One of the points that is often made is that having the Frozen Four in
nontradtional areas of the country (1) exposes more people to the game, and
(2) therefore expands interest in college hockey.
 
I question whether either of these premises is true.  Holding the Frozen
Four in Anaheim or Orlando may have some selling points, but expanding
college hockey to Southern California of Florida isn't, in my opinion, one
of them.
 
In an earlier post, Tony mentioned that the crowd had large numbers of (a)
fans of the four schools and (b) Ducks season ticket holders.  Neither of
these groups represents a new exposure to the game.  The Ducks season ticket
holders may, to the extent that the college game is different than the pro
game.  But these are also people who already are spending a lot of their
money, time, and hockey attention on the NHL, and may not have much money,
time, and emotional energy to devote to college hockey.
 
I also doubt that holding the tournament in a nontraditional area expands
long term interest in college hockey.  To us, the Frozen Four is about
college hockey, but I'd guess to the people in the non-traditional areas,
it's more of an "event", a novelty.  If they went to the tournament and
enjoyed it, my guess is that they'd be more inclined to try to get some
other NCAA championship to their locale, rather than to put pressure on
their local colleges to start ice hockey teams.
 
Has there been any evidence that holding the finals in Anaheim caused a
detectable upsurge in interest in college hockey in Southern California?  If
not, then there never will be, given the shortness of memory that American
culture has.  After the soccer World Cup was in the US, many observers said
that if there was going to be any favorable effect on US soccer, it would
last for only about a year.  And that was an event that about a thousand
times the scale of the Frozen Four.
 
If the location of the Frozen Four is to have any effect on the growth of
college hockey, it would be in an area, such as the fringes of the current
hockey country, that has other factors that make expansion likely.  If we're
going to use the Frozen Four venue to expand college hockey, then I'd say
that Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City, or Denver make far
more sense than Anaheim or Orlando.
 
Clay
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.