Big Ten Tourney to Neutral Site, Likely XCel Center
by WCHBlog on Feb 6, 2012 8:44 AM PST
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PrintAndy Baggott is reporting that a majority of athletic directors from the future Big Ten hockey schools are in favor of moving their postseason tournament to a neutral location, rather than having home sites host tournament games. The tournament would take place over three days, with all six teams from the league involved, meaning the top two seeds would receive byes into the semifinal round. Baggott also reports that the league is close to finalizing a deal with the XCel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota to host the tournament.
The format is far from ideal. With every team making the tournament, all a team needs is one good weekend where they have to win three games in order to make the NCAA tournament. It cheapens the value of the regular season, and cheapens the value of a playoff championship. The big issue that seemed to make this option so desirable was the availability of buildings for the playoffs. Wisconsin and Ohio State host state high school championships in their buildings and didn't want to lose them for the possibility of hosting a playoff hockey series. Minnesota was likely strongly in favor as well, since this essentially gives them home ice advantage every year without having to win anything. That leaves just one more team in favor of the neutral site to gain the majority needed.
The XCel Center is also bound to be a controversial. There's no doubt that it's the finest hockey arena within the Big Ten's footprint, but it is also on the extreme western edge of the Big Ten's footprint. After Minnesota, the next closest team is Wisconsin, at a four-hour drive away. The Michigan schools stretch the limits of one days drive at 10+ hours, or require a flight that takes 7 hours, because after five hours of delays, Delta realizes they forgot to load the bags onto the plane. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience. Ohio State fans probably weren't going to travel to anywhere regardless, and Penn State's fanbase is an unknown at this point.
It should be interesting to see how this works out. The key here seems to be to get demand high enough to get people to purchase full ticket packages to ensure they can get tickets to the games that they want. Otherwise, there could be some embarrassingly empty Ohio State/Michigan State games in the tournaments future.
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It's a step in the right direction
But having the tournament at the Xcel Center would kind of suck for all the reasons you mention. I can’t really think of any better alternatives – maybe the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, the Q in Cleveland or maybe the Fieldhouse in Indianapolis if it can support a rink. I don’t know if these NBA arenas could accommodate the hockey tournament though given the likely schedule conflicts with home basketball games.
Simple solution
Stop trying to appease two teams at the expense of 4. Make the regular season worthwhile and hold the tourney over 3 weekends in the barns of the higher seeded teams with the final series in the barn of the highest seeded team. Why shouldn’t a team who played hard all season AND tourney get the benefit of home ice advantage instead of letting Minnesota waltz away with it for nothing? Also, Minnesota? Why not Philadelphia if we’re going to make the entire conference travel to an inconvenient location to watch games in a lifeless shell of a building that won’t sell out?
This is absolutely nuts
If you’re going to do it at a neutral site, do it at a neutral site (Chicago, Indy). If you won’t put it at an actually neutral site because you’re worried about attendance and ticket sales, well, that tells you how dumb the neutral site idea is in the first place.
I can’t imagine why anyone other than Wisconsin would even consider approvinig XCel as the site. The choice for the other four is “guarantee Minnesota home ice and that your own fans have to fly” versus “give home ice to those who earned it and sell out campus arenas” and they have apparently capitulated to Wisconsin’s whining about their high school tournaments. Channeling Colorado’s old football coach, It’s Division 1 Hockey! It’s the Big Ten! This ain’t intramurals! None of the rest of us care about where Wisconsin high school basketball is played.
by Yinka Double Dare on Feb 6, 2012 11:09 AM PST reply actions
Not just UW
OSU has the same issue with the state tournaments as does Wisconsin. I personally don’t care about the WIAA tournament but I can see why it would suck to kick out the HS games (which a lot of people do care about) and then not end up hosting the tournament.
Well there is another option
Seeing as it is Wisconsin, I’m guessing there is at least one other facility within that state that could house the HS games. In Columbus, moving them to the Blue Jackets’ arena is also feasible. They are both big states, and while it’s nice to allow outside events to use the facilities, the facilities belong to the school and should dole out priority as such.
Watching OSU move a CCHA playoff series to the old OSU Ice Rink a while back was an embarrassment.
I agree with you there
In Madison there is the Coliseum which did host the Girls tournament up until recently but it is a step down in size. It was also the old home of the Badgers hockey team pre-Kohl Center and I’ve heard a lot of people argue for having them play the tournament there, but that would be the same embarrassment as with OSU and that CCHA series. One of my friends has a concession deal at the Coliseum and he was hoping the tournaments would move there but it doesn’t look likely.
Green Bay has the Resch Center and I know they were really lobbying to get the basketball tournaments. Milwaukee has the Bradley Center and US Cellular Arena but from what I heard there wasn’t much interest between the parties there. I think the WIAA took the line that they would move to Green Bay unless UW gave them unrestricted access to the Kohl Center for the HS tournaments. Alvarez seemed to be resigned to this but there has been a ton of pushback here in Madison and throughout the state.
What a stupid idea
I can’t imagine that MSU, Michigan, OSU and Penn State would seriously be on board with this. They go from having home playoffs to shipping their tournament at Minnesota permanently for what purpose? So we can have it be 80% Minnesota fans every year forever.
This all but guarantees that no more than 10% of the fans will ever be from MSU, Michigan, OSU or Penn State. Does the B1G really think that anyone will travel 10+ hours to see the BTHC tournament. Everyone will save their money for NCAA regionals if they plan to travel. This is incredibly stupid
TV
I think ultimately it makes more financial sense to sell out home arenas for three straight weeks, but I wonder if the deciding factor has something to do with moving on HD TV crew one time rather than trying to get two fo them to four different arenas. Don’t know the math on this, but I’ve seen the same confusing logic default to the BTN’s best interest in the past.
by Kevin Powers on Feb 29, 2012 7:43 PM PST up reply actions
Michigan isn't totally sold on the whole idea completely
Not according to what I have read. Berenson would prefer to have the higher seeds host at their rinks in the first round, then go to a neutral site for the semis and final.
Whine,whine,whine,whine,whine.
and when you’re finished,go ahead and whine some more. Bottom line is,at least for now,the best place for this tournament to be successful is to hold it in St Paul. Awwwwww,butt hurt? Too bad. The largest fan base for hockey of any team in the Big Ten is in the Twin Cities,and the TC have demonstrated for years that they support the college game better than any other area in the Big Ten footprint. Sometimes,the truth hurts.Get over it.
Regarding Ohio State/Ohio HS
Wisconsin and Ohio State host state high school championships in their buildings and didn’t want to lose them
The Ohio HS tournament is at Nationwide, home of the Blue Jackets, not where the Buckeyes play, which is the Schottenstein Center.
Columbus would be a terrible neutral site for the Big Ten hockey tournament — it’s a terrible site fore the Ohio high school hockey tournament as well, actually — but it’s exclusion from the conversation isn’t a scheduling issue.
I totally agree with your higher-seed concept, what’s annoying is it seems to make more financial sense as well.
