My sister lives in Irvine and more than half of the people out in that part of California are transplanted Midwesterners. Could be better attended than you think /*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ Cathy Smith Go Lake State Lakers! Walker Cisler Center Lake Superior State Univ. Go #18 Bobby Labonte Sault Ste. Marie, MI Interstate Batteries Chevy /*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ On Wed, 19 Jun 1996, J. Michael Jackson wrote: > On the specific issue of having the Phinal Phour in Anaheim, I think that > it's going to be an attendance disaster. College hockey isn't going to > create a whole bunch of new fans in the area with three games in three days. > There isn't a large fan base there to begin with. While those of us on the > list sound as if we're going to be there in abundance (I will be), we aren't > exactly a representative sample of the college hockey fan base. I don't > think that there will be a huge number of people who plan there whole > vacation structure around going to Southern California for a hockey > tournament. > > Besides which, the Phinal Phour only draws really big crowds for a team that > is almost local, in particular folks who show up on Saturday after their team > has won the semis. We had the Maize and Blue river that poured down I75, the > BU fans in Providence and so forth. I had a lot of trouble unloading an > extra pair of seats I had picked up in St. Paul two years ago, and that was > with the Gophers in the event, but not thought likely to win the first game. > > In general, I think a lot of people are jumping to the conclusion that hockey > is really going to take off. There was a previous expansion of the NHL into > the south (the Atlanta Flames, anyone?) and it didn't last. Already, the LA > Kings have had trouble getting fans into the building, even before they > traded away Gretzky. Before people talk about how the Cup Finals in Miami > will help build a fan base, remember that they had one of those in LA, too. > > This will be exacerbated by the Gary Bettman/NBA approach to building the > game. I'm afraid that what he ends up with are fans interested in the > spectacle but not as much into hockey, per se. Beyond having aesthetic > qualms about the arena filling up these kinds of fans, I don't suspect that > they are they most loyal bunch. The NBA is starting to experience some of > this, and it has a larger natural base (far more people play youth and pickup > basketball than play hockey) than hockey does. > > So, I don't think that college hockey ought to put too many eggs in the > basket of extending it's regional support. And I certainly think that those > of us trying to get tickets in Milwaukee for next year ought to be given > priority if we agree to buy tickets for Anaheim. > > J. Michael Jackson > > HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to > [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List. > HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.