College hockey in the area getting cancelled...

[Eddie Shore]

I understand.  It was in the works almost 5 years ago, and I agree that space is an issue in the city.  However, the parking issue could be addressed with a parking deck (obviously not talking about the armory here), but my kid has played at several rinks that were the top floor of a parking deck.  Anyone who has ever played against the Little Caps has been to their rink which is the top floor of a parking deck.

[carroll81]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:47 PM, nemesis8679 said:

You can blame the schools for not marketing very well. 

Maybe, maybe not.  If you mean by marketing to attract spectators, I agree.  If you mean marketing to attract student-athletes, it is hard to say for those schools.  

DIII sports as all about attracting student athletes.  For many sports, it is about attracting students that will pay full boat (no non-need financial aid).  For many small schools, having these types of students is crucial to their bottom-line.  

[nemesis8679]

30 minutes ago, carroll81 said:

Maybe, maybe not.  If you mean by marketing to attract spectators, I agree.  If you mean marketing to attract student-athletes, it is hard to say for those schools.  

DIII sports as all about attracting student athletes.  For many sports, it is about attracting students that will pay full boat (no non-need financial aid).  For many small schools, having these types of students is crucial to their bottom-line.  

Yes, just referring to spectators. Pitt should be able to fill some seats. 

[Eddie Shore]

1 hour ago, nemesis8679 said:

Yes, just referring to spectators. Pitt should be able to fill some seats. 

How many Pitt games did you attend last year?

[Mysonisagoalie]

9 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

Truth.

I attended numerous Three Rivers Classics when they were held at Consol.  RMU was the host team while Yale, St. Cloud State, UMASS Lowell, Bowling Green, Boston College and Penn State were attendees.  The crowd sizes were decent at first, then became a disaster every year and if you waited a month or so after tickets went on sale, they could be had on Groupon at a fraction of face value.  

Each year the tournament was played the attendance was less and less.  Sad, but true in that this area does not support college hockey.

https://www.rmusentrymedia.com/sports/mens-hockey-schedule-2019-2020/

In the beginning, the tournament was run by RMU. They handled everything. The first year that Penn State played in the tournament, the arena was nearly sold out. The Penguins saw the success and decided they wanted to run the show. It has been going downhill ever since.

[nemesis8679]

2 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

How many Pitt games did you attend last year?

Four

[Racchi’s Rug]

Pitt’s D2 team folded this year. The D1 and boosters had to sell customized sublimated jerseys with the script logo (which are really cool) as a fund raiser. As an alum I wish the university supported the team more/at all. The lack of support goes back to the 90s at least.  They played at Neville in South Side then Warrendale. Talk about far. I think that if the university wanted to have a D1 NCAA team they could. As was mentioned with an on campus/near campus rink the walk up support would be good with students and adults, families, alum, hockey fans. I’d snap up season tickets.

I think Pitt’s ACHA 1 team was decent this year. I’ve seen some webcasts at Ohio U and Kent and the attendance is awesome. As far as announcing and live YouTube broadcasts go even WVU does that and has 2 camera angles etc and look at the dump they play in, they’re still trying to make it work. The D2 team plays in a pretty cool league with southern teams from MD, VA and NC. 

I’m not sure where I’m going with this please don’t flame me haha but Pitt hockey could certainly fill a 3000 or so seat building if there was an NCAA team but with this AD/past ADs it’s all about football and basketball as with many FBS schools.

[Eddie Shore]

6 hours ago, Racchi’s Rug said:

Pitt’s D2 team folded this year. The D1 and boosters had to sell customized sublimated jerseys with the script logo (which are really cool) as a fund raiser. As an alum I wish the university supported the team more/at all. The lack of support goes back to the 90s at least.  They played at Neville in South Side then Warrendale. Talk about far. I think that if the university wanted to have a D1 NCAA team they could. As was mentioned with an on campus/near campus rink the walk up support would be good with students and adults, families, alum, hockey fans. I’d snap up season tickets.

I think Pitt’s ACHA 1 team was decent this year. I’ve seen some webcasts at Ohio U and Kent and the attendance is awesome. As far as announcing and live YouTube broadcasts go even WVU does that and has 2 camera angles etc and look at the dump they play in, they’re still trying to make it work. The D2 team plays in a pretty cool league with southern teams from MD, VA and NC. 

I’m not sure where I’m going with this please don’t flame me haha but Pitt hockey could certainly fill a 3000 or so seat building if there was an NCAA team but with this AD/past ADs it’s all about football and basketball as with many FBS schools.

Sorry, but I don't see them fill 3,000 seats.  Like you said D2 folded and D1 had a bunch of players drop off.  There are tons of great players at Pitt and the majority don't tryout.  Like others have already said they have multiple kids playing on multiple teams, so they can't really attend games due to time constraints.  This leaves the casual Pittsburgh hockey fan, and they would rather go to a penguins game.  No flaming here, you are entitled to your opinion

[Danner27]

13 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

Sorry, but I don't see them fill 3,000 seats.  Like you said D2 folded and D1 had a bunch of players drop off.  There are tons of great players at Pitt and the majority don't tryout.  Like others have already said they have multiple kids playing on multiple teams, so they can't really attend games due to time constraints.  This leaves the casual Pittsburgh hockey fan, and they would rather go to a penguins game.  No flaming here, you are entitled to your opinion

On campus rink ? They could get 3k a game. 

[fafa fohi]

5 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

On campus rink ? They could get 3k a game. 

Agreed.  Smaller schools with lower enrollment with on-campus rinks draw close to that.

[Lifelongbender]

27 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

Agreed.  Smaller schools with lower enrollment with on-campus rinks draw close to that.

I bet they get that many for basketball every game, right?

I don't think that 3000 per game is impossible. It might be optimistic, but it's conceptually right in any case.

[Spear and Magic Helmet]

Big problem Pitt has with hockey is it's seen as competition for NCAA basketball. Way back when the Petersen Events Center was built, there was some noise about the Penguins paying for it to have ice capacity, possibly as a temporary home while a new arena was being built, and the idea was shot down. No one was more upset than the Pitt athletic department when the Penguins did not move to Kansas City or where ever they were going to end up. They are probably right too, attendance at 'the Pete' is not nearly as good when the basketball team isn't winning. 

[carroll81]

The big problem for Pitt, or any university,  is if you add NCAA hockey, you have to cut some other men's sport or add another comparable women's sport.    Title IX.

[Danner27]

1 hour ago, carroll81 said:

The big problem for Pitt, or any university,  is if you add NCAA hockey, you have to cut some other men's sport or add another comparable women's sport.    Title IX.

This is very true but in the case of a major fbs university like pitt, they have the money.