Hockey at TCF?

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FreakyDeke

FreakyDeke

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Prepping for the MNF game seems like a pretty big project and there was talk that the concourses weren't design to operate in sub 30-degree temps. They were planning on having a hockey game played at TCF sometime IIRC, wouldn't all of what we're going through now be exactly the same for a hockey game? Why wasn't the sub-30 brought up before?
 

Couple of thoughts on this. First, if you hold the game in December you can just keep the concourses running until the hockey game. Thus, no shutdown to recover from. If it is a game in February, maybe they winterize it right after FB but then begin to thaw it out earlier so its not a hassle. I have no idea what the right option is.

What I do know is that they've talked about outdoor hockey since the stadium opened. Either they didn't do their homework and were basically lying about being able to hold hockey in the winter or they have a plan in place for hockey that doesn't fit the conditions of 1 weeks notice for a football game. My guess is that its the latter.
 

I actually emailed the Wild have watching the winter classic last year...they said they were hoping to play an outdoor game in 2014...im guessing it would be at TCF Bank but maybe Target Field
 

If the Wild were to host the Winter Classic I'd bet they'd prefer Target Field to TCF Bank Stadium. Target Field has more national recognition than TCF Bank Stadium. TCF would probably host the Gophers similar to how Camp Randall, Michigan Stadium and Spartan Stadium have all hosted their collegiate hockey teams.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
If the Wild were to host the Winter Classic I'd bet they'd prefer Target Field to TCF Bank Stadium. Target Field has more national recognition than TCF Bank Stadium. TCF would probably host the Gophers similar to how Camp Randall, Michigan Stadium and Spartan Stadium have all hosted their collegiate hockey teams.
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The Wild would most likely prefer the venue that can make them the most money. National recognition of the corporate sponsor has nothing to do with it. It would come down to which venue can setup the best for the rink, number of fans, and sightlines. Also if the Wild get a winter classic you would see the gophers playing an outdoor game that weekend along with other college teams in the area (Division III) and possibly high school games. This gets more bang for the cost to set up but also helps greatly improve the condition of the ice.
 


I don't think it's just the Wild's decision. NBC and the NHL would be heavily involved and they'll want one that brings the most fans AND has national appeal. So far all venue's have been professional stadiums and not venues that are exclusively collegiate.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I don't think it's just the Wild's decision. NBC and the NHL would be heavily involved and they'll want one that brings the most fans AND has national appeal. So far all venue's have been professional stadiums and not venues that are exclusively collegiate.
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I don't think anyone tunes into the winter classic to see the Venue. Shure it is nice to say it is being played at Fenway, but if you think that Target field has enough extra cache to move the viewing needle of an outdoor hockey game compared to TCF Bank then good for you.

I think it is the matchup of teams that bring the national appeal. Which makes it less likely that the Wild will ever get a game.
 

Plus there's the simple fact that the New Brickhouse can hold 20% more people than Target Field. That more than offsets the concession revenue loss by no booze.

I think the Winter Classic comes here sooner than later. I also think that it will NOT be on New Years Day, and it will be the centerpiece of Minnesota Hockey Day. It will take a staggering amount of coordination between the Wild, NHL, NBC, FSN North, the MSHSL, and the U to pull this off, but it can be done.
 

Silvio said:
I don't think anyone tunes into the winter classic to see the Venue. Shure it is nice to say it is being played at Fenway, but if you think that Target field has enough extra cache to move the viewing needle of an outdoor hockey game compared to TCF Bank then good for you.

I think it is the matchup of teams that bring the national appeal. Which makes it less likely that the Wild will ever get a game.
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100% agree that the matchup of teams is the most important factor but after that I think the venue does have significance. "Blackhawks vs Red Wings from Wrigley Field" was much more intriguing than "Blackhawks vs Red Wings from Soldier Field". "Bruins vs Flyers from Fenway Park" was more intriguing than "Bruins vs Flyers from Gillette Stadium"

Nobody outside of Minnesota and die-hard college football fans know what the heck TCF Bank Stadium is. More casual sports fans know about Target Field.

But to your point, until the Wild are actually good and have a legitimate NHL star this whole conversation is moot.
 



GopherRock said:
Plus there's the simple fact that the New Brickhouse can hold 20% more people than Target Field. That more than offsets the concession revenue loss by no booze.

I think the Winter Classic comes here sooner than later. I also think that it will NOT be on New Years Day, and it will be the centerpiece of Minnesota Hockey Day. It will take a staggering amount of coordination between the Wild, NHL, NBC, FSN North, the MSHSL, and the U to pull this off, but it can be done.
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An outdoor game might be coming here but it will NOT be the Winter Classic. The "Winter Classic" is now an NHL/NBC event on New Years Day designed to draw the casual sports fan away from the bowl games. That event is not moving anytime soon.

I CAN see an outdoor game for "Minnesota Hockey Day" and I think that has more of a chance to be held at TCF Bank Stadium than the "Winter Classic" would.
 

GopherRock said:
Plus there's the simple fact that the New Brickhouse can hold 20% more people than Target Field. That more than offsets the concession revenue loss by no booze.

I think the Winter Classic comes here sooner than later. I also think that it will NOT be on New Years Day, and it will be the centerpiece of Minnesota Hockey Day. It will take a staggering amount of coordination between the Wild, NHL, NBC, FSN North, the MSHSL, and the U to pull this off, but it can be done.
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The winter classic will always be on NYD. The NHL is having huge success with it and will not change to accomodate hockey day MN. The Gophs should play a game at TCF as part of hockey day MN.
 

I have heard that the Athletic Department is considering a plan for multiple hockey games in the same day at TCF. When they visited the Camp Randall Classic earlier in the year they found out Madison actually lost money on the deal. So to avoid that the U is thinking of an entire day that would feature a high school game, UMD vs. someone else, and then the Gophers to top it off. I'm sure the Wild would be considered in that list too. Who says there can't be an outdoor NHL game that ISN'T the winter classic? Same setup as Hockey Day, just at TCF.

I also heard the original opponent at Camp Randall was supposed to be us, but we said no.

Either way, I don't think there would be a problem selling tickets to any hockey game at TCF.
 

From what I've heard Minnesota had actually planned to do a home and home outdoor series with Wisconsin (over a 2 year span, then if it worked well they would continue) and the WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said the WCHA would not sanction an outdoor game "because the conference didn't need that".:confused: Anyway, this was before the stadium design was complete, so no one really looked that hard at what changes would be necessary because it appeared it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Once it's official there will be a Big Ten of Hockey, you'll probably see them figure this out. It's a matter of installing some heaters here and there in the stadium and/or replacing a few fixtures. It'll cost some money, but it really isn't rocket science.
 



Gopherdrummer said:
I have heard that the Athletic Department is considering a plan for multiple hockey games in the same day at TCF. When they visited the Camp Randall Classic earlier in the year they found out Madison actually lost money on the deal. So to avoid that the U is thinking of an entire day that would feature a high school game, UMD vs. someone else, and then the Gophers to top it off. I'm sure the Wild would be considered in that list too. Who says there can't be an outdoor NHL game that ISN'T the winter classic? Same setup as Hockey Day, just at TCF.

I also heard the original opponent at Camp Randall was supposed to be us, but we said no.

Either way, I don't think there would be a problem selling tickets to any hockey game at TCF.
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If Wisky lost money I wonder how much? Because unless the tickets for a multi-game event are per game (Wisky's included both the men's and women's games) or they sell enough extra concessions at one of the extra early games I'm not sure where the extra money would come from (especially given the fact that Wisky had more fans at their game then TCF can seat).
 

GoAUpher said:
If Wisky lost money I wonder how much? Because unless the tickets for a multi-game event are per game (Wisky's included both the men's and women's games) or they sell enough extra concessions at one of the extra early games I'm not sure where the extra money would come from (especially given the fact that Wisky had more fans at their game then TCF can seat).
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All I heard was that whatever return they got was a negative number. Or perhaps, just under what they were hoping to make. Hockey is not cheap. Maintaining the surface, and employing the people to do it costs a lot. Given what we have seen this week, maybe there was extra cost to "de-winterize" the stadium. Perhaps the BTN didn't bring in as much revenue as Madison would have hoped. They could have sold upper deck tickets but they were more concerned about fans getting blasted by the wind.

Obviously I think they will do it again. But it's the only explanation why the U hasn't announced a game by now. My bet would be offering day passes and single game tickets. Open up the event to a large market by letting more people in. The U is probably taking the "Apple" approach to this issue: let other people do it first, research it and then have a quality event by the time they do it. It might not be perfect, but everyone who goes will be satisfied overall.
 

It sounds like it is going to cost 730k this week. I think it is reasonable to think that if planned properly, it could be set up for a similar amount of money, but for the sake of argument lets say it cost $1M. They will have no problem selling the 50k seats so if they charge $30/ tik the gate revenue would be 1.5M, plus concessions. An event like this is not going to make the Athletic budget or anything, but I think they could make money. I wonder how much they gross per game at Mariucci.
 

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but perhaps something to consider: I believe the hockey people prefer to have outdoor arena situations where direct sunlight won't hit the playing surface (for goalie vision, etc.) I'm pretty sure a hockey set up in Target Field would have all sunlight blocked by the Target Field grandstand, thanks to the winter low angle of the sun, and the configuration of the stadium. But, even at a low angle direct sunlight hits some of the TCF playing surface. I have no idea if there is anything to this. I just thought about it after I heard the recent big chill game between Michigan State and Michigan was carefully planned to take place at a time when no sunlight would hit the rink. The Jan 1 winter classic is usually played in the middle of the day.
 

If TCF bank stadium hosts a hockey game I'll be looking forward to the marketing campaign:

"TCF Bank - Now offering CHECKING!"
 

I had heard that they were goingt o have one in 2012 or 2013 against UMD or one of the other Minnesota schools and have high school games as well for a Hockey Day in Minnesota.
 

put me on record for this,
TCF BANK will NEVER have a winter classic for the NHL unless Alcohol is served.PERIOD
 

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