Erik says:
>Rob writes:
>> I think the NCAA would be doing Div. III fans a real disservice moving the
>> Div. III Final Four to any neutral site.
>
>I think you'd be surprised how many people would show up.  Consider the large
>crowds that attended the Division I tournament at the St. Paul Civic Center
>last spring to see Northern Michigan, Clarkson, Maine, and Boston University.
>We have quite a few hockey fans here.  Still, I can see the sentiment for
>keeping the tournament as an on-campus event if that is what has been done
>so far.
 
But many of those seats were sold ahead of time to fans who believed the
Gophers had a good chance to make the Final Four (as they usually do).  And
even if they didn't, DivI hockey is big enough that the Final Four will do
well in many places.
 
The question is, how does DivIII hockey (and other DivIII sports) do in
Minnesota?  I think Mankato St has the best chance (maybe the only chance)
of the Minnesota DivIII hockey teams to even make the Final Four.  Would
they be a big enough draw?  We're talking about moving the tourney to a
neutral venue AND placing it in a rink larger than any DivIII Final Four
has ever been in, I think.  That's a big risk.  Will Minnesota hockey fans
go to see four DivIII teams they have no rooting interest in, during the
DivI tourney and almost immediately after the high school tourney and the
WCHA Final Four?
 
What was the last Minnesota DivIII team to make the championship?  St Cloud?
 
Are there any other DivIII sports which hold their championships at neutral
sites?  How do they do?
 
It's true that the DivI schools have a lot of fans accompanying them to the
Final Four, but most of those schools are large anyway and it's usually
possible to find enough nuts to make the long trip. :-)  But as Rob says,
will schools like Elmira and Babson be able to bring a thousand or more fans
with them?  I'm not too confident of that.  I think it would be better to
play the Final Four in front of a packed house of 5000 at the highest seed
than to play it at a half or one third-filled neutral rink.
 
Still, maybe it can't hurt to try it for a year and see what happens.  Kind
of like the single-elimination DivI tourney...
 
 
- mike