I've been reading the discussion of changing the Regional format to allow
a day off between games.  No one has mentioned this, but wasn't that the
case the first year (92) of the Regional format?  It seems to me one Regional
was Thursday-Saturday, the other Friday-Sunday.  If so, why was it changed?
 
I also seem to recall that attendance was abyssmal (especially in Detroit).
It may have been that part of the reason for the change was to make it more
likely that out-of-town fans could come for both games.  I don't think
you're too likely to do that if your team has the bye and you'd have to
spend 2 extra nights in a hotel.  And if your team loses in the first game,
you might not want to hang around two more days when your team is no longer
in it, but you'd be more likely to attend if it was the next night.
----
Okay, after writing that, I realized I was just being too lazy to search
the archives to see if this was all covered before.
So let's take a look at the archives from June 29-30, 1992, when it was
originally decided to play the games on consecutive nights:
------------------
Date:         Tue, 30 Jun 1992 10:51:06 EDT
From:         Mike Machnik <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Hockey Committee Actions
In-Reply-To:  Keith Instone's message of Tue,
              30 Jun 1992 10:12:04 EDT
              <[log in to unmask]>
 
Keith writes:
>>* The Committee voted to recommend to the NC$$ Executive Committee that Joe
>>Louis Arena in Detroit and the Centrum in Worcester, Mass., be selected as
>>sites for the 1993 West and East regionals, respectively. The regionals will
>>be March 26-27, 1993. The committee did, however, leave open the possibility
>>that it may decide to conduct the regionals at on-campus sites after 1993,
>>noting that the *financial health* of the championship must be maintained.
>
>Notice the dates! The games will be played on subsequent days. Good. I bet
>the executive committee thought the staggered days were the reason for the
>poor attendance, not the regional sites. We shall see...
 
We shall see is right.  Does this mean both regionals will be held on
March 26-27?  I guess if they're not going to be on tv it won't matter, but
I've been holding out hope of being able to see the other regional's games
too.  As for the staggered days, I'm not sure that had anything to do
with the attendance.  The only thing I can think of is that they are hoping
this will entice fans to make the trip for the first day; it seemed many fans
were waiting to see if their team won the first day and then traveling on the
off day to see them play in the quarterfinals.  Now if they wait to see
what happens the first night, then they might not be able to make in time
for the next day's game (especially in the West).
 
But another important factor may be the upsets we saw this year.  For example,
now MSU would be forced to play back-to-back without a day's rest while
Maine would be rested.  We can argue the issue of whether the extra day
benefits the underdog or the team with a bye, but it's still possible this
played a role.
 
 
- mike
-----------------------
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!
1995 NC$$ Phinal Phour!!!
Ski-U-Mah!!!