They do play the NCAA MEN'S basketball tournaments in neutral locations, but the WOMEN'S tournaments have prelims at the home site of the higher seeds. In the past, I thought this was in part due to the lack of popularity of the sport and the inability to obtain sites for the initial rounds. Unfortunately, college hockey is in the same boat right now and I don't know how many big city arenas would commit to a four team regional. The current format has six teams at each regional, and over the last six or seven years have been rotated between a couple sites. In the East, the main sites have been the Centrum in Worcester and the Pepsi (Knickerbocker) Arena in Albany. Now let's take a look at what the sites are thinking: First, which teams tend to draw a base of fans in their area.... The Centrum - BU, BC, UMass Lowell, UMass Amherst, UNH, Vermont, Providence, Brown, Harvard, Northeastern, RPI, Union The Pepsi Arena - RPI, Union, Cornell, Clarkson, Colgate, SLU, and all of the above (Albany is a very easy trip from Boston) Now that we see this list of hockey fan draws from the specific areas, let's break down that list to who will likely make the regionals. You'll notice that in each of the past years (at least since 1990), not only 1, but 2 of these teams ended up in the regionals. From my experiences at the regionals, BU, BC, UNH, Clarkson, Cornell, Vemont, and RPI all bring a significant number of fans to the regionals. This will help those who plan events at these arenas ensure that there is a good size crowd. Now, let's take a 16 team tournament. If you're going to send 4 teams to each regional, you're starting with a deficit of 2 teams to begin with. Now we can come up with hypothetical brackets (not moving any teams east or west) based on this year's pwr rankings and automatic bids. 1E Boston University 8E University of Minnesota - Duluth 4E UNH 5E Yale and 2E Boston College 7E Northeastern 3E Clarkson 6E Princeton I don't know if either of these regionals would be able to sell a huge draw in Albany. Whichever regional ended up in Worcester would be ok with either BU and UNH or BC and Northeastern. Albany would probably do best with the BC regional, but I still don't think it would be as attractive as the following: BU, Wisconsin, UNH, Clarkson, CC, and Boston College...the current format of teams attending the regional. This has 4 strong draws for the site in Albany and would have three for the Centrum (Clarkson has a lot of great fans, but it's one heck of a ride from Potsdam to Worcester, trust me). Your only other choices would be to have 8 team regionals or 4 team regionals at home site locations. Considering both options: First an 8 team regional. Adopting a 4 day format (I don't think you'd want to play 4 games in 1 day) would result in Thursday games, bringing down attendance and a commitment to hold the arena for one game on Saturday and Sunday (which may not be attractive to the arena). The upside is a lot more fans and the fact that the arena might be willing to settle for a lower draw on Thursday to have something there on Thursday to begin with. Second with 4 home site regionals. The disadvantage is you don't know where the regionals are going to be until that fateful day of selection. Second, you tend to be in a smaller market and smaller arenas with a lot of teams. The upside is that you're pretty much guaranteed good attendance and actually would have to fight for tickets in some locations. This would show better for college hockey's future, rather than playing to half-filled arenas. Most of the arenas have the facilities to hold 4 teams, the other things that come with the regionals may be a little stressing. As far as hotels, etc., I can't see that being a problem. I went to one of the smallest schools in D-1 hockey, and we hosted 2 other teams every weekend in hotels with their fans (considering SLU is only 10 minutes from Clarkson, we would likely be using the hotel resources from both towns). All of the D-1 college hockey teams have to make similar arrangements on other ocassions to house a lot of people, ie graduation, etc. I'm sure if Clarkson can hold the families of a graduating class, they could surely handle 3 hockey teams and their fans. (Excuse me for using Clarkson as an example, but Potsdam is about the smallest town you'll find in college hockey). My vote would be for the 4 home site regionals. This would provide the best fit, IMHO, for college hockey at this time. As we expand in popularity, maybe it could grow out of the home sites to larger arenas. This future may not be too far away, with some of the bigger colleges (like OSU) putting together better programs. Who knows, maybe we'll see Big Ten hockey someday. By the way, I was able to get my college hockey fix yesterday when I caught the CCHA championship game on replay on MSG here in NY. I'm sure you won't see a lot of stuff live in this area, but does anyone know if MSG or FSNY (formerly known as SportsChannel NY) is planning on showing any games out of prime time? [log in to unmask] on 03/25/98 11:03:50 AM Please respond to [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] cc: Subject: Re: 16 team tourny > -----Original Message----- > From: Joseph M LaCour [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 1998 11:25 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: 16 team tourny > > IF (a big if) the NCAA went to a 16 team tourny, should the regionals be > on campus or at a neutral site? > > If we went to campus sites, my only concern would be lack of hotel rooms > and transportation at a particular school/town. Most can handle one or > two teams in town, but 3 teams, plus fans, plus TV and NCAA crews may put > a strain on small town and the NCAA resources. > > I would have to agree with you on this one. A neutral, big city would be much more suitable for 3 teams, fans, and media. Plus there would be no "home ice advantage" either. They play the NCAA basketball tourneys in neutral locations. Why not do it with hockey? :) Just my 2 cents worth. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael "Go Tigers" McClellan Network Administrator * Fischer & Company Real Estate [log in to unmask] * [log in to unmask] "Gimme a C" * "Gimme another C" * "What's that spell?" * "CC" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.