Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

[mookie1995]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Today's boston herald

Patrick B. Moscaritolo, the president & CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, said a Frozen Four in Boston would typically generate as much as $6 million, if three or more teams traveled. The bureau estimated the 116th Boston Marathon in 2012 generated $137.5 million in spending impact to the region, a figure comparable to hosting an NCAA basketball Final Four. He said it was possible for Boston to handle both a Frozen Four and Boston Marathon concurrently. According to Moscaritolo, there are approximately 23,000 available hotel rooms in the Boston and Cambridge areas. Of that total, the marathon typically uses about 12,000 while a Frozen Four uses about 2,000.

[Hux]

St. Paul is basically unique. Every other city that has an NHL sized rink is decidedly pro sports and NHL-centric. That's certainly a big problem in Boston.

I remember once after coming back after BC won the national championship, I was listening to the sports report on a local radio station. BC's winning the national championship was not even mentioned. Some off-season Red Sox stuff was.

Actually it would have been in season for three of four pro sports, plus golf and the marathon, so not surprising it got back burnered.

[mookie1995]

Actually it would have been in season for three of four pro sports, plus golf and the marathon, so not surprising it got back burnered.

Don't forget the #1 topic in April!! Patsies draft talk

[davyd83]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

So let me get this right. We want a great NHL arena, the newer the better. We want lots of local bars that know what hockey is and who support the games. We want to be able to walk around and see stuff close to the arena on our day off.. We want a big city but not too big. is no NYC.
Seems to me everyone wants something a little different.
Pittsburg is a pretty small town with not that much to do and a lot of old buildings. Much like Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee,Philly,Grand Rapids, Nashville, blah de blah.
So what about Atlanta. oops/ you have to drive, there aren't that many bars walking distance, tons of homeless guys, but it is somewhat warmer and easy to get to.
As far as New Orleans, a bigger dump than any of them, and really Bourbon st is great if you are 20, but not so much if you are 40.
Do they even have an arena.? And talk about homeless guys.!! Plus there is a lot of violence. The latest thing is to find tourists near the French quarter later in the evening, and hit them in the back of the head with a hammer.

Do they even have an arena? Yes they have an NHL calibre arena. The New Orleans Hornets NBA team plays there and it formerly housed the ECHL New Orleans Brass.

[HumRsky]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

To be perfectly honest, I think Omaha would be a fantastic location for the Frozen Four. As mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed my time there. The CLink is big enough (17,100 for hockey), the city is big enough (800,000 metro pop), but not huge. We know they embrace NCAA championship events, they have hosted the College World Series for decades, which is an even bigger event (20,000+ avg per game for 14 games and 8 teams participating). I would expect all that hosting experience would make a Frozen Four there fantastically organized and the city is small enough that locals would be aware of and "embrace" the event. There is a lot to do, including one of the best zoos in the world, casinos in Council Bluffs. a ton of great restaurants, a batch of museums and music venues, in fact Kiplinger's named Omaha the "#3 city in the USA to live, work, and play." It is an easy place to drive to, and has a decent size airport with non-stop destinations that include Minneapolis, Denver, Detroit, DC, La Guardia, Newark, and Chicago.
Similar to how people were very pleasantly surprised about how great Tampa was, I think those who think Omaha is just "a small town in the middle of nowhere" would be very pleasently surprised as well.
(I have no personal affiliation with Omaha, I just think it would be a great host and would try very hard to attend if it did.)

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Either way, Providence sucks, way too small to host a FF.

Must have been why it was in the FF rotation and fans loved going to Providence for decades before the NCAA decreed that it needed to be held in NHL-sized arenas. Even now the city is absolutely perfect for a Frozen Four. Maybe you just suck in terms of figuring out where to go and what to do?

[CLS]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Actually it would have been in season for three of four pro sports, plus golf and the marathon, so not surprising it got back burnered.

You're right, it would have been after opening day for the Red Sox, and as another post mentions, just before the NFL Draft, so you're really talking four of four pro sports. No wonder there wasn't a fifteen second block available to mention a national championship.

[davyd83]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

To be perfectly honest, I think Omaha would be a fantastic location for the Frozen Four. As mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed my time there. The CLink is big enough (17,100 for hockey), the city is big enough (800,000 metro pop), but not huge. We know they embrace NCAA championship events, they have hosted the College World Series for decades, which is an even bigger event (20,000+ avg per game for 14 games and 8 teams participating). I would expect all that hosting experience would make a Frozen Four there fantastically organized and the city is small enough that locals would be aware of and "embrace" the event. There is a lot to do, including one of the best zoos in the world, casinos in Council Bluffs. a ton of great restaurants, a batch of museums and music venues, in fact Kiplinger's named Omaha the "#3 city in the USA to live, work, and play." It is an easy place to drive to, and has a decent size airport with non-stop destinations that include Minneapolis, Denver, Detroit, DC, La Guardia, Newark, and Chicago.
Similar to how people were very pleasantly surprised about how great Tampa was, I think those who think Omaha is just "a small town in the middle of nowhere" would be very pleasently surprised as well.
(I have no personal affiliation with Omaha, I just think it would be a great host and would try very hard to attend if it did.)

I agree 100%. Terrific city, great arena, restaurants and bars galore within walking distance of the rink. Outstanding suffestion!

[Priceless]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

To be perfectly honest, I think Omaha would be a fantastic location for the Frozen Four. As mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed my time there. The CLink is big enough (17,100 for hockey), the city is big enough (800,000 metro pop), but not huge. We know they embrace NCAA championship events, they have hosted the College World Series for decades, which is an even bigger event (20,000+ avg per game for 14 games and 8 teams participating). I would expect all that hosting experience would make a Frozen Four there fantastically organized and the city is small enough that locals would be aware of and "embrace" the event. There is a lot to do, including one of the best zoos in the world, casinos in Council Bluffs. a ton of great restaurants, a batch of museums and music venues, in fact Kiplinger's named Omaha the "#3 city in the USA to live, work, and play." It is an easy place to drive to, and has a decent size airport with non-stop destinations that include Minneapolis, Denver, Detroit, DC, La Guardia, Newark, and Chicago.
Similar to how people were very pleasantly surprised about how great Tampa was, I think those who think Omaha is just "a small town in the middle of nowhere" would be very pleasently surprised as well.
(I have no personal affiliation with Omaha, I just think it would be a great host and would try very hard to attend if it did.)

Omaha has an Amtrak station and is located on the California Zephyr line from Chicago...works for me!

[The Rube]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

I agree 100%. Terrific city, great arena, restaurants and bars galore within walking distance of the rink. Outstanding suffestion!

I have not been to Omaha, but an F4 might draw me there. And depending on who else would go (from around Mpls/St Paul), I'd be tempted to road trip it, rather than fly. Take an extra day or two, and find some good diner/dives/etc along the way. Sample a bit of Americana. When I took my Traverse City (MI) trip last year, that's what we did, and it was so worth it.

[Hux]

You're right, it would have been after opening day for the Red Sox, and as another post mentions, just before the NFL Draft, so you're really talking four of four pro sports. No wonder there wasn't a fifteen second block available to mention a national championship.

Ironic, as it seems BC usually is the only school to get any airtime.

[CLS]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Ironic, as it seems BC usually is the only school to get any airtime.

or newprint, if anyone remembers what a newspaper is.

[BUPhD]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

DC's issue with the Frozen Four is that it falls right around the Cherry Blossom/High School Spring Break tours season. The city is already seeing MASSIVE TOURIST INFLUX (please stop standing on the left side of the escalators in the Metro) and the additional draw that the Frozen Four brought simply won't stand out if places aren't looking for it. I'm sure the bars around the Phone Box knew about it and such, but expecting the city to put aside their fixation on the annual slam dunk tourism isn't realistic.

The East regional for the NCAA men's basketball tourney was out here this year in the same location. It got pretty much the same treatment inasmuch as you'd see signs in bars and stuff right around the Phone Box and people wearing their shirts and stuff. But it didn't feel like there was some unexpected 'sudden influx of people for some major event.' Because this time of year, we're always seeing a huge influx of people from out of town.

So, if you want the whole town to turn out and focus its tourism on the Frozen Four, DC isn't your city. If you want to have the Cherry Blossoms, museums, etc. etc. etc. to do between games, it's a great time to vacation in DC on the side.

[MavHockey14]

I have not been to Omaha, but an F4 might draw me there. And depending on who else would go (from around Mpls/St Paul), I'd be tempted to road trip it, rather than fly. Take an extra day or two, and find some good diner/dives/etc along the way. Sample a bit of Americana. When I took my Traverse City (MI) trip last year, that's what we did, and it was so worth it.

I can make Omaha in just under 5. You could make it a hair over six. Would drive it without question.

[brassbonanza]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

DC's issue with the Frozen Four is that it falls right around the Cherry Blossom/High School Spring Break tours season. The city is already seeing MASSIVE TOURIST INFLUX (please stop standing on the left side of the escalators in the Metro) and the additional draw that the Frozen Four brought simply won't stand out if places aren't looking for it. I'm sure the bars around the Phone Box knew about it and such, but expecting the city to put aside their fixation on the annual slam dunk tourism isn't realistic.

The East regional for the NCAA men's basketball tourney was out here this year in the same location. It got pretty much the same treatment inasmuch as you'd see signs in bars and stuff right around the Phone Box and people wearing their shirts and stuff. But it didn't feel like there was some unexpected 'sudden influx of people for some major event.' Because this time of year, we're always seeing a huge influx of people from out of town.

So, if you want the whole town to turn out and focus its tourism on the Frozen Four, DC isn't your city. If you want to have the Cherry Blossoms, museums, etc. etc. etc. to do between games, it's a great time to vacation in DC on the side.

Good point, forgot about that. It was tourist trap central there that weekend. Still was an enjoyable weekend, even outside of the game results, and it's a very, very easy city to get around, easy to get to, of course plenty to do, the event just will get lost in the shuffle to an extent. They still could've done a better job maybe throwing up some street lamp banners in the blocks surrounding the arena, and at least making an attempt to show that the event is there. Might not do much, but they pretty much made no effort whatsoever from what I saw.