Charlie Shub wrote:
 
> below are matrices showing approximate distances between schools in
> each of the leagues.  It doesnn't take a rocket scientist to see that
> there are significant differences between leagues.
>
[. . . ]
 
Erik Biever wrote:
 
Sample travel distances and times
(information drawn from www.mapquest.com):
 
[. . . ]
 
Erik, and Charlie, those are interesting figures, but there's got to be more
to it than that.  For example, there were no Boston teams in the Eastern
Regionals last year, so the Boston to Worcester number wasn't relevant last
year.
 
On the first day of the Eastern Regionals last year, the closest team
playing was Maine, which (using MapQuest for consistency) is a shade over 5
hours away.  The other three teams were Denver, Ohio State, and Michigan,
all pretty distant.  The announced attendance was 8509.
 
On the first day of the Western Regionals last year, the closest team
playing was Northern Michigan, about 7 hrs. 15 minutes drive.  The other
three teams were Boston College, St. Lawrence, and Colorado College, all
pretty distant.  The announced attendance was 2414.  So for the extra
difference of a two hour drive for one team, there was a difference of about
6000 people.
 
Of course there's other factors involved, but that difference seems pretty
extreme to me.  The Maine fans are an unusually devoted bunch.  Another
possibility is that Michigan fan base it pretty devoted, and even seems to
have a Boston area presence.  But I still find it hard to explain the 6000
difference.  What do you think?
 
Clay
 
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