> Does anyone remember if a potential TV contract was at all an issue
> with the decision to form Hockey East and split from the ECAC ?
 
Partly, but mostly because Lou Lamoriello, among others, believed that the Ivy
League presidents were using excuses to limit the number of games the league
members could play, and it was holding back the schools that left (BC, BU,
Providence, Northeastern and New Hampshire) -- among other things.
 
> Also, can anyone shed some light out there with regards to attendance
> numbers, perhaps over the last 3 years - on the ECAC and HE rinks
> and their %capacity filled/sold.
> PS I am basing crowd attendance only on BC, Harvard, Providence,Brown
> and RPI games that I attend .. Maine and UNH please don't be offended.
 
Well, you are probably leaving out the two biggest HEA draws.  Providence/Brown
don't get very many people for whatever reason. I think Providence does
slightly better, but it's still under 2,000 most of the time.
 
Harvard, BU, BC, Northeastern just don't put up the same kind of numbers that
say Minnesota and Wisconsin do.  There are many reasons probably, not the least
of which is that they are all competing against each other and a number of
other professional teams.
 
RPI, Cornell, Clarkson, Vermont and St. Lawrence all do pretty well in
attendance, but those buildings don't hold huge amounts.  Vermont and Cornell
always sell out. Vermont could probably get 6,000 a game easily -- Cornell
could do the same for a majority of games.  The others I mentioned don't quite
sell out, but get decent attendance.
 
Attendance-wise, I think the two leagues are pretty similar .... But Maine,
UNH, Vermont and Cornell are probably the ones who could rival the Western
schools in terms of following and the ability to fill a larger arena.
 
Not sure how this helps, but that's some food for thought.
 
AW
 
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