OT: Men's Hockey Possibly to Hockey East

[FDNY99]

Didn't HE just negotiate a tv contract with NBCSports?

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Check your inbox...you must know Chuck Lester then...had many good times in his bar the Trolley Pub. I grew up in Willimantic.

Check your inbox...Sorry if I offended you. I was joking... Thou I do miss HOSMER MOUNTAIN SODA!!!

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

If the average HE school spends $2.0 mm annually but earns only $500k, I imagine that there would be a required runout on initial (startup) costs beyond this for us while the it also would take a few years to ramp up our revenues to HE average (this is not even considering the additional cost for women's athletics that Title IX requires).

Back to HE average revenue of $0.5mm vs average costs of $2.0 mm; if these numbers are accurate, the bottom few HE schools must be losing quite a bit each year. I imagine that most of these school must receive quite a bit in donations to keep their programs afloat (although those who are successful likely receive far more in donations), something we would absolutely need to pull this off.

That 500K is only TICKET revenue. That does not include merchandise sales, donations (important), advertisement revenue, TV money (Yes, FDNY, they did just sign a deal with NBC Sports, and have one with NESN), and other revenue streams. For example, BU's hockey program, in the last figures I saw, brought in roughly $4 million a year.

 

[FDNY99]

Check your inbox...Sorry if I offended you. I was joking... Thou I do miss HOSMER MOUNTAIN SODA!!!

Check your inbox...Sorry if I offended you. I was joking... Thou I do miss HOSMER MOUNTAIN SODA!!!

No worries...I hear you about Hosmer soda!!!

 

[FDNY99]

That 500K is only TICKET revenue. That does not include merchandise sales, donations (important), advertisement revenue, TV money (Yes, FDNY, they did just sign a deal with NBC Sports, and have one with NESN), and other revenue streams. For example, BU's hockey program, in the last figures I saw, brought in roughly $4 million a year.

If UConn did it right between student support, and the fact that with in a 45 minute to 1 hr radius from an in-campus arena there are healthy youth hockey league's and you can easily fill a 5000 seat arena. Only thing I would like to see if they do build a new on campus arena is to make it expandable to 6500-7500. That way the same mistake isn't duplicated like they did with Gampel. My cousins husband was one of the guys who designed Gampel. He told me they were instructed to draw up 2 plans...1 as it was built, the other to allow future expandion where it could be doubled in size. Of course with the HCC in full swing at the time...the Htfd political machine put the push on and won that battle. When they did announce the exoansion project at Gampel to bring it to present day capacity...the look of shock and awe on the face of my cousin's husband was kind of funny when I told him where the seats were going...then I got this "that building was NOT designed for that!"
The expansion option on Gampel at the time it was built was $1 million. From what I remember it was basically hydraulic jacks that would have been buried in the walls and when they were ready would have raised the roof if Gampel and allowed an entire second tier.

 

[kingdobbs]

Dobbs,

You could well be correct about the size of the locker rooms but I could have sworn that (~13 years ago) when I rad about the new Freitas rink, they went to great lengths to point out that they had enormous liocker rooms for both the men's and women' teams, more elaborate than what you would see at most top program's homes.

This baffled me as I did not understand (still don't) why they would build a rink to basically half of an acceptable capacity yet put such great locker rooms in it. It is somewhat equivalent to putting putting a walk-in closet inside a tool shed.

Upon review of the master plan document, I have slightly misstated the coaches' concerns. Mostly they are concerned about congestion and shared space: Marshall states he wanted more separation between youth and home locker rooms, as well as dressing rooms for coaches and officials (both of which are in shared space); Linstad is mostly concerned about the separation of support space for coaches (she is isolated from her assistants, who are in the locker room corridor), but also feels that the locker room area can get quite congested when multiple teams are practicing.

Presumably any refurbishment will include an expansion of support and locker room facilities to relieve said congestion.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It has to have 5000 capacity per HE rules correct?

well, it seems HE may be willing to budge a bit on that, but UConn would have to come pretty close, as in high 3,000s-4. 2K is not going to do it.

 

[Dann]

how big will the arenas be in the b10 once that league starts? w/e the smallest 1 is there make sure were that big...just in case

 

[kingdobbs]

how big will the arenas be in the b10 once that league starts? w/e the smallest 1 is there make sure were that big...just in case

If UConn were to be invited to the Big Whatever, it'll depend exactly zero on the size of their hockey arena.

(For the record: the planned Pegula Arena at Penn State will be the smallest at 6K; Michigan and MSU both hold court between 6-7K, Ohio State plays in their basketball arena at 17.5K, as does Wisconsin at 15ishK, and Minnesota's Mariucci is rated at an even 10K).

 

[TRest]

College hockey in Alabama remains one of life's great WTF's.

 

[kibblesnbits]

That report was written as though they started with a conclusion and worked backward. Thay said Freitas could only be expanded 15 feet on the north side yet somehow concluded that would increase capacity by 1,500 (from an already exaggerated 2,000) as well as support extensive new team facilities. I can't see a primarily off-campus XL schedule being a viable long-term solution and I'd hate to see UConn hockey become Villanova FB 2.0 (I.e. a half-baked upgrade plan).

 

[FDNY99]

That report was written as though they started with a conclusion and worked backward. Thay said Freitas could only be expanded 15 feet on the north side yet somehow concluded that would increase capacity by 1,500 (from an already exaggerated 2,000) as well as support extensive new team facilities. I can't see a primarily off-campus XL schedule being a viable long-term solution and I'd hate to see UConn hockey become Villanova FB 2.0 (I.e. a half-baked upgrade plan).

Where is link for upgrade report?

 

[Hoophound]

Funny, anyone who thinks UCONN won't draw lots of fans for hockey would be surprised to see the length of this thread. Hockey games are a lot of fun, even for people that don't follow the sport closely. It is a great game to watch live and UConn will build a big fan base. Really exciting development.

 

[kingdobbs]

That report was written as though they started with a conclusion and worked backward. Thay said Freitas could only be expanded 15 feet on the north side yet somehow concluded that would increase capacity by 1,500 (from an already exaggerated 2,000) as well as support extensive new team facilities. I can't see a primarily off-campus XL schedule being a viable long-term solution and I'd hate to see UConn hockey become Villanova FB 2.0 (I.e. a half-baked upgrade plan).

Of course, since the primary recommendation of the consultants, who are not at all architects or engineers, is that the main avenue for expansion is UPWARDS, it really doesn't matter how far they have to take any given side out.

 

[kingdobbs]

Where is link for upgrade report?

http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-uconn-hockey-0331-20120330,0,903587.story - The article has a link in the sidebar.

 

[HuskyFan16]

after reading that, all my qualms about playing at the xl center have been relieved. i mean come on guys it won't look ridiculous at all, their gonna have a second curtaining system.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Of course, since the primary recommendation of the consultants, who are not at all architects or engineers, is that the main avenue for expansion is UPWARDS, it really doesn't matter how far they have to take any given side out.

Think about that for a moment. How do you think they are going to add 1,500-2,000 seats without also going out? Is it going to be a vertical wall of seats? Do you think you could build an upper deck with no extensive infrastructure beyond the current footprint? Are they going to do either for the $1.3M allocated for seating? These guys say they aren't architects but they throw out numbers and design ideas as if they were - except they don't make sense. The BB facility will cost nearly $30M but we are going to blow-out a wall and put on a new, higher roof to build similar back-end facilities for the hockey teams (locker rooms, training rooms, film rooms, lounges, offices, etc. - everything but the BB courts) plus add donor/VIP areas, public services such as restrooms and concessions, and a few thousand seats somehow stacked vertically for $10M.

That report seems stacked to generate the desired result with the hope that by the time we figure out the real impact it will be too late to stop. I'm a hockey fan and would like to see UConn upgrade the program, but it should be based on a realistic analysis.

Yale added similar team facilities it Ingalls Rink 3 years ago for $24M. The work was underground so that raised the costs, but it included no seating change or significant upgrades to the main rink.

 

[freescooter]

Of course, since the primary recommendation of the consultants, who are not at all architects or engineers, is that the main avenue for expansion is UPWARDS, it really doesn't matter how far they have to take any given side out.

I've done these kinds of studies for clients before (not hockey expansion by any sense) but similar venue feasibility stuff. We would normally have an architect/engineer at least look at the concept and tell us what they tought about the expansion ideas. for structures like that it is possible to get numbers from the building designer based on square footage to give you the $10 million range. the real costs might be higher or lower depending on lots of details like fits and finishes. By the way, $10-11 million really doesn't sound like that big a deal to me given the cost of a new facility.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

College hockey in Alabama remains one of life's great WTF's.

UAH is the host (??!!) of the FROZEN FOUR. That would be like having CIAC being the host of Florida's High School Football Championship!!

 

[kingdobbs]

UAH is the host (??!!) of the FROZEN FOUR. That would be like having CIAC being the host of Florida's High School Football Championship!!

Somebody had to. UAH stepped up. For all it matters hockeywise, it could have been Florida or USF or someone; the NCAA does not prohibit a school in the appropriate division from hosting because it lacks a team in that sport (the DC Frozen Four several years ago, for instance, was hosted by Navy, and the Bridgeport ice hockey regionals have been co-hosted by Yale, who does play hockey, and Fairfield, who used to but no longer does, and who plays home basketball games at Harbor Yard); it also doesn't require it to be a specific school, as conferences can and do host as a whole.

 

[zls44]

Somebody had to. UAH stepped up. For all it matters hockeywise, it could have been Florida or USF or someone; the NCAA does not prohibit a school in the appropriate division from hosting because it lacks a team in that sport (the DC Frozen Four several years ago, for instance, was hosted by Navy, and the Bridgeport ice hockey regionals have been co-hosted by Yale, who does play hockey, and Fairfield, who used to but no longer does, and who plays home basketball games at Harbor Yard); it also doesn't require it to be a specific school, as conferences can and do host as a whole.

Next year's Women's Basketball Final Four in New Orleans is being hosted by the University of New Orleans. They dropped out of Division 1.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Somebody had to. UAH stepped up. For all it matters hockeywise, it could have been Florida or USF or someone; the NCAA does not prohibit a school in the appropriate division from hosting because it lacks a team in that sport (the DC Frozen Four several years ago, for instance, was hosted by Navy, and the Bridgeport ice hockey regionals have been co-hosted by Yale, who does play hockey, and Fairfield, who used to but no longer does, and who plays home basketball games at Harbor Yard); it also doesn't require it to be a specific school, as conferences can and do host as a whole.

Yes... but UF has a club team...USF might be getting into hockey for a club sport...

 

[kingdobbs]

Next year's Women's Basketball Final Four in New Orleans is being hosted by the University of New Orleans. They dropped out of Division 1.

They are apparently coming back, though.. Plus the bid was likely initiated and awarded while UNO was a valid host.

Yes... but UF has a club team...USF might be getting into hockey for a club sport...

Yup. They still didn't put in the bid using Tampa as the venue, even though they could have.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Navy was the host of the 2009 Frozen Four. They don't have a hockey team.

 

[HartfordHank]

Navy was the host of the 2009 Frozen Four. They don't have a hockey team.

Well not a Division 1 Hockey Team. http://navyhockey.net/

Funny story. A team is playing Navy. Large defenseman from that team gets agitated and goes after a player from Navy. In a matter of seconds the player is on his back. The player is helped up by the referee and escorted to the penalty box. On the way his coach asks him his major. The kid looks at him funny and the coach asks him again. The kid looks at him and say accounting. The coach shouts back that the kid he went after majors in killing!