A set of tickets just went on eBay for $77.
An eBay search on “Frozen Four” got 320 hits. I’m guessing that’s 500 –700 tickets. On USCHO,
tickets are being offered at a discount. More tickets than usual seem to be available on
Hockey-L, but I have no hard stats to show that.
I’m wondering what this means for future Frozen Fours. What will happen next year if Wisconsin
isn’t there? What will happen in St. Louis, with no prominent schools relatively close? What
will happen in Denver, if neither of the local teams makes the Frozen Four? Are the people who
are trying to get a Frozen Four in Tampa crazy or visionary?
First of all, it doesn’t bother me a bit if the speculators get hammered. I’m happy that people
who genuinely can’t afford to go unless their team make it, or who can’t afford to give the NCAA a
one year zero interest loan, will be able to afford tickets (in fact I’m a bit envious of the
bargain they’re getting).
If Columbus is a flop in terms of no-shows, I wonder if there will continue to be sellouts. I’m
guessing that there are three broad groups who enter the lottery. There are die hards, like a lot
of folks on this list who will go wherever the tournament is, or whoever is in it. There are
rabid fans of specific teams who want to make sure that they have tickets in the event that their
team makes it. And there are speculators.
If the speculators lose big, and drop out, and if the rabid fans of specific teams decide that
there’s a greater risk in investing in tickets than in trying to buy after the field is set, that
leaves only the die hard college hockey fans.
There is an interesting demographic this year. Two participants relatively far away, with loyal,
but small fan bases. One team with a loyal, reasonably sized, willing to travel fan base, about
1000 miles from Columbus. And probably the largest, most loyal fan base of any college hockey
team.
I’ve rambled a bit, but I’m interested in what other folks think.
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