned it. And if we're only talking about one visiting team per site, why should they expect a large number of tickets? They should get the same as in the regular season.

[HarleyMC]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Who cares about an unfair advantage of playing at home? Use the PWR to determine that...those teams will have earned it. And if we're only talking about one visiting team per site, why should they expect a large number of tickets? They should get the same as in the regular season.

The trendline in the NCAA seems to follow a proven site selection methodology (e.g. NCAA hoops). For example, Big Ten basketball has rotated its sites between Indianapolis and Chicago over the past ten years. This allows the conference to play its tournament in the U.S.’s third biggest market (Chicago) and one of basketball’s most historic cities (Indianapolis) on a regular basis while also preventing any one team from having a home-court advantage on an annual basis.

[kdilks]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Every campus site would sell out and it would be more entertaining / affordable for the fans. When 60% attendance is considered a "win" for the non-Minnesota Regionals something is wrong...

Just like Colorado College did when they hosted on campus in 2008?

[RJF]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Many college arenas are booked out for other things concerts etc....last minute hosting duties might become a logistical nightmare and possible revenue lost by holding open dates for an event you may or may not host wouldn't be appealing to arenas either.

[blazer777]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

How about moving the entire season up a month too. Going head to head with basketball (not that the two fan bases really mix) is kind of foolish when you're looking at attendance, TV time and marketing. Not a single mention of the games up here in NE unless your picking up the Boston Globe and then it's all about BU \ BC but plenty of basketball coverage. Same goes for MSNBC, FOX, etc... You have to go to the sports scores section to even see a mention of the tournement and other games. As said before, slightly lower ticket prices and single game tickets would help.

[bronconick]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

I don't even know what they charge for tickets in basketball, but given how empty those arenas are in the early rounds, I'm thinking it's too much to draw any kind of local casual fans. That makes this an NCAA issue, not a hockey issue.

Frankly, the Minneapolis regional attendance punctures a hole in the belief that simply tossing the games on campus alone will "fix" things. Minnesota knew they were in the tournament for a few weeks and that they'd be hosting in their home city for months. North Dakota's known for traveling well. Throw two more schools that added a few hundred fans on short notice and they couldn't beat Minnesota's average home attendance?

The pricing and lack of marketing is murdering any kind of local fan interest at these regionals. When the entire upper deck is empty, how would it hurt to open those for $8-10 per game? The numbers are about what you'd expect when only the hardcore members of each fan base are willing to show up and pay the prices. It may look better on campus in stadiums 1/4 to 1/2 the size, but it won't be fixing the problem.

[chickod]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Might help to make the regionals truly regional vs sending teams helter skelter across the US with far less notice than is needed for an affordable airline ticket.

Yes!!!!! Exactly!!!!! Finally, someone who has the ***** to say what the REAL problem is. Why do they call them "regionals" when Air Force has to travel to Worcester, Michigan State to Bridgeport, Cornell to Green Bay and BU to St. Paul???? I'm so sick of the NCAA copying the basketball "template." Like that ludicrous "pod" system where they play the EAST regional in Hawaii and the West regional on Mars. Basketball makes billions of dollars - it's not an analagous situation. Basketball is popular EVERWHERE in the country - hockey is a regional, niche sport. And two bottom seeds beat top seeds. When does that happen in basketball (NO #16 has EVER beaten a #1). The fact is, bracket integrity isn't as large a factor in hockey. Do you see any 32-0 teams? I don't. It's HOCKEY! The games aren't 73 - 65 - they're 2-1 and 4-3. Each score has WAY MORE proportional significance. One bounce or hot goalie can change a season. If you get one bad bounce in basketball, you have about 80 more chances to make it up. It's just like interleague play in baseball. What's wrong with just keeping everyone in their region? Have an East Regional (with all the teams from the East) and a West regional (with all the teams in the West) and let them meet in the Frozen Four.

And the thing is, it's NOT about money. Because the NCAA could care less about hockey. That's the point. It doesn't make money anyway. If they wanted to make money, they would do what Caustic Undertow said and go back to campus sites. At least Mariucci would be packed for Minn/BU and for places with smaller arenas like Maine, you could have the game in Portland, which is two hours closer than Worcester. Also, does anybody at the NCAA understand that we are in a RECESSION and GAS PRICES are HIGH?????? Do they understand that (especially if you're in the West) you have to make THREE TRIPS if you're going to go to all of your team's games if they make it all the way? And that probably two of them involve flying??????

The basketball East regional was in Boston yesterday. It was $195 for ONE TICKET. They announced 19,000 and it sure looked as if the place was almost sold out. We play hockey - it's a different sport with different circumstances. But until the schools that are MEMBERS of the NCAA that the organization is supposed to be listening to and serving (sort of like the government is supposed to be listening to the PEOPLE - how's that working out?), it will never change. I'm sure that BU was thrilled to see 200 people go to the game. That really made it exciting for them, right?

What a joke and it's never going to change.

[Patman]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

I still, personally, like the idea of two eight team regionals... yeah, it'd be a bit tough on the fans who are there for 3 days but it brings back a feature of the six team regionals... one location for hockey fans to fixate on and a steady supply of fans. Worcester used to do great in that era.

[chickod]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Part of this has to do with the availability of games on TV these days, even with the issues of blackouts on D-TV and such. Back in the nineties it was nearly impossible to see regional action on TV. The rest has to do with pricey tickets combined with not knowing where your favorite team is playing until travel costs become sky high which ultimately leads to empty arenas.

Yeah, but that's the point! If the games were in our region, we COULD go and we wouldn't HAVE to watch on TV. I couldn't get the time off to travel out to St. Paul, but I certainly could have driven to Bridgport (2 1/2 hours) or Worcester (25 miutes). I've been to regionals in Albany, Providence, Manchester, etc etc. Trust me, the fact that I can watch on TV was NO factor in my decision. If I could have gone to the game, I would have been there in a heartbeat. The Hockey East tournament is on TV and that didn't hold down attendance. I DO understand that people in the East are less likely to travel long distances because everything is closer together here, but then where were all the Michigan and Ferris State fans in Green Bay? There were more Michigan fans in Boston in 1998 than there were in Green Bay. I'm telling you, it's the ECONOMY and the fact that people just aren't going to pay the travel costs - like someone said - we don't have the discretionary income anymore....

[chickod]

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

First # is attendance / Second # is capacity

Green Bay
3465 / 8709 40%
3108 / 8709 36%
6573 / 17418 38%

If there were 6000 peple in Green Bay, they must have been at Lambeau Field, because I sure didn't see them...