I do believe and agree that HEA tries to be fair ...
 
My overall point is -- I think that being fair to everyone is going to
ultimately be at the expense of the overall influx of dollars and
exposure.
 
I'm not saying that's a bad thing ... just pointing out that the two
things cannot co-exist.
 
Being fair to the little guy will limit the exposure of college hockey,
unless some unforeseen force of nature intervenes.
 
No need to explain that HEA got more exposure and was fair to the little
guy. I'm talking big scale, way down the road (though not as "way" as
you may think).
 
Heck -- you know as well as anyone that the Big 10 conference scenario
will happen soon.  I'd love for it NOT to happen, but I see it as
inevitable.  And that will kill the Ferris' of the world.
 
I know the effect of TV, and that's the point.  But you're talking the
effect of getting more exposure to small schools like Merrimack just to
get them in line with current small school powers -- i.e. Clarkson,
LSSU.  That is certainly possible under the current structure.
 
What I'm saying is, that down the road -- if the sport is to be huge --
it will more than likely not be with Clarkson and LSSU playing a
mid-season game on ESPN.  This is the problem Joe B. and others have
come up against time and again.
 
If they convince ESPN to put a game like that on, then ESPN will give
them less $$$$ and/or crappier time slot.
 
Thus, if the sport becomes big, teams like Clarkson, LSSU, Cornell,
etc... will no longer be viable powers.  This scenario played out in
hoops and football just that way.  Just do some research.  The teams
that were big in the 50's-60s in basketball that may have been little
guys (see: Fordham, Penn, St. Bonaventure, Creighton) fell off the map
once big TV dollars came into the picture.
 
The big schools were always bigger than these small schools -- but at
least the small schools had a fighting chance to compete if they were
smart, etc...  Once the big bucks got thrown towards the big schools, it
was game over.
 
AW
 
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