I'd definitely attend a D3 and/or D2 championship game if held at the same
site as D1.  I think many others would, too, especially if they are
traveling to the tourney.  People are always looking for things to do on
the off day, and anything hockey related is usually of interest.
 
Plus, any event that involves the awarding of a championship is usually
exciting.  Hockey East fans who arrived early for the league championship
this past March got to see the first ever women's national championship
game, and it was fun to see the women get to compete on the big stage.
 
I don't think it's definite yet that the combined championship will occur.
Last I knew, in December it was only announced that the proposal was under
review for the 2000 finals in Providence.
 
http://www.ncaa.org/news/19971222/active/3446n08.html
 
But Providence seems to be a good place to start such an event.  Obvious
reasons include the number of schools from all divisions that are located
within a short drive of the arena.  Another may be that the Providence
Civic Center probably costs less to rent than some of the other arenas that
have held or will hold the D1 finals.
 
In fact, the need to rent the arena for an additional game or day is
something that would likely force an increase in the price of the ticket
package if this becomes a regular occurrence.  So I don't think you'll see
the game added on for free.  But Charlie has a good point about this added
expense being minimal relative to what the average traveling fan pays to
attend the D1 finals.  Still I think it's hard to project just what kind of
effect this would have on attendance over the long haul.  Like with
lacrosse, you just have to try it and see how it works.
 
Where are the lacrosse finals held?  The Meadowlands?  Or on campus?  If on
campus, it might lower the cost needed to rent the stadium and thus result
in a lower increase in the price of a ticket package.  Does anyone know how
the cost of the lacrosse package changed when the combined tourney was
begun?
 
It appears that the current proposal only involves adding one game to the
package, the D3 championship game.  I have heard no talk of adding D2 as
well.  There are issues there, such as whether or not a D2 championship
will even be held several years from now -- D2 has had its membership cut
almost in half as several programs have moved or will be moving to D1, and
I expect we will see more programs make the jump.  Also, since the D2
championship, unlike D1 & D3, has been a two day, two game affair, it would
likely be necessary to change the format to a single game final to add it
to this combined proposal.
 
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