Matt Glaccum writes:
>After drawing 6700+ on Friday, the game on Saturday was 7000+ and sold out,
>standing room only. ( For a club team, this is really amazing, at least to me)
>I listened to part of Saturday's game on the radio and the announcers talked
>about how the IceCat games are the third most attended event in Tucson (behind
>Div I Football and Basketball).
 
I have heard about this before, but I still think it is remarkable.  I
think if you ranked all US college teams by average attendance,
regardless of affiliation (NC$$, ACHA, etc.), Arizona would come out
at least in the top 5.  That a club team can draw that many fans is
simply amazing to me.  I hope we will hear more about the IceCats on
HOCKEY-L; thanks, Matt.
 
I'm also curious to hear about Arizona's future intentions.  Is there
support at the school for fielding an NC$$-level team?  They seem to
have the rink and with drawing over 100,000 a year, funding seems like
it might be available.  Does Matt or anyone else out there (Terry May
of NAU?) know more?  The idea of making a road trip to Arizona with
Merrimack sometime in the future is appealing to me. :-)
 
A question for anyone close to the scene: would Arizona continue to
draw well with an NC$$-level team?  Alabama-Huntsville used to
routinely get 6,000 for games with club teams from Auburn, etc., but
when they stepped up they could not attract the fans as well, even
though they were playing much better hockey.  However, since the
Chargers are off to a roaring start this season in DivII, I wonder if
the fans are responding.
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93
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