I agree with Rob and the others who have spoken up about the proposed move to a
neutral site.  I have followed RIT Hockey for about 9 years, and most of the
games I have seen (both home and away) have been attended by mostly students,
with a few faculty and alumni like myself thrown in.  Maybe it's just that
hockey is not as popular in the Rochester, NY area as in St. Paul, but I doubt
you would get much of the general public around here interested, especially if
none of the local teams (RIT, Geneseo, Brockport) were in it.  And few students
could afford a trip to a distant site.  When RIT hosted Stevens Point, there
were several bus loads of fans from Wisconsin and a lot of them were older
adults, not students, so maybe that says something about western hockey fans
(both interest level and age).  When RIT went out to Bemidgi (sp?) Minn. a few
years earlier, I think only 1 or 2 buses were chartered for the trip, and that
was the fourth year in a row that RIT made it to the final 4!  The only reason
I was able to see RIT win their 2nd championship in 3 years back in 1985 was
because Union College hosted it and is only about 4 hours away.  Someone
mentioned better facilities, airports, etc. at a larger, neutral site, but if
students aren't willing/able to spend $50-60 to ride a bus, even fewer will be
able to afford a plane ticket.
 
This would be even more of an issue if the NCAA decides to drop the Final Four
format again, as they did a few years ago for Div. III.  RIT was the "East
region" champion and Stevens Point was the "West region" champion, and just two
teams got together for the finals.  If they plan to keep the final four format,
then at least they could draw on fans from four teams and not just two.
 
In general, I think Div. III sports just don't have the popularity that Div. I
has, especially hockey.  If the NCAA decides to "experiment" for a year, I
think I know what the conclusion would be.
 
Rob said...
>
>This new development contradicts the NCAA's policy from a couple of years
>back.  Back in 1989 the finals were here at RIT.  Usually, the finals are
>held at the home rink of the higher seed (Stevens Point was #1 and RIT
>was #2).  The NCAA assigned the finals to the Ritter Arena because it
>is bigger than Stevens Point's building.  Stevens Point objected to
>this -- they said that they could easily rent a much bigger arena (5,000
>seat?) off campus.  The NCAA denied their request because the NCAA
>wanted to keep the games _at_an_on-campus_site_.
>
 
This has actually happened several times in recent years.  In 1988, Elmira
hosted the final four for the same reasons - the highest seeded team (western)
had a small arena.  That year, they ended up with an all-west final, with
Wisconsin (Cedar Rapids, I think - it wasn't Point anyway) winning.  In 1985,
#1 RIT was forced to travel to Bemidgi St. because two western teams made it to
the final four, and the NCAA decided to have the finals out west for a change.
RIT hosted a team from St. Thomas, Minn. in an earlier round for seating
reasons as well.
 
 
                              Larry
 
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Lawrence E. Haag
Eastman Kodak Company	   NOTE:  Send replies to [log in to unmask]
Rochester NY 14652-3302
(716) 477-3669
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