Note: My husband Jon will be guest posting this entry:
Some people have expressed concern over the ~7,500-seat capacity of the UNO Community Arena (set to open later this year). They argue that planners should have opted for greater seating capacity in the new facility. The oft-used phrase is "room to grow."
The concern seems to stem from the capacity of the Omaha Civic Auditorium -- UNO's home during the program's first six seasons. That facility held 8,314 for hockey (8,310 after some chairs were removed in 2001).
The question is whether there is solid foundation for the concern about the size of the new arena, or if the "8,314 sellout" notion was an exaggeration built on a foundation made of sand.
Magic... or Myth?
Reporter Eric Olson examined UNO Hockey attendance in an Omaha World-Herald article published Jan. 24, 2002.
The article was written during one of UNO's early successful seasons. UNO would go on to finish the 2001-02 season 21-16-4. The previous season saw the Mavs go 24-15-3.
Taken together, UNO had shed the auspices of a fledgling program, and looked more like a program poised to take its place among college hockey's elite.
Any season where a D-I hockey program wins 20-plus games tends to signal success. The team wasn't quite in a position to receive an at-large berth* to the NCAA tournament, but seemed to be building toward that crescendo.
* Note: The NCAA didn't change from a 12-team to a 16-team championship format until the 2002-03 season.
Both the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons featured good crowds to watch a solid Maverick squad, but "typical attendance" was nowhere near the "8,314 sellout" reported in "box scores."
Furthermore, UNO rarely approached 7,500 attendees (the reported capacity of the UNO Community Arena) during those seasons in terms of actual "people in seats." (From Olson's Omaha World-Herald article: "UNO provides the news media with an 'announced' attendance that uses the ticket count as its base and then adds people who enter the building with passes. UNO counts the number of people with passes, many of whom attend receptions that various organizations hold in different rooms at the auditorium.")
"Referring to buy-backs in past seasons, Danenhauer said, 'There have been some tumultuous times where you ask yourself, 'Why am I doing this?' We look back on it now and are really happy that we did protect it.'"
Manufacturing sellouts fed skepticism about the veracity of the "sellout streak."
My wife (never one to mince words) had this to say about the streak in Olson's article:
"'There's an overemphasis on it,' Weide said. 'Having attended the home games, it has become somewhat of a debatable point, almost to the point of being laughable, that they can call some of those games sellouts.'"
The "optics" weren't matching the "messaging" during the team's final years at the Civic, and it led to collective head-scratching among fans.
According to Olson's article, the highest number of "tickets taken" for a game during those two seasons came during a matchup with Michigan on Feb. 3, 2001.
2000-01 Attendance Figures (Source: Omaha World-Herald):
- Oct. 6 Manitoba - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,537 | Tickets taken: 5,734
- Oct. 13 Niagara - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 7,248 | Tickets taken: 5,742
- Oct. 14 Boston College - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,246 | Tickets taken: 4,862
- Oct. 27 Ferris State - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,122 | Tickets taken: 5,742
- Oct. 28 Ferris State - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 5,439 | Tickets taken: 5,543
- Nov. 10 Massachusetts - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 7,397 | Tickets taken: 6,297
- Nov. 11 Massachusetts - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 5,097 | Tickets taken: 3,697
- Dec. 1 Alaska-Fairbanks - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,729 | Tickets taken: 5,729
- Dec. 2 Alaska-Fairbanks - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,299 | Tickets taken: 5,516
- Dec. 19 Notre Dame - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,152 | Tickets taken: 4,562
- Dec. 20 Notre Dame - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,575 | Tickets taken: 5,175
- Jan. 12 Bowling Green - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 7,517 | Tickets taken: 6,566
- Jan. 13 Bowling Green - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,556 | Tickets taken: 5,858
- Jan. 19 N. Michigan - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 6,002
- Jan. 20 N. Michigan - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 6,539
- Feb. 2 Michigan - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 7,129
- Feb. 3 Michigan - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 8,026
- Feb. 16 Ohio State - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 6,409
- Feb. 17 Ohio State - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 8,314 | Tickets taken: 6,988
- March 1 Findlay - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 6,354 | Tickets taken: 5,354
- March 2 Findlay - Paid: 8,314 | Announced: 7,564 | Tickets taken: 6,752
The 2001-02 attendance figures look very similar to those listed above. The OWH article only provides detailed figures for that season through Jan. 24, 2002, and 7,421 represented the highest number of "tickets taken" (for a November game against Michigan).
During those two seasons, the team featured the likes of future NHLers Jeff Hoggan, Greg Zanon, and Dan Ellis -- players who rank among the greatest in UNO Hockey history, and players still competing at the professional level.
But actual attendance rarely matched the long-held notion that there were 8,000 warm bodies at games on a regular basis. That was at a time when ticket prices were $10.50, $12.50 and $14.50 per game for the three tiers at the Civic Auditorium.
Those two seasons also represent the zenith for UNO Hockey at the Civic Auditorium -- the best the program had to offer, and the best we would see out of the program until the 2005-06 season (when UNO would make the NCAA tournament for the first time).
When Enough Capacity is Enough...
The question then is this: Why do many believe in the notion that 8,500-plus seats would have been a preferable capacity for the UNO Community Arena?
It appears to stem from a healthy dose of "misinformation" about the "sellout streak" at the Civic Auditorium during those early years. That notion -- combined with UNO's recent Frozen Four appearance -- has led some to believe capacity has been capped too low.
The other component to keep in mind is the fact that NCAA hockey realignment shifted Big Ten schools into their own six-team conference.
North Dakota is still a draw, but the other NCHC powers don't have the "name value" of Michigan or Minnesota.
People will point to recent seasons when we had the sellout-promotion games at the CenturyLink Center. They believe those games represent an indication of "what could be."
The fact is that massive ticket promotions and groups sales were used to spur attendance on those nights -- yielding an attendee that wasn't a long-term, high-value prospect.
The season ticket base also eroded to around 3,400 season tickets sold (from a peak number of around 6,500 during the Civic era).
Final Thoughts...
Looking at the numbers, it appears reasonable to assume that the UNO Community Arena's capacity (and configuration) will prove to be a smart balance of high-end price points and moderately-priced seating.
Only time will tell, but it looks like the 7,500-seat capacity represents a healthy and realistic number for UNO's new arena.
No comments:
Post a Comment