Frozen Four 2012

It may seem a little early to start this thread, but I got my notification today that I made it through the lottery, and will have four tickets in Tampa. I figured I'd "w00t!" here in this space.

Beeeej
It may seem a little early to start this thread, but I got my notification today that I made it through the lottery, and will have four tickets in Tampa. I figured I'd "w00t!" here in this space.

Ditto here, but I'm only going to go if there are hockey teams there.

RichH

Beeeej
It may seem a little early to start this thread, but I got my notification today that I made it through the lottery, and will have four tickets in Tampa. I figured I'd "w00t!" here in this space.

Ditto here, but I'm only going to go if there are hockey teams there.

I guess it's a good thing it's not in Atlanta, then.

I'm in, now if my high school senior daughter just doesn't have some conflict with college...

And I've got a reservation at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown. Now if someone knows a closer, available place, please post it.

I just received an email offering ff2012 tickets before they go on sale to the public. Hope this link will work for anyone interested.
Tickets

They're on sale to the public. So much for the lottery this year.

I got an email from the NCAA giving me my seat assignments 4 months before my tickets are mailed, which is nice. Even though I'm pretty high in priority, I'm up in the 300 level (albeit near center ice). Checked to see what was offered on ticketmaster, and "best available" is in the corner of the 300 level. I would really have been miffed if there were better tickets offered today.

I think I was in the lower bowl for St. Louis and Denver (and Ford Field, FWIW), but some arenas are still sticking the most loyal customers in the nose-bleeds. I expect the participant schools to get allotments in the corners, but who are the rest going to? Lightning season ticket holders? NCAA big wigs? Corporate sponsors?

Kim and I will be in Section 313, Row K, on the corner. I think the "prime seating" will be to people disguised as empty seats, and as we know, there usually are a fair number of them them at the Frozen Four.

I'm in section 109, behind a net; frankly I'd prefer to be on a red or blue line, but I'm not going to complain too loudly since I'm in the lower bowl.

Now I just need two more people to go with mha and me, preferably willing to commit to the tickets regardless of Cornell's participation.

Note: The NCAA went to all that trouble to set up a script to email all the lottery winners with their seat locations, and they couldn't be bothered to include a link to a seating chart?!

ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

Rita

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

I usually do as well, but this year I'm finding it difficult to justify the expense unless Cornell is involved.

Rita

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

ESPN is carrying an NBA doubleheader the night of the championship game.
[scores.espn.go.com]

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the title game getting moved. How many people who get ESPN don't get ESPN2?
Moving the semifinals to ESPNU *is* a big deal, though, but I'm sure it's a calculated move to get people to complain to their cable companies and/or pony up extra money for the sports tier.

Weder

Rita

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

ESPN is carrying an NBA doubleheader the night of the championship game.
[scores.espn.go.com]

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the title game getting moved. How many people who get ESPN don't get ESPN2?
Moving the semifinals to ESPNU *is* a big deal, though, but I'm sure it's a calculated move to get people to complain to their cable companies and/or pony up extra money for the sports tier.

I think it is a calculated move to put things that people watch on the networks that have higher ad rates.

Weder

Rita

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

ESPN is carrying an NBA doubleheader the night of the championship game.
[scores.espn.go.com]

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the title game getting moved. How many people who get ESPN don't get ESPN2?
Moving the semifinals to ESPNU *is* a big deal, though, but I'm sure it's a calculated move to get people to complain to their cable companies and/or pony up extra money for the sports tier.

I don't think that has anything to do with it. How many college hockey fans are there? Probably just alumni of and people who live near big hockey schools (Cornell, Michigan, etc). And even within in that subset I don't think it's all that high a percentage (2 years ago I asked a friend that goes to BU if he was going to the Cornell-BU MSG game and his reaction was basically "I didn't know about that. They don't really publicize the hockey team at BU." Even here at Cornell, Lynah sells out every game but the student section seats only a few hundred. There are several thousand students). And then you have to consider how many college hockey fans will want to watch a game that doesn't include their favorite team. There is a much larger audience for NBA games than for college hockey.

jtn27

Weder

Rita

Beeeej
ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

[puckthemedia.wordpress.com]

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live .

ESPN is carrying an NBA doubleheader the night of the championship game.
[scores.espn.go.com]

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the title game getting moved. How many people who get ESPN don't get ESPN2?
Moving the semifinals to ESPNU *is* a big deal, though, but I'm sure it's a calculated move to get people to complain to their cable companies and/or pony up extra money for the sports tier.

I don't think that has anything to do with it. How many college hockey fans are there? Probably just alumni of and people who live near big hockey schools (Cornell, Michigan, etc). And even within in that subset I don't think it's all that high a percentage (2 years ago I asked a friend that goes to BU if he was going to the Cornell-BU MSG game and his reaction was basically "I didn't know about that. They don't really publicize the hockey team at BU." Even here at Cornell, Lynah sells out every game but the student section seats only a few hundred. There are several thousand students). And then you have to consider how many college hockey fans will want to watch a game that doesn't include their favorite team. There is a much larger audience for NBA games than for college hockey.

Yeah, but I don't think you can look at it only from the standpoint of college hockey. It's part of a bigger strategy. ESPN will keep a handful of NCAA championship games on ESPN/ESPN2 and move the bulk of the rest of the coverage to ESPNU/ESPN3. Then it tells viewers to ask their cable companies to add ESPNU and, perhaps down the road, pressure the cable companies to move ESPNU from a sports tier to a basic or expanded basic package.

EDIT: The more I think about it, I think ESPN3 is the key piece here. By putting more events on ESPN3, and keeping ESPN3 access limited to those who subscribe to cable providers, ESPN is working to protect its most important revenue stream.