ECAC's moving to Atlantic City in 2011

[Jim Hyla]

[quote CowbellGuy][quote Kyle Rose]What was all that wrong with Albany that motivated the move?[/quote]
8000 people last year seems like pretty good motivation. For that matter, what was wrong with Placid that motivated that move? Dollars and cents (probably more cents than dollars) motivated those moves and the same is true here.[/quote] They were worried when the attendance dropped from 16,217 to 8,104 last year, so the go to a building that holds 10,300 for hockey? Maybe they are counting on the fact that not many students will show up.


If Cornell goes a long way this year and is high in the league next year, they might do well. However, if not, who is going to bring all those fans there?

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Josh '99][quote jaybert]
They have the train which is "direct" to Atlantic City (actually goes through Philly I think, but you dont need to switch to NJ Transit like you had to in the past) which is how I will get there![/quote]And Amtrak goes direct from NYC to Albany.  I still think it's basically a wash in the travel-from-NYC department.  

(But yes, that's probably how I will get there too.)[/quote]

It doesn't go *through* Philly, but it does go near it (into Pa). The only stops are NYC, Newark, & AC though (there's separate service from Phily 30th St Station to AC).

However, I thought of this myself, and currently the "ACES" (AC Express Service) train only runs Fri, Sat, & Sun, and not early enough Friday train to make both the semis.

In a year and a half that may change (it's brand new and has been fairly popular once it got noticed), but if not, a AC bus will be required on the way down, then you can take the train back up.

[TimV]

[quote Jeff Hopkins '82]Personally, this is great for me.  I get to save a half-day vacation (2 hours versus 3½ hours drive).  There are much better locations for me to go birdwatching when there's no hockey to watch.  The only downside is having to drive through downtown Philly to get there, but since I'll be doing it at lunchtime, no biggie.

[/quote]

But geez Jeff- you'd hire a Sherpa with a yak and go if it was played on a mountaintop in Central Asia.  What's the point of making it easy for you**]

[TimV]

[quote billhoward][quote Killer]I think Harvard's behind this.  They can't draw a crowd anywhere, so why not put the tournamant in a place where no one is likely to draw a crowd, thereby leveling the playing field?[/quote]

Ken Schott, Schenectady Gazette: "The other problem is that some the teams don't travel well. Harvard doesn't have a dedicated fan base. Princeton may bring about 50 fans."[/quote]

Has anybody brought up the fact that last spring's attendance in Albany was held down by the fact that it wasn't just Princeton?  None of the three other teams in it with us "travel well?"

[Trotsky]

[quote redice]After that, we can look forward to the gamblers complaining when it gets moved to some other illogical place...[/quote]

Since it seems to be moving in an ever-expanding counter-clockwise spiral, the next stop should be Bermuda.

[Lauren '06]

[quote Trotsky][quote redice]After that, we can look forward to the gamblers complaining when it gets moved to some other illogical place...[/quote]

Since it seems to be moving in an ever-expanding counter-clockwise spiral, the next stop should be Bermuda.[/quote]
Maybe that would get students there, assuming championship weekend still falls on Cornell's spring break.

[adamw]

[quote billhoward]We've done the Cape Cod trek over the Bourne Bridge and it's about as bad as taking the Garden State Parkway to the NJ Shore. Pretty close as to which state has worse drivers. No contest on ruder drivers. Only New Jersey has an Official State Gesture.[/quote]

I've done the Bourne Bridge and GSP - and there's no comparison between summer, and how it is in March.  You can breeze around the GSP and NJ Turnpike in March.  I do it all the time.  That won't be an issue leaving NYC.

On the other hand, a couple years ago, it took 6 hrs to get to Albany from Central NJ because of a blizzard.

[ACM]

[quote Trotsky][quote redice]After that, we can look forward to the gamblers complaining when it gets moved to some other illogical place...[/quote]

Since it seems to be moving in an ever-expanding counter-clockwise spiral, the next stop should be Bermuda.[/quote]

Little known fact about Cornell hockey: Cornell once had a goalie from Bermuda, so this wouldn't be totally inappropriate ...

[Josh '99]

[quote ACM][quote Trotsky][quote redice]After that, we can look forward to the gamblers complaining when it gets moved to some other illogical place...[/quote]

Since it seems to be moving in an ever-expanding counter-clockwise spiral, the next stop should be Bermuda.[/quote]

Little known fact about Cornell hockey: Cornell once had a goalie from Bermuda, so this wouldn't be totally inappropriate ...[/quote]Like, actually from Bermuda, or from Bermuda like Jason Elliott was from Australia?  Because as far as I can figure, there are no ice rinks in Bermuda.  (Which is too bad, because we would ALL go if Cornell were playing a hockey game there.)

[Josh '99]

[quote adamw]On the other hand, a couple years ago, it took 6 hrs to get to Albany from Central NJ because of a blizzard.[/quote]And the same blizzard would probably cause it to take a comparably long time to get to AC from Ithaca or Troy or Potsdam or Canton or Hamilton or Schenectady (hahahahah as if Union will ever get that far in the playoffs).  That isn't a travel risk that's specific to Albany, that's a travel risk that's all over the Northeast in the winter/very early spring.

[billhoward]

I used to believe tournament sites were chosen based on where the hockey or league committee wouldn't mind spending a long weekend, and not worrying about how many seats in the building, since they had theirs. Thus scenic Lake Placid for the 1970 NCAA championships. Or Colorado Springs way back in post WWII days on successive years. This would not explain Syracuse in 1967 or 1971. Sometimes site choices also applied to where the commissioner wouldn't mind living. For instance, the ECAC moving to Cape Cod back when there was an ECAC football league that carried some weight.

Can any conspiracy theorists see in this a reason for Atlantic City other than, "We ran out of places to try"?

[Killer]

[quote Josh '99][quote ACM][quote Trotsky][quote redice]After that, we can look forward to the gamblers complaining when it gets moved to some other illogical place...[/quote]

Since it seems to be moving in an ever-expanding counter-clockwise spiral, the next stop should be Bermuda.[/quote]

Little known fact about Cornell hockey: Cornell once had a goalie from Bermuda, so this wouldn't be totally inappropriate ...[/quote]Like, actually from Bermuda, or from Bermuda like Jason Elliott was from Australia?  Because as far as I can figure, there are no ice rinks in Bermuda.  (Which is too bad, because we would ALL go if Cornell were playing a hockey game there.)[/quote]

Hey, if Jamaica can have a bobsled team...

[ugarte]

[quote billhoward]Can any conspiracy theorists see in this a reason for Atlantic City other than, "We ran out of places to try"?[/quote]

"Venues were competing for our business and Boardwalk Hall submitted a competitive bid."

[adamw]

[quote Josh '99][quote adamw]On the other hand, a couple years ago, it took 6 hrs to get to Albany from Central NJ because of a blizzard.[/quote]And the same blizzard would probably cause it to take a comparably long time to get to AC from Ithaca or Troy or Potsdam or Canton or Hamilton or Schenectady (hahahahah as if Union will ever get that far in the playoffs).  That isn't a travel risk that's specific to Albany, that's a travel risk that's all over the Northeast in the winter/very early spring.[/quote]

Well, we were talking about the relative drive-ability from the NYC area. So that blizzard would not have affected the drive to AC nearly as much, if at all.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote adamw][quote Josh '99][quote adamw]On the other hand, a couple years ago, it took 6 hrs to get to Albany from Central NJ because of a blizzard.[/quote]And the same blizzard would probably cause it to take a comparably long time to get to AC from Ithaca or Troy or Potsdam or Canton or Hamilton or Schenectady (hahahahah as if Union will ever get that far in the playoffs).  That isn't a travel risk that's specific to Albany, that's a travel risk that's all over the Northeast in the winter/very early spring.[/quote]

Well, we were talking about the relative drive-ability from the NYC area. So that blizzard would not have affected the drive to AC nearly as much, if at all.[/quote]Adam, you can put the what if's all you want; but the fact remains that for the huge majority of ECAC fans it is going to be a lot harder to get to AC.