Jason W. Roy wrote:
 
> --------------------even though I don't like the gophers...I respect the
> state of Minnesota and their affection for hockey....They are almost as
> bad as us Canucks...I lived in northern Minnesota for 2 years and I
> seriously doubt that basketball is bigger than hockey in Minnesota.....
>
> ???? Does the state basketball tournament draw bigger than the state
> hockey tourny???
>
>     Does a gopher basketball game draw bigger than a gopher hockey game???
>
> ....I would bet it doesn't....but I may be wrong..
 
Basketball is absolutely, positively bigger in this state than hockey.
By a huge margin.  The hockey team sells out, though the seats aren't
filled, a 9,500 seat arena.  The basketball team sells out a 15,000 seat
arena, and my impression has been that it actually is filled.  It's been
almost ten years since I attended a hoops game to be sure.
 
It's also noticeable in the newspaper coverage.  The hockey tournament
gets one, maybe two articles a day.  The basketball tourney gets an
entire special section four or five days a week.
 
High school hockey is only a big deal in Rochester, most (though not
all) of the Twin Cities Suburbs and a belt across the northern quarter
of the state.  Minneapolis and St. Paul themselves as well as most of
rural Minnesota are exclusively basketball country.  Even in many of the
suburbs, hockey is no better than an even partner.
 
Donovan Verrill has gone on at length that the Denver-BU hockey game is
far more important than the Gopher pep rally.  I would agree with him,
but this is really irrelevent.  MSC's concern has nothing to do with
which is 'more important'; they want whichever will provide more viewers
in there area.  One should understand that viewers watching on satellite
from other areas matter not one whit to MSC; someone in Denver is not
going to help them sell advertising in the Twin Cities.  I suspect that
they may well have been correct in their decision about which event
mattered more to the viewers they are concerned about.  Remember, as
good as it was, the hockey game in question involved two teams of little
local interest.  On the other hand, the pep rally, for all of its minor
consequence, related to the most followed sports story of the year
around here.  I don't like the decision, but from their perspective, it
made sense.  Ratings will always be the primary concern of networks.  We
ought to remember that before we get ourselves in a situation where we
allow ourselves to get held hostage by them.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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