Big Ten Hockey Conference

[dggoddard]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Not only that but I don't see Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, nor Michigan State getting more revenue out of hockey with a Big 10 conference. As many have stated they'll get less.

Trust me Scoobs, they are going to make lots more money the BTHC from the get go.

Minnesota has already laid the groundwork by leaking the hockey season ticket waiting list situation and the disappointing revenue figures from the football stadium.

What is amazing is that the Big Ten Schools are making $10 million per season from the BT Network, millions more off of ESPN & the networks, Minnesota is making millions from the new football stadium, they raise all the ticket prices every season, they don't have to pay the players one dollar and yet they are still broke.

[blockski]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

You have to remember that Wisconsin share's its facility with hockey and that I'm pretty sure that the Big Ten as a whole is trying to stagger college basketball throughout Saturday to get as many live games as possible. I had the sports pack for dish network last season and every friday night there were a half dozen college hockey games and every saturday you were lucky to find 1.

That was home and road games. Almost all the weekend basketball games (both Saturday and Sunday) were mid-afternoon.

Michigan State has 3 Saturday games that are at night:

http://www.msuspartans.com/auto_pdf/...011mbbschedule

2 of them are already set to be nationally televised on ESPN.

[Sterling Cooper]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Well, all I can say is they better be careful. The college hockey market is tenuous already and a 16 team NCAA format is existing on vapor. It goes down to 12 again and all the silliness starts back up again and hockey takes a big step back.

If they really bull rush things they might turn D1 hockey into a sport where one conference tourney overshadows the NCAA altogether.

EDIT: What bronconick just said.

You've just given a good argument against the status quo. College hockey can stand back and watch the sport wither into vapor, killed by a thousand paper cuts of tight budgets, Title IX, no tv exposure and student indifference.

...or maybe the BTHC and BTN just might be a catalyst for helping to move college hockey forward as a major American sport.

[dggoddard]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I had the sports pack for dish network last season and every friday night there were a half dozen college hockey games and every saturday you were lucky to find 1.

That is due to football conflicts before New Years. After New Years there are more TV games on Saturday night.

[4four4]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Hockey adds little to no value. In fact, no sport outside of football and occasionally men's basketball adds value. As Priceless' signature shows, less than 60,000 people watched the regionals. It's of no interest to 297 million Americans outside of the rare Olympic event, and as this country turns more and more hispanic, its unlikely to be any more popular in 2050 than it is now, and probably will long since have been passed by soccer.

The NHL has spent 20 years (since the creation of the San Jose franchise) trying to grow the game in non-interested portions of the country, and outside of San Jose and Dallas, has failed miserably, and Dallas is currently owned by a bankrupt owner. Despite Stanley Cups, Tampa Bay and Carolina remain failures. Phoenix, Florida and Atlanta speak for themselves. For that matter, no American city handles a losing hockey team well. Chicago's recent history and Detroit in the 70's and 80's show that.

They're better off adding a cricket league and trying to sell the BTN in India.

I disagree. Look at DU's roster and we will see many non-traditional hockey players playing there and that is because the NHL expanded into warm weather areas. They have grown the game and had some success in northern California, Texas and Colorado. Before the AVs came to town DU's roster was made up of Canadians and sprinkle of Minnesotans on their roster.

[Craig P.]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Gotta give the Big Ten credit for being smart business people. Not everyone thought that the BTN was a good idea(including me) and now fast forward a few years and it nearly ended the Big 12 and will eventually bring Notre Dame to their knees.

Dream on. ND will do what works best of ND, and chances of that being the Integer are pretty low, all the moreso now that we called their bluff in the most recent round of shuffling.

(And, it should be noted, the financials that were initially bandied about with respect to the BTN proved to be just a wee bit exaggerated...)

[Sterling Cooper]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Dream on. ND will do what works best of ND, and chances of that being the Integer are pretty low, all the moreso now that we called their bluff in the most recent round of shuffling.

(And, it should be noted, the financials that were initially bandied about with respect to the BTN proved to be just a wee bit exaggerated...)

Your faculty want in....badly. The older--give me independence or give me death--alums are dying off. Network television is withering on the vine, illustrated no better by the fact that ND has the third best television deal of any university in the state of Indiana! We'll have you soon enough, my pretties. If we have to destroy the entire Big East to make it happen, we will have you before us on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness and admission.

[Craig P.]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I think Swarbrick's maneuvering during the last round of changes gives the lie to your statements. If there were sufficient impetus for ND to join the Integer, Delaney and co would have fallen all over themselves to welcome us.

The faculty is very interested in the CIC, certainly, though I don't think the support is as overwhelming as you make it out to be.

Delaney appears to have taken a shot at scaring ND into joining by batting his eyes at Rutgers and the like, but in the end, he and the rest of the conference blinked, because they knew d**n well that it'd be a net negative to take those schools on and not get ND in the bargain. And that was probably the best shot he's going to get... the more time passes, the more time the Big East and Swarbrick will have had to get things in order so that ND makes moves out of choice rather than a feeling of being forced into something.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I have yet to see a single argument on how this actually makes money for MN or WI outside of more home games (which quite frankly I don't see happening except for the schools that can bus in - flight schools would tell them to pound sand).

What's the average rating for the MN-UND series on FSN and whatever network NoDak broadcasts on COMBINED? It's tiny. TINY. The Frozen Four doesn't get **** for ratings and people seriously think people are going to watch because a regular season hockey game is on the BTN? The frozen four is on ESPN and they get crap ratings!! ESPN wouldn't even broadcast the F4 if they didn't get it rammed down their throats by the NCAA.

Minnesota's season ticket plan will likely backfire and cause the waiting list to shrink somewhat. Won't disappear but it will get significantly shorter.

Add in the costs of flights between the western schools and the eastern schools in the B10 and you are going to have a problem making that cash up.

As was mentioned above, the Final Five is wildly successful because of the ridiculously high density of participants within a few hours drive. If you start moving it to rotating sites like JLA (where the red wings barely sell out), Consol Energy Center, or even Ohio and you will see a relatively large drop in the number of people willing to shell out the cash to fly to those cities.

[CHFAN222]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Your faculty want in....badly. The older--give me independence or give me death--alums are dying off. Network television is withering on the vine, illustrated no better by the fact that ND has the third best television deal of any university in the state of Indiana! We'll have you soon enough, my pretties. If we have to destroy the entire Big East to make it happen, we will have you before us on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness and admission.

You sure about all of that? Notre Dame likes being able to play USC, BC, and Navy every year. They won't be able to get that if they go to B10+2. The biggest thing effecting Notre Dame right now might just be the potential for a Big East split. We will know more about that depending on if Nova accepts BEs invitation to play up in football and 2012 when the TV contract with ESPN expires.

[Sterling Cooper]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Joking aside, I do agree the chances are slim in the near future. Ultimately--say in the 5-10 year range--I'd say it'll come down to four factors:

The opinions of the younger alums, who don't seem to be so pedantic on the subject as the older ones

How much power the faculty have vis-a-vis the alums: a factor that tilts in the faculty's favor with each step up in grad school rankings and each dollar in research funding secured

Can ND come up with anything to replace the NBC contract and catch up to the Big Ten and SEC in television revenue.

How well your latest Return to Glory coaching hire pans out.

In my--admittedly outsider's--opinion, I'd say it could go either way.

I think Swarbrick's maneuvering during the last round of changes gives the lie to your statements. If there were sufficient impetus for ND to join the Integer, Delaney and co would have fallen all over themselves to welcome us.

The faculty is very interested in the CIC, certainly, though I don't think the support is as overwhelming as you make it out to be.

Delaney appears to have taken a shot at scaring ND into joining by batting his eyes at Rutgers and the like, but in the end, he and the rest of the conference blinked, because they knew d**n well that it'd be a net negative to take those schools on and not get ND in the bargain. And that was probably the best shot he's going to get... the more time passes, the more time the Big East and Swarbrick will have had to get things in order so that ND makes moves out of choice rather than a feeling of being forced into something.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Joking aside, I do agree the chances are slim in the near future. Ultimately--say in the 5-10 year range--I'd say it'll come down to four factors:

The opinions of the younger alums, who don't seem to be so pedantic on the subject as the older ones

How much power the faculty have vis-a-vis the alums: a factor that tilts in the faculty's favor with each step up in grad school rankings and each dollar in research funding secured

Can ND come up with anything to replace the NBC contract and catch up to the Big Ten and SEC in television revenue.

How well your latest Return to Glory coaching hire pans out.

In my--admittedly outsider's--opinion, I'd say it could go either way.

The bold one is the only one that matters because if they "return to glory," the tv contract will be there.

[dggoddard]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I have yet to see a single argument on how this actually makes money for MN or WI outside of more home games (which quite frankly I don't see happening except for the schools that can bus in - flight schools would tell them to pound sand).

* More Home Games

* Higher attendance (Wisconsin)

* Higher ticket prices

* More Playoff Revenue

EQUALS

*** MORE $$$

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

* More Home Games - Check

* Higher ticket prices - Not likely for Min, Mich, MSU, UW

* More fans - Again, not likely for Min, Mich, MSU, UW

* More Playoff Revenue - Not likely for Min, UW

FYP

[dggoddard]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

FYP

Minnesota has already announced massive ticket surcharge increases in upcoming seasons for the best seats.

The ticket prices will go up for the other schools, you are crazy if you try and argue that point.

Playoff revenue is going to be massive because they won't have to share the money with schools like UAA, Tech. Plus there won't be a "small arena" in the league.