----- Original Message -----
From: "Cheryl A. Morris" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: 16 team tournament
 
 
> OK, you win the geography prize. :-)  But please explain to me why the
> attendance at the Joe Louis Arena has been so dismal it has virtually
> dropped out of the running.  The Detroit area probably is the #1 market in
> America for hockey, and boasts a plethora of D1 and D3 programs.  And
> other areas which are more centrally located to the programs, like
> Chicago, are also apparently DOA.  I am not discounting anything that Erik
> and the Western H-L people ( and like H-L in general, steadily dwindling)
> say.  Campus arenas apparently are the only way you can guarantee
> satisfactory attendance at the West Regionals.  I just don't understand
> why any neutral site venue, other than Grand Rapids, can't generate
> satisfactory attendance, especially when the local area has sufficient
> number of fans to support it
 
The Detroit area, per se, doesn't have that many D1 teams, and no D3 teams
that I'm aware of.  Michigan is almost an hour and a half from the Joe, MSU
two and a half.  That's about it, though Bowling Green may be comparable.
Chicago is even worse in terms of anything really close, unless Notre Dame
develops a real following.  I tend to think that Grand Rapids only succeeds
because of slightly lowered expectations and counting on both the Wolverines
and the Spartans being there.  Joe louis, on the other hand, is a 20,000
seat arena and the regional would be competing against both the Wings and
the Vipers.
 
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